I’ve never been to a rodeo before, but I have heard of bull riding. What I haven’t heard of is sheep riding. Is that a thing? Maybe one of our fellow Texan readers can chime in and let me know. Why the question? Because today’s game we are talking about is called Mutton Bustin. The rulebook was unclear if the winner got to also enjoy a nice MTL, Mutton, Lettuce, and Tomato (where the mutton is nice and lean…).
In all seriousness, Mutton Bustin is a party game for 2-4 players published by 25th Century Games.
Gameplay Overview:
In Mutton Bustin, each player will compete to see who can stay on the back of a bucking sheep (played by everyone else) the longest.
Each round, one player will take on the role of the rider, while the rest of the players are the sheep. The rider must work their way around the track by rolling a six-sided die. If they roll a number equal to or higher than the next number on the track, they can advance their rider.
Meanwhile, the sheep players are each rolling their 6-sided die. Their die has a sheep face on one side and a blank on the rest. When they roll a sheep, they must perform/say the action on their card, then the shared card, and then they get to place their die in the sheep pen on the board.
The trick is all this is happening in real time, and if the sheep players are able to place all 6 of their dice before the rider either finishes their track, or decides to stop, the rider is bucked off and scores no points. However, if the rider makes it to the end of the track, they earn 10 points, if they decide to call it quits ahead of time, they score points equal to the highest score value they passed.
Then, everyone passes their role clockwise and a new turn begins. After all players have had a chance to be the rider, new action cards are dealt out and a new round begins. After two rounds, whoever has the most points, wins.
Game Experience:
Excuse me for a moment while I channel my inner Drew Carey. Welcome to Mutton Bustin where everything is made up and the points don’t matter. I’ve played a number of games of this one and, for the most part, no one has really cared about the final score. This is a goofy party game where the fun lies in the ridiculous things the cards make you do.
In fact, the rider turn is pretty void of excitement. You are just constantly rolling a single die, trying to get a high number. The only real tension comes when the sheep players are close to locking all 6 of their dice. You need to decide whether you will push your luck a little farther or just bank the points you have.
However, the sheep players are usually having the most fun. While their die rolling is mostly pointless busy work, the things they have to do are flat-out silly. Things like make finger guns and shout “pew, pew, pew”, or hold up a finger and say “hot dogs, hot dogs, get your hot dogs”, or fist bump another player, pose for a selfie with another player, or shoot a pretend bow and arrow. There is actually a lot of creativity in the sheep cards.
That being said, the fun in this game is going to be highly group dependent. If you’ve got a pack of serious euro gamers who love to crunch numbers, this one is going to fall flat immediately. But to play with your family, non-gamer friends, or even just buddies while having a few cocktails, it’s a fun time. I played it with my kids (6 years old), and they loved it. I had to screen some of the cards ahead of time for ones that were a bit too complex for them, but they enjoyed rolling the dice and performing the weird antics.
Final Thoughts:
Mutton Bustin is a game that you will know pretty quickly if it’s for your group or not. It’s silly, stupid, but can also be a lot of fun with the right group. It makes a good family or party game, but isn’t for anyone who is going to care about the final score. The point of this one is to have fun and be silly. If that’s in your wheelhouse, give this one a look.
Final Score: 3 Stars – Acting stupid can be pretty fun sometimes.
Hits:
• A lot of creativity in the cards
• Nice production values
• Fun and silly with the right group
Misses:
• The rider role is kind of meh
• Will be highly group dependent
