In West Story, players are building Wild West towns by purchasing cards for their player boards. They are trying to improve their available actions and get most victory points. While all actions from the player boards eventually get executed, the order of action execution is usually not easy to predict. Players will have to place cards carefully to try and maximize their chances!

Every round, after a roll of two dice by the sheriff, all players activate two cards on their boards based on the roll result. Indicated cards get marked so that they cannot repeat until a reset happens. If in a subsequent round, the card in given row is already marked, player activates the first available card to the right. When a row is fully blocked, player removes all the markers from the row to start over!

During the game, players are often allowed to activate more cards on their boards to get additional resources and possibilities. Also, while players move along the score track during the game, they reach different regions with nearby towns. Trading with a town is another way of managing the tableau and scoring points, but sometimes, one will also have to face a villain!

Once the game is over, the one who has collected the best set of cards with buildings, animals, and scoring symbols is the winner!