SNAP Review – Boom, Bang, Gold!

Boom, Bang, Gold is a simple, fast-paced game from HABA, designed by Alexandre Emerit. Up to four players will race to get as much face up gold from the mine as quickly as they can.

Listen in as Andrew, Anitra, and five-year-old Elliot tell you about the game.

How to Play

The box for Boom Bang Gold forms the “mine”. Place it in the center where all players can reach it.

Each player gets a “shelf” and a character with a box to hold gold – each character has a special protection that may come into play later.

Everyone also gets the most important part – a wooden stick of dynamite.

On the count of “Boom, Bang, GOLD”, everyone tosses their dynamite into the mine. The box has a false bottom, so all the pieces will bounce up and around, even out of the box. Look for pieces that have flipped over, showing gold nuggets or special items.

Grab gold nuggets and action tiles and put them on your shelf! (Use only one hand, though.)

Watch out for danger tiles such as bats, snakes, rats, and ghosts. If you see the danger that YOUR character is protected from, shout it out! Then you may keep collecting while all the other players must place both hands on their head and say “help!” before continuing. Danger tiles aren’t collected; they stay in the mine.

Actions

Once all face-up tiles (that aren’t dangers) are collected, then action tiles get played.

Picks let you turn over 5 more tiles to look for hidden gold (collect it if you find it)

Dynamite lets a single player throw another stick of dynamite into the mine and collect any gold that turns face-up.

A player who has the sheriff’s star forces all other players to put “illegal gold” (orange instead of yellow) back into the mine.

The revolver lets you “duel” another player and possibly steal up to 2 pieces of their gold.

Once all the actions have been resolved, they are returned to the mine and everyone puts the gold they obtained into their chest. Set the “clock hands” to a new day and play another round!

The game ends after 12 rounds. The person with the most gold is the winner.

Impressions

Boom Bang Gold is silly, fast-paced, frantic fun. An entire 12-round game takes about half an hour, but you can easily cut that in half. We usually only play 5-6 rounds. Later rounds usually go quickly anyway, since there are fewer and fewer gold nuggets to be found.

As with all competitive speed games, this can get frustrating for kids who have a slower reaction time.

When we’ve played in a mixed group, we have a house rule that no one can pick up anything until the youngest player has taken the first token.

You can also increase the challenge by giving specific tasks to each danger token (clapping, hands over eyes, etc.)

Boom, Bang, Gold is best played as a filler between other games, or limited to kids of roughly the same ability level.

The box says ages 7+ and we think that’s about right. Younger kids can play, but they’re the most likely to be frustrated by the speed aspect. (They may also chuck the dynamite too hard and scatter pieces far and wide.)

For a fast-paced, silly game that can be played by almost everyone, we rate Boom, Bang, Gold 3 out of 5 gold nuggets. Find it on Amazon for about $20, or ask for it at your local toy and games store.

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SNAP review music is Avalanche, provided courtesy of You Bred Raptors?

The Family Gamers received a copy of Boom, Bang, Gold from HABA Games for this review.

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