Chang Yu Di and Tsai Huei-Chiang's Duel West, Soso Studio, How To Play & Review
Transcript
Fast hands, quick math. Think you're the fastest draw in the West? Duel West is about to put that to the test. Duel West is a card game featuring mechanics such as card play conflict resolution, real time, and contracts. Designed by Chang Yu Di and Sai Wei Chang with illustrations by Sai Wei Chang. The game is published by So So Studio in 2026. It accommodates two to five players, takes around 15 minutes to play, and is recommended for ages 10 and up. In Duel West, players take on the roles of gunslingers in the Wild West competing in a series of target shooting challenges to prove who's the fastest draw in the West.
Each player has an identical set of bullet cards with values ranging from one to five. These cards form your personal magazine deck, and you'll need to carefully manage them throughout the game as you rapidly flip cards to try to hit the targets. The game includes 15 different target cards, each representing a different shooting challenge. Some targets require you to hit an exact value, while others require you to reach a multiple of a specific number. There are also high and low targets, where players compete to reach either the highest or lowest total value using a specific number of cards. During each shooting challenge, everyone plays simultaneously, rapidly flipping cards from their magazine deck while trying to satisfy the current target's requirements.
As soon as a player believes they've completed a target, they shout hit, and everyone stops shooting to determine who successfully completed the challenge. Players earn scoring tokens for successful targets, but those tokens are actually bullet cards taken from their own magazine deck. Once a player collects three scoring tokens, they win the round. But, those cards are permanently removed from their deck, giving them a smaller magazine deck in the next round. The first player to win two rounds wins the game. Now, let's take a closer look at how to play Duello West. How to play. Prepare your magazine. Each player begins with the same set of nine bullet cards, two cards valued at one, two valued at two, two valued at three, and one of each of four and five.
These cards form your magazine deck. Arrange your cards in any order you like, then place them face down in front of you. Reveal the target. To begin a shooting challenge, reveal a target card, and place it where everyone can see it. Each target has its own requirements that players must try to complete using the bullet cards in their magazine deck. Some targets require an exact total, while others require players to reach a multiple of a specified number. There are also high and low targets, where players must flip a specific number of cards and compete to achieve either the highest or lowest total. After revealing a target card, but before each shooting phase, players may rearrange their magazine deck or shuffle it without looking at the cards.
Once everyone is ready, the shooting begins. Start shooting. The shooting phase happens simultaneously, so everyone begins flipping cards from their magazine deck at the same time. As you reveal each bullet card, keep track of the total, and try to satisfy the current target's requirement. As soon as a player believes they've completed the target, they shout hit. Everyone immediately stops flipping cards and the players determine whether the target's condition has been successfully met. If there are multiple target cards available during the shooting phase, they are resolved one at a time. A player can potentially win more than one target during the same turn.
So, you'll need to stay focused and react quickly. Don't call a false hit. Be careful when shouting hit. If you call it before the target's condition has actually been met, the entire shooting challenge is replayed from the beginning. The player who incorrectly called hit must also sit out the next shooting challenge and cannot flip cards or participate in the resolution. Collect your rewards. After the shooting challenge is completed, whether successfully or unsuccessfully, all players retrieve the bullet cards they flipped during the challenge and may place them back anywhere in their magazine deck. If a player successfully completed a target, the winner is determined in the following order.
First, the player must meet the target condition. If multiple players meet the condition, the player who flipped fewer cards wins. If they flipped the same number of cards, the player who called hit first wins. If the winner still can't be separated, they share the victory. The winning player then randomly draws one bullet card from their own magazine deck and places it face down beside them as a scoring token. They draw one scoring token for each target card they successfully achieved. Any target cards that were successfully completed are then discarded. If nobody completes a target during the shooting challenge, no one receives a scoring token and the target cards remain in play for the next challenge.
End the round. The round continues until a player collects three scoring tokens. As soon as a player reaches three, they immediately win the round. The winning player then stacks their three scoring bullet cards together and removes them from the game. This means they will begin the next round with a smaller magazine deck. All other players return their scoring bullet cards to their magazine decks, giving them their full sets of cards again. A new round then begins with all players preparing their magazine decks and continuing the game. If the target deck runs out, simply shuffle the discarded target cards to create a new deck. Win the game. The game continues until one player wins two rounds. That player is declared the fastest draw in the west and wins the game.
Duel West is a really fast and crazy card flipping game and I think it captures the theme extremely well. The whole idea is to prove who is the fastest draw in the west and that's exactly what you'll be doing. You'll be flipping cards as quickly as possible while adding up their values like you're taking part in a quick math session. The gameplay can get wild, especially with a higher player count. There's something really satisfying about landing a good shot on a target and successfully winning a shootout can feel extremely awesome. The fun factor is definitely high and the fast-paced gameplay makes it an easy game to bring to the table. The artwork and components are fairly standard, but they get the job done and fit the game well.
Overall, Duel West is a quick, chaotic, and fun filler that I really enjoyed playing. If you enjoyed games like Bang or Cash 'n Guns, this game might be right up your alley as well. Thank you so much for watching. Hope you enjoyed the video and see you next time.