Circle the Wagons: Second Shot (2025)

Overview

Think you've seen it all out here on the prairie? Think again, partner! There's always a new adventure just over that next hill. Best keep your wits about you—anything can happen out here!

Circle the Wagons: Second Shot is a brand new set of 18 cards that can either be played standalone or combined with the base Circle the Wagons game. In this 2-player drafting game, players take turns picking cards from the circle and adding them to their scoring tableau. The twist? Any card in the circle you skip over goes directly to your opponent. Arrange your cards to create scoring blocks and fulfill the three shared scoring goals if you wanna be the best in the West!

Second Shot also introduces Newfangled Mode. In this variant, all 36 cards are shuffled together and then split back into two unique 18-card sets. Players play through the first set, scoring only the shared goals, then continue their game using the second set and the regular block-scoring rules. It’s winner-take-all in this ultimate showdown!

Second Shot can be played as a standalone game or combined with the base Circle the Wagons game to create an all-new set of 18 cards.

As in the original game, 3 cards are dealt to the center with their scoring conditions showing. The remaining cards are placed in a circle around them with their grid of 4 territories showing. A starting card is chosen from the territories, determining where players begin their draft.

On a player’s turn, they draft one territory card. The opposing player then takes every territory card between the starting card and the chosen card. Both players add their cards to their tableau.

Players must keep the cards in the same vertical orientation (though they can rotate them to have the opposite short edge up). Cards must be placed so that they align with a previously-placed card (if any) along at least one edge. Cards may partially or completely overlap each other, though a newly-gained card cannot be placed underneath another card.

Players alternate turns, using the most-recently taken card’s spot in the circle as the new starting point, until all territory cards have been taken and placed.

Both players then tally their score. Points are gained for having large connected blocks of each territory type, as well as for meeting each of the shared scoring conditions. The player with the highest score wins.

In Second Shot’s Newfangled Mode, players instead use the full 36 cards from Second Shot as well as the base game, shuffling them together and splitting them into 2 18-card decks. Setup and gameplay follows as normal using one deck, then the other. After the first deck is exhausted, players calculate only their score from the scoring conditions. Those cards are cleared away and the second deck is played as normal. At the end of the second deck, the players score both the second set of scoring conditions and their largest blocks. Adding all of their scores together, the players determine the grand winner!

Expansions

Circle the Wagons: Lone Cowboy (for Second Shot)

Circle the Wagons: Lone Cowboy Collection