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The Boss
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Blackrock City
2012
Rules assistance for Blackrock City
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2–4 players
- 30 min
- 10+
- Complexity 1.9/5
Rules assistant for Blackrock City
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Blackrock City is a board game released in 2012 for 2–4 players, 30 minutes per game, and ages 10 and up. It was designed by Alain Ollier and its main mechanics are Auction / Bidding.
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About the game
In Blackrock City, you are the chief of your group of outlaws, and you want to claim as much gold and silver as possible by attacking cities and stagecoaches. You will have to be clever to estimate the number of outlaws needed to attack – and watch out for the Sheriff and your opponents! The game is played in rounds. Each round, players bid on the right to perform the next bank robbery by placing a number of outlaws in the center of the playing area; each player starts with eight outlaws. Alternatively a player can skip the round or postpone an attack until after other players bid, but doing so will cause one or more of his outlaws to become wounded. When a player bids outlaws, the sheriff token moves a number of city tiles equal to the number of outlaws bid (in most cases). If a sheriff lands on a player's Chief of the Outlaws token – as these tokens are located on city tiles and not used for bidding – one of that player's outlaws is wounded. The winner of the bid attacks a city, most likely netting him gold and possibly giving him new outlaws (as they are freed from that city's prison), but which city is attacked is determined by the difference between the winning bid and the lowest bid. Thus, bids from the other players will influence the winner's gains – and if the winner lands on the city tile where the sheriff is located, he gets nothing. The player with the second highest bid attacks the stagecoach and gains one silver. If a player claims something from a city tile, it's flipped over and now has a different power for the remainder of the game, allowing a player who lands on the tile to steal gold or silver cubes from an opponent or wounding one of that player's outlaws. After each round, players collect the outlaws they used to bid and "wound" the healthy outlaws by flipping them over to their wounded side. A wounded outlaw who is wounded again is removed from the game. (Prisoners come into the game wounded, so they can be used only once.) The game ends when no player has any outlaws remaining or all players refuse to bid in a given round. The player who has collected the most gold and silver wins!
Questions and answers
Blackrock City supports 2–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Blackrock City is 30 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Blackrock City for ages 10 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Blackrock City has a complexity rating of 1.9 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Blackrock City belongs to these categories: American West. Its main mechanics are Auction / Bidding. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Blackrock City are: Alain Ollier. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Blackrock City as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.