Teppo Saarinen
Finland
Turku
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A lot of people seem to have problems with the Shootout concept in the game. True, the rules are a bit vague about this (though I have to say that other than this, I've never had any problems with the rules). First of all we have another very annoying "Play Example" of a situation that is not even possible in the game! (The "example" says that "Player A: Plays shootout card on player B" even though there are no such cards in the game)
Here's the rules interpretation that I have used. (It's based on the assumption that the Spud Gun (Weapon/Gun) was not intended by the designers to be totally useless.)
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There are two ways that a Shootout can start in the game; voluntary and involuntary. There are four cards that can result in a shootout. There are NO cards by which a player can directly start a shootout against another player!
A voluntary shootout can start when a player in her turn decides to play in a way that she knows will result in a shootout. This is possible when trying to whack Anne the Mail Carrier (Victim), the President of the U.S.A. (Victim) or trying to whack anyone in the Post Office (Location).
An involuntary shootout can start when a player tries to whack a victim that has the Undercover Cop (Surprise) card under it.
When a player starts a shootout they must either try to whack a victim with a Gun weapon which is also counted as their first Gun card played for the shootout, or try to whack the victim with a non-gun weapon and immediately play a Gun card as their first Gun card played for the shootout. The starting player is now the "Target" of the shootout while the other players take the role of the "Police". In clockwise order, starting from the player to the left of the Target, the other players can now play a Gun card against the Target. When the Police have all either passed or played a gun, the Target can again play a Gun, and this continues until no-one wants to play a Gun anymore - ie. all the players have passed in conjunction. The total body count value of all the Guns played by the Police is now counted against the total body count value of the Guns played by the Target.
If the Police total is higher, the Target loses the shootout; she loses her next turn, the Victim and any Location remain, but any surprise that was under the victim is removed.
If the Target's total is equal or higher, the Target wins the shootout and the victim is whacked as normally.
In both cases everybody loses all the cards that they played during the shootout. The Target also loses the initial weapon that they tried to whack the victim with (see below). Cards played by any player are not replaced until each player's next Draw phase. In the case of the Target, this will be immediately after the shootout.
Points:
-You do not need a Gun weapon to start a shootout. (This is to bring the voluntary/involuntary cases in line with each other, as with the Surprise card you would not necessarily know that you're starting a shootout.) You can try to whack a shootout victim/location with a non-gun weapon, but you have to immediately put down a Gun weapon or lose the shootout automatically. In this case the Police do not need to play any Guns at all.
-If you start a shootout by trying to whack someone with a Gun, that Gun also counts for the shootout; for example, if you only have Gun weapons, you are not required to play two of them in order to start a shootout.
-There can only be one shootout per whacking; for example, the Undercover Cop placed under Anne the Mail Carrier has no effect at all.
-Spud Gun (Weapon/Gun): This is useful only in a shootout, and only for the Target player. You can try to whack a shootout Victim with a non-Gun weapon, then immediately play the Spud Gun; if the Police are unwilling or unable to play any Guns, you win the shootout. (Even though the Spud Gun has a body count of 0, it is still a Gun card, and the Police total of 0 would be equal to the Target's total of 0.)
-Just Woo It (Event): Any player, Target or Police, can play this card any time during a shootout to win it automatically.
-Get Out of Jail Free (Event): This can not be played by the Police to win a shootout - they're the Police after all!
Strategies for shootout:
-As Target, whack a high value Victim by using the Spud Gun in conjuction with a poor non-Gun weapon and Just Woo It or Get Out of Jail Free, to win a shootout while making other players discard good Guns.
-As Police, do not play any Guns, but wait until Target and the other Police have discarded a lot of good Guns, then Just Woo It. Everybody else has lost good Guns and the Target loses the shootout.
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Hope this helps, any comments are appreciated.
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bill d.
United States
Unspecified
Connecticut
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Quote: When a player starts a shootout they must either try to whack a victim with a Gun weapon which is also counted as their first Gun card played for the shootout...
This part I think is incorrect. It says in the rules the target will lose the shootout unless he discards one weapon card with the gun attribute. Considering you used the gun it's no longer in your hand, therefore I think you can't discard it as needed.The exception here is the spud gun which can be used to win a shootout if nobody else plays a gun card, again you have to attempt to whack the victim first with any other weapon. The reason behind this is your not 'playing' the gun on a victim, your simply discarding it. Basically just further backup of your reason how you said the spud gun works.
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Renato Ramonda
Italy
Milan
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FWIW, I read the rules for the first time some days ago, and when we played we gave more or less exactly your interpratation, Teppo.
Apart from the (confusing) example, and the fact that consequences for the Shootout are "hidden" after the example itself, the rules are not that bad 
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Teppo Saarinen
Finland
Turku
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Quote: This part I think is incorrect. It says in the rules the target will lose the shootout unless he discards one weapon card with the gun attribute. Considering you used the gun it's no longer in your hand, therefore I think you can't discard it as needed.The exception here is the spud gun which can be used to win a shootout if nobody else plays a gun card, again you have to attempt to whack the victim first with any other weapon. The reason behind this is your not 'playing' the gun on a victim, your simply discarding it. Basically just further backup of your reason how you said the spud gun works.
Good reasoning Bill. I can't remember anymore why we decided that a Gun used for the whacking would also count for the shootout; I guess it must have been common logic (you wouldn't shoot a victim with an AK-47, then immediately drop it in favor of a Colt .45... or something like that 
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Nick Rollins
United States
Dover
New Hampshire
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I disagree with nearly all of this. I don't have the rules in front of me, although I read them earlier tonight. Here's where my view differs from Teppolainen's:
Teppolainen wrote: When a player starts a shootout they must either try to whack a victim with a Gun weapon which is also counted as their first Gun card played for the shootout, or try to whack the victim with a non-gun weapon and immediately play a Gun card as their first Gun card played for the shootout.
As was mentioned above, I don't think this is how it works. You whack the victim as normal, and then you go to a shootout (and follow the rules thereof). The two phases, if you will, are completely unrelated.
Quote: The starting player is now the "Target" of the shootout while the other players take the role of the "Police". In clockwise order, starting from the player to the left of the Target, the other players can now play a Gun card against the Target. When the Police have all either passed or played a gun, the Target can again play a Gun, and this continues until no-one wants to play a Gun anymore - ie. all the players have passed in conjunction. The total body count value of all the Guns played by the Police is now counted against the total body count value of the Guns played by the Target.
If the Police total is higher, the Target loses the shootout; she loses her next turn, the Victim and any Location remain, but any surprise that was under the victim is removed.
If the Target's total is equal or higher, the Target wins the shootout and the victim is whacked as normally.
I think the rules are pretty clear about this part. Here's what happens in a shootout:
1. Once a shootout is initiated, the Target has to discard a gun card, with some body count value. If the Target does not do this, the shootout ends with the target losing.
2. The other players must then discard a gun or guns with body count value equal to or greater than that at the end of Step 1. If they cannot, the target wins the shootout.
(Note that the rules are not clear about exactly how you can do this, so you should discuss it beforehand, or create a house rule. You could decide to do it in order or willy-nilly, with or without table talk. Our playgroup allowed table talk and anyone to throw in guns chaotically.)
3. The target now has to discard one or more guns, with the total body count (from steps 1 and 3) being equal to or higher than that at the end of Step 2. If Step 2 equaled Step 1, Step 3 could then equal Step 2 ONLY if a gun with 0 value is played.
And so on.
Quote: -Just Woo It (Event): Any player, Target or Police, can play this card any time during a shootout to win it automatically.
-Get Out of Jail Free (Event): This can not be played by the Police to win a shootout - they're the Police after all!
My interpretation is that the Target wins or loses a shootout, but the other players do not. Thus, anything that says "Win a shootout" can only be played by the target, since the other players aren't trying to "win" the shootout; they are trying to make the target "lose" the shootout. The only person who can win a shootout is the target.
Thoughts?
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