From a simple shoot-out, the game evolves through one on one duels to handling items through to innocent bystanders and hostages. There's a lot of imagination on display in the variety on offer. Each has its own setup and win conditions as well as slowly unfolding a simple narrative and increasing numbers of rules.

Most of the time you win by eliminating a certain number of enemy gunslingers before they do the same to you. Knock over another cowboy with a shot and they take a wound and stay down, immune from harm until they stand up when it's their turn for an action. They can either be to move or shoot, both actions resolved by flicking. There are two teams of cowboys and each cowboy gets two actions. Mechanically it's straightforward, more so than the messy rulebook makes it seem. And this game does a fine job of fulfilling both briefs. It's a marriage made in heaven: gaming could do with more of both. As the box art makes clear, it's set in the wild west. As the name suggests, it's a dexterity game. Welcome to Flick 'em Up, one of those games with a concept so cool you wonder why no-one has done it before. The guns level, fingers tighten on triggers, and both combatants are suddenly flattened by the collapsing town hall. Then the Sheriff goes for his gun and his opponent reacts like a sprung trap. For a long time, all is still in the hot haze. Sweaty hands hang down by holstered revolvers, eyes lock, mouths chew at nothing. On the packed dirt below, two figures stand, ignoring the heat hammering down on their broad-brimmed hats. The hot sun burns in the sky like an incoming apocalypse.

Flick em up gameplay video