How do Lasso, The Judge and Belle Star interact with equipment cards?

Question

I am wondering how Lasso/The Judge/Belle Star should interact with equipment cards, since the rule book doesn't seem to be very clear about interactions with other expansions.

• Lasso: cards in play in front of all players have no effect.
• The Judge: players cannot play cards in front of themselves.
• Belle Star: during her turn, cards in play in front of other players have no effect.

The rules say that the only way to remove one from a player is by paying the purchase cost + 1 gold, and they can't be the target of panic/cat balou cards/effects. But how does that apply to effects that say "cards in play"?

Also, since it's not mentioned at all in the rules: if a sheriff kills the deputy, does that mean he would lose all his equipment in addition to the normal losses?

Answer 1

Lasso and Belle Star would keep permanent (which I think are black-bordered?) equipment cards from having any effect. You can, however, still play one, since those cards don't specifically prevent playing cards. Since removing one by paying cost + 1 gold is an action (according to the Gold Rush rulebook), you should also still be able to do that even in Lasso or Belle Star are active. The cards don't have any effect, but they're still equipment.

I'm less sure about The Judge. It says you can't play cards in front of you or any player, but I think "play" refers to playing from your hand. Getting equipment cards is called "buying", so I'm inclined to say it's a different action and isn't affected by The Judge. I'm not completely sure about that, though, and I haven't found any errata about it.

The rules seem to indicate that equipment cards are identical to other cards in play when it comes to elimination. It does say that all equipment cards are discarded when eliminated, and the rules for Shadow-Gunslinger says "All the rules for the elimination of a player still apply: You discard all your cards in hand and in play (including all equipment)...." That tells me that a Sheriff who eliminates a Deputy would lose his equipment just as though they were regular cards in play.