The Dusty Trail is a map exploration game where adventurers defeat outlaws, shoot it out (with weapons of the old west) or they gamble with the other players to earn gold.
Players start at the train station in the middle of the old west, equipped with only a little gold to spend. Each turn, players move along the map and explore new areas by laying down a card that represents a place on the map. Exploration leads to new weapons, outlaws that block the way, gold, shoot outs, saloon brawls, cattle stampedes and more.
Enemies are fought with a simple dice mechanic. Each weapon and enemy rolls a single six sided dice, and their power varies depending on the weapon used vs the difficulty number on the outlaws card. Each victory is rewarded with a number of gold pieces.
When a player lays down the last map card reaching the end of the Dust Trail a random infamous character is drawn and must be defeated.
The game ends when the infamous character is defeated and gold is collected for their defeat. The winner is the player with the most gold. If players are tied, they must shoot it out.