Are there any rules differences between the two versions of Unexploded Cow?

Question

Cheapass Games' first game was Unexploded Cow, which like many of the company's early products, consisted of just the basic cards and required players to scavenge other game components from elsewhere (e.g. getting money from Monopoly). Recently, they released Unexploded Cow Deluxe, which includes color cards and all of the game pieces.

Are there any rules differences between these two versions? Or is the only real difference the components included?

Answer 1

Cheapass Games did a fair bit of retooling the game. The core is the same, but the mix of cards and costs is a bit different, and they've also altered the rules:

• Ante used to include filling the Pot (for general play) and the Bank (a prize for whoever won the city game). The Bank has been eliminated, and the game works with just the Pot and the 500 franc ante from each player.
• Speaking of, all the amounts have been converted to "francs" to use the new tokens that are included.
• The starting money is now 5000 francs, not $2000, but the ante is now 500 francs, and not $100.
• If the Pot becomes empty in the old game, it stays empty, and no one can get money from it until more funds end up being put in through normal play. In the new game, it can still run dry and fail to provide funds, but all players must re-ante if the Pot starts a turn empty. Keeps the money flowing.
• City cards in the old game just run number values from 1 thru 12. Now they have varying values (the highest is now 6 or 7, more average towns), and a second effect (take money, get another cow, etc)
• A bomb roll simply used to count down from the right side of your field and then around the table until it matched a cow to explode, yours or someone elses. It still does but now rolling a six forfeits the roll, you fail to find a bomb completely, and the player to your left gets a free roll using his field, as though it was their turn (yes, this means they can take a city on your turn, if you screw up the bomb roll).
• Instead of taking the bank for winning the City score, the game now ends in a Sudden Death roll-off. Players keep doing bomb rolls and exploding cows until they earn out the last of the pot. Winning the City score earns you the first roll.

The rest of the game remains the same. The event cards like "Natural Causes" and special cows like spies, mechanics, and generals remain the same. Some of the costs and values are tweaked slightly for balance, but that's it (sadly it looks like I won't be able to show card-by-card here, but there are several shots of the new game online, and Cheapass has released the original version for free as a print-yourself-and-play). So it's a polished up game, plus the remade art (which I have to mention is great and continues the hilarity of the theme) and much much better card stock.