Sheriff of Nottingham Board Game

Step into the role of merchants trying to bring valuable goods into Nottingham while dealing with the suspicious Sheriff. In Sheriff of Nottingham, players must decide whether to play honestly, bluff, negotiate, or risk smuggling illegal goods past the Sheriff. A fun combination of strategy, deduction, bluffing, and negotiation.

🎮 How to Play

1. Choose the Sheriff

At the beginning of each round, one player becomes the Sheriff. The remaining players are Merchants. The Sheriff does not participate in the Market phase but watches the other players carefully for suspicious behavior.

2. Market Phase

Merchants manage their hands and try to collect valuable goods.

Players can discard unwanted cards and draw replacements, using the available discard piles and the Goods deck to build a useful hand.

3. Load Your Merchant Bag

Each Merchant secretly places goods into their bag and closes it.

You can choose to bring legal goods into Nottingham—or take a risk by secretly including contraband.

4. Declare Your Goods

Each Merchant hands their closed bag to the Sheriff and makes a declaration.

You must tell the Sheriff:

• The exact number of cards in your bag
• The single type of legal good you're supposedly carrying

You cannot declare contraband. This is where the bluffing begins!

Example:
You put 4 cards in your bag, including 2 Apples, Cheese, and Contraband.

You could declare:

"I have 4 Apples."

Now the Sheriff has to decide whether you're telling the truth.

5. Sheriff Inspection

The Sheriff can inspect any bags they believe are suspicious—or let them pass.

If the Sheriff opens a bag and finds contraband or incorrectly declared goods, the Merchant must pay the applicable penalty.

But there's a catch: if the Sheriff opens a bag and everything inside matches the declaration, the Sheriff must pay the Merchant a penalty instead.

This creates the game's biggest strategic decision: Can you tell when another player is bluffing?

6. Make Deals & Bribe the Sheriff

Merchants can negotiate with the Sheriff before their bags are inspected. You can offer gold, goods, or other deals to convince the Sheriff to let your bag pass.

The Sheriff must decide whether the bribe is worth accepting—or whether the bag is worth opening.

7. Sell Your Goods

Successfully delivered goods are added to your Merchant Stand and contribute to your final score.

Legal goods can also help you compete for King and Queen bonuses for having delivered the most of particular goods.

8. Pass the Sheriff

At the end of the round, the Sheriff marker moves to the next player.

The game continues until everyone has had the required number of turns as Sheriff.

🏆 9. Determine the Winner

At the end of the game, players calculate their total score from:

• 🪙 Gold coins
• 🍎 Legal goods
• 👜 Contraband successfully smuggled
• 👑 King & Queen bonuses

The player with the highest total score wins and becomes the most successful merchant in Nottingham!