Rules and the Cowboy Action Shooting Game

Rules are principles or guidelines that dictate behavior and actions. They can be imposed by authority in the form of laws, serve as building blocks or used to define what is allowed or not allowed.  It’s pretty obvious that without some sort of rules everything would be a jumbled mess. Even outlaws have rules. Our game of Cowboy Action Shooting has quite a few rules but that wasn’t always the case.

 When I started playing this game, over 30 years ago, the rule book was a tiny little flyer type book about 4” high. The “so-called” rules listed in it were amazingly simple. Like when referring to equipment it said: “If it looks Cowboy, it is Cowboy.” That pretty much defined what was allowable in the way of equipment.  Conduct was virtually dictated by the much-quoted Wild Bunch saying: “If Gene, Roy or Hoppy wouldn’t do it, then neither can you.”  On with the Game.

 Yes… CAS is a GAME! It was started as a game and was always meant to be a game. Well as we all know games have winners and most folks want to win. As the “GAME” progressed it grew by leaps and bounds. The more the game grew the more competitive it became. That increased the pressure to get the jump on the next guy. People stopped walking from one position to the next and actually started running. GASP!

 Folks learned that modifying their guns would allow them to shoot faster, or that shedding our Old West dress code and dawning modern clothes allowed them to move faster.  All types of Short Cuts developed, some of them were on the shady side. Our wonderful little Fantasy game had turned into a main line competition. The race to the bottom was on, and believe me it dropped fast. 

Up until this downturn, all rules were made and mandated by the founders of the “GAME”, those folks who called themselves The Wild Bunch. There wasn’t any real official process for those playing the game to have any input into how the game was played. The influx of people playing the game and the intense increase and desire to win had complicated things and increased the need to establish “Real” rules for the game. 

In an effort to get all the input they could, the WB established the Territorial Governors group. This group would operate as a go-between with the individual clubs and the WB. They would provide feedback to the WB allowing them to make new rules and adjust the existing rules to accommodate the way the game was now being played. This new approach helped but things were changing so quickly that it soon became apparent that the TG’s needed to be more than just an advisory group.

 So, though the WB maintained overall control they passed the rule making to the TGs. As you might have guessed, this led to the next step in our evolution. The Range Officers Committee (ROC) was established to spearhead training of the membership. Structured training had become necessary due to the many clubs that had been established. Getting every club to play the game the same way was a top priority. That required establishing a regulated training program that would teach every member the rules using the same format. 

This completed the new structure of SASS which is akin to the structure of our country. We now have an Executive branch overseen by our CEO, a Legislative branch who are the TGs, and a Judicial branch, the ROC. This new system has enabled the game to keep up with growth while maintaining its friendliness.

 There is no doubt that the “GAME” has evolved, some of it for the better and some not as good, but for those of us that grew up watching our Cowboy hero’s at the movies or on TV it is our opportunity to return to those days when we rode for the Brand and did things “The Cowboy Way”. It also gives those folks in later generations the opportunity to enjoy a bit of what their parents and grandparents enjoyed in those years passed. 

When asked what supporting SASS does for us, I like to pass on the fact that SASS has given us the best fantasy game ever and it continues to provide us with international unity and cohesion. Without the guided direction of SASS we would soon be splintered into little more than a bunch of disorganized local shooters going nowhere, and the Game would die.  

I encourage you all to not “Just shoot”, but learn to play the “GAME”. 

See you on the Range

Snakebite (SASS 4767)