GOLD RUSH 2017

GOLD RUSH is a game from Japan, themed on the American West in 1848. The publisher says it is based on a gambling game of the period. The game has a large number of wooden coins, held in a jute bag. Each player has a matchbox of matches, which they use in bidding for the coins. The coins have different values on either face, include poison and explosions.

In turn, a player draw a coin from the bag and auctions it off for matches. The player draws the coin from the bag, and looks at both sides secretly. Then they slap it down on the table and reveal only the face-up side to the other players. Now each player makes a bid for the coin using their limited supply of matches. The winning bid takes the coin but may not look at the hidden side. So players are trying to judge the hidden value from the lead player's bid.

At the end of the game, the players turn their coins over to find their real value, and then work out who is the winner.

The first edition was hand made, so few copies were produced and sold out immediately at the Tokyo Game Market in 2017. In 2020, the publisher finally revised the game and produced a mass produced version, crowdfunded through the Japanese platform Campfire. This had smaller and cheaper components, and all new artwork by a new illustrator, and JPN and ENG rules in the game. user summary