Gangster's Dilemma Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
• Components
• Game Setup
• Playing the Game
  • If No Cops Are Present...
  • If There Is One Gangster and a Cop...
  • If There Are Multiple Gangsters and a Cop...
  • Fulfilling Boss Demands
• Prepare for Next Round
• Game End
• Character Cards
• The Locations

Game Overview

In Gangster's Dilemma, players control a group of gangsters eager to please the Mob Boss. Each round, players will send a gangster to loot one of the locations within the city, in hopes of satisfying the Boss' changing demands. However, the Cops are also on patrol and will arrest any gangsters they come across. Players will need to bribe their way out of trouble or rat out their fellow gangsters as they compete to fulfill the Boss' demands first.

Components

• 86 Cards (Gangster cards, Cop cards, Boss Demands, Character cards, Location cards)
• 78 Loot Tokens
• 7 Talk/Silent Tokens
• 2 Closed Tokens
• Dollar Tokens

Game Setup

1. All players take the 6 Gangster cards and the Talk/Silent token of their chosen color.
2. Give each player 1 Character Card (with a special ability for the rest of the game).
3. Give each player 1 Dollar and 1 Gin Bottle Loot Token.
4. Randomly pick one player to start with the 6 Cop Cards (The Cop cards will change possession every round).
5. Set up the 6 Locations on the table in order (see page 2) and place 2 Dollars on each.

Note: In a 3-5 player game, place the Speakeasy and Black Market card together as a single 5th location. Return the Gangster cards with 6s on them back to the box. [The photo cuts off here; any further text of this note is not visible.]

Setup illustration: the 6 Locations in order (1 Stash House, 2 Art Gallery, 3 Jewelry Store, 4 Smuggler's Den, 5 Black Market, 6 Speakeasy); 3 Boss Demand cards face up; each player gets Gangster cards 1-6, 1 Dollar and 1 Gin Bottle.

Playing the Game

Every round the players will go through the following steps:

1. All players secretly choose an open location to rob by selecting the gangster card associated with that location. For the first round of the game, all locations are open.
2. The player who has the Cop Cards this round, instead of choosing a Gangster card, will secretly choose 2 locations to protect with the Cop Cards. (The cop will not get any loot from the locations the cops go to. Only if the cop makes an arrest, then the player will get the loot of those arrested.)
3. All players reveal their chosen cards simultaneously and place them by the location selected.
4. Resolve the looting at each location in order starting with location 1, the Stash House, and ending with location 6, the Speakeasy.

At each location the Gangsters first deal with any cops present, and then potentially get the loot and/or cash at the location, and finally may fulfill a Boss Demand.

There are three possible scenarios at each location:

If No Cops Are Present...

...all gangsters at the location take the Loot action shown on the card, and split the cash available at the location. Any cash that can't be split evenly amongst the gangsters will stay at the location to carry over to next round.

Example: Blue and Red both went to location 2, the Art Gallery. There are no Cops, so both players get 1 Painting Loot token. There are 5 Dollars on the location, so Blue and Red each get 2 Dollars and leave the extra 1 dollar on the location for next round.

If There Is One Gangster and a Cop...

...that gangster is arrested and their player loses all the loot tokens they have, with the player controlling the cop this round taking it all. The Cop does not take any money, money is always safe.

Example: Blue went to the Jewelry Store, but so did one of the Cops! Blue is the only gangster at the Jewelry Store, so they are arrested and must hand over the Crate and Painting Loot they had. Blue does not get any money from the location, and doesn't get to Loot a Jewel.

If There Are Multiple Gangsters and a Cop...

...the gangsters must all secretly decide how to deal with the cop. They can either Talk, Stay Silent, or Bribe the Cop.

Each player places the Talk/Silent token in their closed hand with what they want to do face-up. If they want to Bribe the Cop, they put a Gin Token in their hand instead. Then the gangsters reveal their choices simultaneously.

If a gangster Bribes a Cop, they give the Gin token to the Cop player and walk away. You can't be arrested, but you also can't split the money or get loot.

Among the rest of the gangsters still left at the location, if all are Silent, they all get to take the Loot action and split the money as normal, even if only one gangster remains after the bribes.

If some but not all of the gangsters Talk, each Silent gangster gets arrested, losing all their Loot to the Cop. The gangsters that Talked get to take the location's Loot action and split the cash.

If all gangsters Talk, then they are all arrested, with the Cop getting their Loot tokens. If only one gangster remained after the bribes, and they Talk, they still lose all their loot to the Cop.

Example: Blue, Purple, and Red all went to the Jewelry Store, and so did the Cop! They all must decide whether to be Silent, Talk, or Bribe the Cop with Gin.

Here, Red chose to Bribe the Cop by paying a Gin to the current Cop player, and doesn't get any new Loot or money. Blue and Purple both chose to stay Silent, so they get to use the location to get a new Jewel, and split the money.

Here, Purple decided to Talk, while the others stayed silent. Purple gets the loot and all the money themselves. Blue and Red are arrested and must give all their Loot to the Cop player.

Fulfilling Boss Demands

Before moving on to the next location, each gangster at the location may fulfill one Boss Demand. To fulfill a demand, a gangster returns the tokens indicated on the card to the supply and then keeps the card as points. Players may pay $3 to the Boss in place of one of the Loot tokens in his demand, but the rest of the demand must be met with Loot tokens. Tokens paid to the Boss are returned to the supply.

After one card is taken, a new Boss Demand card is revealed to bring the total back to 3. If multiple gangsters at the same location wish to fulfill the same demand, the player closest to the Cop's left goes first.

Note: The player who acted as Cop this round cannot fulfill a demand.

Example: Red successfully went to the Jewelry Store without getting arrested, and now can fulfill a Boss Demand. They have the 2 Gin Bottles and 1 Crate needed, but not the Jewel, so they pay $3 in place of the final piece of Loot and take the card. They now have 7 points!

Prepare for Next Round

If no player has reached at least 21 points (see Game End), prepare for the next round. The Cop player opens up any locations that were closed this round, and closes down any location they sent cops to that had no arrests. Those locations are not allowed to be used in the next round. Then they pass the Cop Cards to the next player clockwise. Each location then receives an additional Dollar, even if it's closed, and a new round begins.

Note: The money and tokens in the game are unlimited resources; if you run out during the game you can use suitable replacements.

Game End

The Game ends if at the end of the Round a player has 21 or more points from a combination of fulfilled Boss Demand cards and collected Crate tokens (see Stash House location card). The player with the most points has the Boss' favor and is the winner.

In case of a tie, the player with the most money is the winner. If still tied, the players share the victory!

Example: Red has collected 18 points in Boss Demands, and has 2 Crates which are worth 5 points. This gives Red 23 points and they win!

Character Cards

• Bootlegger: You may use 1 Gin Bottle instead of $3 to ignore one item in a Boss Demand.
• Dame: You may bribe the Cop with $2 instead of Gin.
• Hired Gun: After Gangster cards are revealed, you may exchange 1 Loot token with one player that sent a gangster to the same location as you.
• Flapper: After Gangster cards are revealed, you may steal $1 from one player that sent a gangster to the same location as you.
• Lookout: You may pay $1 to the Cop to look at 1 of the cards they chose before selecting your location.
• Made Man: Receive 3 Boss Demands face-down at the start of the game that only you may fulfill.
• Underboss: You pay $2 instead of $3 to ignore one item in a Boss Demand.
• The Muscle: Once per round, when a gangster bribes the Cop, receive $2.

The Locations

[1] Stash House: Every gangster that successfully visits this location (i.e. doesn't get arrested or walk away by bribing the cop) gets 1 Crate token from the supply and splits the cash on this card with the other gangsters at that location.

The Crates you currently hold in your possession are worth 2/5/9/14 Victory Points if you have 1/2/3/4+ Crates. These points in combination with points from fulfilled Boss Demands may trigger the end of the game.

[2] Art Gallery: Every gangster that successfully visits this location gets 1 Art token from the supply and splits the cash on this card with the other gangsters at that location.

[3] Jewelry Store: Every gangster that successfully visits this location gets 1 Jewel token from the supply and splits the cash on this card with the other gangsters at that location.

[4] Smuggler's Den: Every gangster that successfully visits this location gets 1 Gin token from the supply and splits the cash on this card with the other gangsters at that location.

[5] Black Market: Every gangster that successfully visits this location may do one of the following: buy an Art token for $1, buy a Jewel token for $1, sell an Art token for $1, or sell a Jewel token for $1. Gangsters at this location also split the cash on the card.

[6] Speakeasy: Every gangster that successfully visits this location may buy a Gin token for $1, or sell a Gin Token for $1, once. Gangsters at this location also split the cash on the card.

Note: In a 3-5 player game the Speakeasy becomes part of the Black Market and is considered one [the photo cuts off here].