Calamity Jane and Billie the Kid play Draw Stranger to find out who is the best gunslinger in the Old West.
Setup
Calamity Jane shuffles the cards and deals four cards to each player and places three cards face down in the table between them. These three cards are the duel piles. She places the rest of the cards in a draw pile next to the three duel piles.
Buildup
Calamity Jane looks at her cards and sees 4 Tumbleweed, 6 Bullet, 7 Bullet, 11 Book.
Billie the Kid got 2 Tumbleweed, 12 Horseshoe, 15 Peacemaker, 17 Shotgun.
Both players then choose one card to play. Calamity Jane is not happy to have two bullets on her hand and no guns so she places 6 Bullet face down on the table in front of her. Billie the Kid is happy to have both a Peacemaker and a shotgun on his hand. He places 12 Horseshoe face down on the table.
Both players then reveal their card. 6 is lower than 12 so Calamity Jane plays the 6 Bullet for the Buildup effect. She decides to place it under the middle duel pile. Billie the Kid then plays the horseshoe: He places 12 Horseshoe face down on top of the middle duel pile and gives it a quick shuffle. He is happy to know there is a bullet out there now!
The lady with the black hat
No player went for their gun so we are still in Buildup. Both players draw a new card from the draw pile. Calamity Jane draws 10 Black Hat and Billie the Kid draws 1 Tumbleweed.
Calamity Jane is still not happy to not get a gun but at least she can get rid of the other bullet by playing the Black Hat. She places 10 Black Hat face down on the table.
Billie the Kid considers whether to go for his gun now. He could play the Peacemaker and then have two Tumbleweeds and a Shotgun for the Shootout, flipping over a whooping five cards out. Five cards out of 7 and he knows there is at least one Bullet out there. However, he would fire the very last shot. Calamity Jane might find a bullet faster! He chickens out and places 2-Tumbleweed face down in front of him.
Both players reveal their card. 1 Tumbleweed goes first, Billie places it on top of duel pile number 3, not wanting to bury the bullet he knows is in the middle duel pile deeper. Calamity Jane plays 10 Black Hat, puts it aside for the Shootout and places another card on top of a duel pile. She decides to get rid of her second bullet and places 7 Bullet face down on top of the middle duel pile. Risky as she doesn’t have any guns. So she says “let’s bury that bullet good and deep” to mislead Billie into believing she didn’t just put another bullet on top.
The marshal arrives!
Both players draws another card. Calamity Jane draws 5 Bullet and curses to herself. At least she knows where all the bullets are! Calamity Jane decides to play 5 Bullet.
Billie draws 8 Marshal. Billie is tempted to go for his gun now that he has a Marshal star to stop a first lucky shot from Calamity Jane. But he would have to dump one of his two guns which would likely bury the bullet even deeper. So again he chickens out and plays 8 Marshal.
Both players reveal their card. Jane places 5 Bullet under the middle duel pile. Now all three bullets are in the middle pile! Billie puts 8 Marshal aside for the shootout, says “I’m the Marshal, time to clean up this town” and places 1 Tumbleweed face down on top of duel pile 3. “I have a bullet for you”, he says, but Jane knows he is bluffing as she has seen all three bullets.
Say your prayers
Still nobody has triggered the Shootout so both players draw one more card leaving the draw pile empty. The Shootout will start after this card!
Jane draws 14 Schofield. Finally a gun! She places 11 Book face down.
Billie draws 3 Tumbleweed which he decides to play now. Both players then reveal their card.
Billie places 3 Tumbleweed on top of the middle duel pile. Jane looks at the third duel pile and places 11 Book on top. She knows that there are no bullets there but maybe she can find a Knife and maybe she can bluff Billie into thinking that she doesn’t know where all the bullets are.
Calamity Jane sees that duel pile 3 contains 11 Book (that she placed), 1 Tumbleweed (that Billie placed), 2 Tumbleweed (that Billie placed secretly) and 13 Lightning. She now knows that she the 14 Schofield she has on her hand is the fastest gun in the shootout! “Whoo, interesting!” she says to spook Billie.
Shootout!
With no more cards in the draw pile, it’s time for the shootout!
Calamity Jane picks up 10 Black hat and contemplates what order to play her three cards. She has the fastest gun and she knows the second card in the middle duel pile is a bullet. She could play 4 Tumbleweed and then 14 Schofield and then be sure to hit on the second card. But Billie could find the bullet first with a Peacemaker. Then it would be better to play the Black Hat first. But Billie doesn’t know that she placed a bullet there!
Billie picks up 8 Marshal and looks at his three cards. Shoot first with the big, slow guns and save the Marshal star for the end? Or? 17 Shotgun might find the third bullet in duel pile 1. The two bullets in the middle duel pile are buried deep. If Calamity Jane plays the Black Hat when Billie plays the Peacemaker, he doesn’t even get to decide what duel pile to flip cards from.
Calamity Jane decides to play 4 Tumbleweed, 14 Schofield, and 10 Black Hat and place the three cards face down in front of her in that order.
Billie decides to play 17 Shotgun, 15 Peacemaker and 8 Marshal and places them face down in front of him.
Draw, stranger!
Calamity Jane calls out: “Draw, stranger!” And both players reveal their first card. Calamity Jane is playing it cool, taking time to aim with 4 Tumbleweed. Billie flips over the top card of all three duel piles. There was the Knife! The top card of the first duel pile.
Both players reveal their second card. Calamity Jane is faster with 14 Schofield and flips over the top two cards of the middle duel pile. “Bang you are dead!” she says as she reveals 7 Bullet and 16 Remington. If Billie had played 8 Marshal now he would have survived one Hit. But then Calamity Jane would have played Black Hat and would likely have made him miss! It was not Billie’s day today. Or maybe if he had went for his shotgun earlier?
“Best out of three?” he asks as he collects the cards and shuffles for another round.