Carnival Cowboys: a free turn-based browser strategy game
Four cowboys, one 45-hex board, and every round everyone plans two actions in secret. Then all plans play out at the same time. Outguess your rivals, keep your lives, and be the last cowboy standing.
What kind of game is it?
Carnival Cowboys is a tactical, turn-based strategy game set in the Wild West. It runs in the browser on desktop and phone, with nothing to install. Each match seats four cowboys on a honeycomb board of 45 hexes, and the last cowboy standing wins.
Unlike most turn based games, nobody waits for anyone: it is a simultaneous turn-based game. Every round each player secretly plans two actions — Move one hex, Shoot, Stay or Reload — and then every plan resolves together, Action 1 for everyone, then Action 2. Reading where your rivals will step is the whole game.
Hex strategy in a western setting
- Simultaneous turns: plans are locked before anything moves, so you predict instead of react.
- Hex movement: step one hex at a time. A cowboy who stays put holds his tile; two cowboys heading for the same hex both stay where they were.
- Straight shots: a shot flies 1 or 2 hexes along one of the six straight lines and stops at the first cowboy in its path.
- Three lives and six bullets: every cowboy has three lives and a six-shot chamber. Reloading costs an action.
- Six hazard maps: falling tiles, snakes, a bison stampede, scorpions, dynamite and rolling barrels each change how a board plays.
- The land closes in: on every map except Mountain Summit, from round 5 the outer ring of hexes closes every two rounds, so no match drags on.
Full rules and beginner tactics: How to play.
Six boards, six hazards
Battle Royale · Mountain Summit
Three warned tiles fall after every round. End your turn on one and you fall.
Snakes · Twin Peaks Canyon
A new snake arrives each round, at most 5 at a time, and slides one hex toward a cowboy. A bite is fatal.
Bison Run · Sunset Prairie
With no warning, a stampede sweeps two neighbouring lanes after Action 2. One life each.
Scorpion · Carnival Town
A sting costs a life, and the stung cowboy cannot move or shoot next round.
Bombardment · Copperhead Mine
Dynamite drops without warning on even rounds. A direct hit kills; a blast next door costs a life.
Barrel Run · Dustfall Saloon
Barrels roll before Action 1. A hit costs a life, knocks you aside and cancels both your actions.
Free to play, with optional paid leagues
- Training: free practice on any map against computer-played rivals. No account needed; nothing is saved, spent or won.
- Drifter League: free with an account. Points from your first 20 matches each day go on a weekly board, and the weekly top 3 each win a free costume NFT mint.
- Arena League (optional, paid): for players who own a costume NFT and buy their ammunition. The top 10 of the weekly Arena board share a prize pool paid in USDC. It is skill-based, and winning anything is not guaranteed.
How points, leagues and prizes work: Rewards and leagues FAQ.
Play with people, or against the computer
When you enter a league, the game looks for other players for up to 10 seconds. Any seat still empty is filled by a computer-played rival, marked with a blue plaque, so a match always starts with four cowboys.