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The Mob. This is a board game for 2-6 players which is themed around gang warfare in some stereotypical gangland city. Each player receives their starting money, eight named characters which range in value from the Don, down to the underlings which form their gang, and eight starting hoods.

The object of the game is to launder $1m. Laundered money is represented by plastic gold bars. Money can be earnt by either illegal means through a variety of rackets, or by running legitimate businesses.

Each round, players are dealt a handful of cards. The number of cards depends on how many people are playing. Each player then has one opportunity to dump cards that they don't want, and replace them with fresh cards from the deck.

The cards will fall broadly into three types: Racket cards, Legitimate business cards, and downright nasty cards.

The racket cards allow the player on his turn to take over a racket of the type depicted on the card. They may do so by placing a minimum value of gang members on the racket space on the board. Vacant rackets must be filled first. Once they are filled, life (or death) becomes interesting. In order to take over a racket that's already occupied by another player, the current occupants must be replaced by the same total value (or higher) of gang members from the new gang. The original gang members are toast.

The legitimate business cards allow a player to take over one of the legitimate business spaces on the board. Once in a legitimate business, those pieces are pretty much safe until the end of the round. The bad news is that legitimate businesses only make a little bit of money, and don't make any at all unless you've already got some gold. This is a safe, slow way to get rich.

The Downright nasty cards make the game. These include the "Offer you can't refuse" card, which blows away all family members at a racket; the FBI card, which puts someone in prison (effectively out of play for three turns); the Protection card, which forces someone in a legitimate business to cough up some money depending on how much gold they own.

Play proceeds round and round until all players hands are empty. Players then get money for any rackets they own at the end of the round plus the value of any family members which end up there. They also get money for legitimate businesses. All family members that are still alive are returned to the player for the start of the next round. At this stage players may buy gold bars, and refresh their stocks of hoods.

The next player round to the left then becomes dealer, and a new round is started.

Evaluation

The quality of the pieces is fair, and the board is a good size. Two of the sets of pieces in my set were virtually indistinguishable, but a few dabs of tippex should sort that out. The paper mats that each player receives to place their gangs / gold on are fairly flimsy, and it may well be worth having them laminated, if you want to keep this game forever.

This is not a game to play with people you don't know very well or people who are easily upset. If you can get together with a bunch of mates who enjoy stitching each other up for a laugh, this game comes into it's own. A good one for playing over a few beers when life gets too serious....

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

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The Mob
Author: unknown Category: Board Game Company/Publisher: unknown. Line: unkown Cost: 25 Page count: n/a ISBN: n/a SKU: n/a Playtest Review by Martin Bailey on 02/10/00. Genre tags: Modern_day	The Mob. This is a board game for 2-6 players which is themed around gang warfare in some stereotypical gangland city. Each player receives their starting money, eight named characters which range in value from the Don, down to the underlings which form their gang, and eight starting hoods. The object of the game is to launder $1m. Laundered money is represented by plastic gold bars. Money can be earnt by either illegal means through a variety of rackets, or by running legitimate businesses. Each round, players are dealt a handful of cards. The number of cards depends on how many people are playing. Each player then has one opportunity to dump cards that they don't want, and replace them with fresh cards from the deck. The cards will fall broadly into three types: Racket cards, Legitimate business cards, and downright nasty cards. The racket cards allow the player on his turn to take over a racket of the type depicted on the card. They may do so by placing a minimum value of gang members on the racket space on the board. Vacant rackets must be filled first. Once they are filled, life (or death) becomes interesting. In order to take over a racket that's already occupied by another player, the current occupants must be replaced by the same total value (or higher) of gang members from the new gang. The original gang members are toast. The legitimate business cards allow a player to take over one of the legitimate business spaces on the board. Once in a legitimate business, those pieces are pretty much safe until the end of the round. The bad news is that legitimate businesses only make a little bit of money, and don't make any at all unless you've already got some gold. This is a safe, slow way to get rich. The Downright nasty cards make the game. These include the "Offer you can't refuse" card, which blows away all family members at a racket; the FBI card, which puts someone in prison (effectively out of play for three turns); the Protection card, which forces someone in a legitimate business to cough up some money depending on how much gold they own. Play proceeds round and round until all players hands are empty. Players then get money for any rackets they own at the end of the round plus the value of any family members which end up there. They also get money for legitimate businesses. All family members that are still alive are returned to the player for the start of the next round. At this stage players may buy gold bars, and refresh their stocks of hoods. The next player round to the left then becomes dealer, and a new round is started. Evaluation The quality of the pieces is fair, and the board is a good size. Two of the sets of pieces in my set were virtually indistinguishable, but a few dabs of tippex should sort that out. The paper mats that each player receives to place their gangs / gold on are fairly flimsy, and it may well be worth having them laminated, if you want to keep this game forever. This is not a game to play with people you don't know very well or people who are easily upset. If you can get together with a bunch of mates who enjoy stitching each other up for a laugh, this game comes into it's own. A good one for playing over a few beers when life gets too serious.... Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty) What do you think? Visit the above forum to let us know!