The Mob

The Mob Rulebook

Table of Contents

Object of the Game

The first player to have invested 1 million dollars in legal businesses wins the game.

Game Material

1 game board
6 family photos
1 sticker sheet with 48 stickers
1 bundle of banknotes
1 rulebook
48 family members in 6 colours (large wooden discs)
48 bodyguards in 6 colours (small wooden pieces)
56 playing cards (48 business cards, 8 action cards)
6 black investment chips for legal businesses

The Game Board

The game board shows, from a bird's-eye view, a typical American big city of the 1930s at night. In the numerous businesses, money is earned in a legal or illegal way.

Board features: legal business space, "Out of Circulation" space, illegal business space, park (in the middle), prison (bottom right), harbour (bottom left).

The legal businesses with white company signs exist only once each. Here one can earn, in an honest way, little money at first and later ever more.

The illegal businesses with company signs in green, yellow, orange and red exist twice each. Here one can, at high risk and in a not quite so honest way, earn a lot of money right from the start.

On the three business spaces with violet company signs one can temporarily draw other cards "Out of Circulation".

All colours and symbols are also found on the playing cards for easier matching.

The prison at the bottom right provides for an involuntary longer stay, and in the harbour at the bottom left those family members are stacked who stayed behind on the route in the hard everyday life.

The park in the middle serves as a discard area for played cards and for bodyguards that are removed from illegal businesses during a game year.

Margin notes: legal businesses: white. Illegal businesses: green, yellow, orange and red. "Out of Circulation": violet. Harbour: resting place for members. Park: card discard and recreation area for bodyguards.

Setup

Before the first game, each player takes from the sticker sheet the eight stickers that are in a row next to their own family name and sticks them on the large wooden pieces of their colour.

The game board is spread out in the middle of the table. Each player receives one family photo that also bears the name of their own family. In addition each player receives the 8 large and 8 small wooden pieces in the colour of their photo frame.

One player additionally takes over the bank and gives each participant 100 "Riesen" (thousands) = $100,000. The remaining money he manages separately from his own funds.

Each player receives an investment chip, with which the legal investments are marked on the edge of the family photo. Each space corresponds to an investment of $100,000. At the start the chip is placed on space "0" of the family photo.

The family members are sorted by value and placed on the family photo so that it is always visible which pieces are still available. The bodyguards are posted in a row beneath them, as in the sketch.

Per player: 1 family photo, 8 family members, 8 bodyguards, 1 investment chip, 100 Riesen. (Illustration: storage area on the family photo.)

Course of the Game

A game consists of an indefinite number of game years. Each year consists of 4 or 5 rounds. In each game year the players can earn a lot of money through illegal businesses. They can earn exactly as much as they risk. However, the other players constantly throw spanners in the works.

With 3-5 players: 5 rounds per year.
With 6 players: 4 rounds per year.

If only three people play, one card of each illegal business is first sorted out. (Playing with three: remove 1 illegal business card of each.)

The banker is the dealer for the first year. At the beginning of a year the dealer shuffles all cards. Each participant is dealt 5 cards face down. In a game with six, each receives only 4 cards.

With 3-5 players: 5 cards.
With 6 players: 4 cards.

The player to the left of the dealer looks at his cards secretly and decides whether and how many of them he wants to keep. He may exchange as many cards as he likes. All may be handed in, but he may also keep all. In turn, each player hands the desired number of cards back to the dealer and receives from him the same number of new cards. These may not be exchanged again now. The remaining cards are put aside. They are no longer needed in this game year.

Starting with the player to the left of the dealer, the participants play their cards in clockwise order. The player whose turn it is lays one card on the discard pile and follows the instructions. A player may, however, also forgo carrying out an instruction. He then lays the card on the discard pile unused.

Margin notes: exchange as many cards as desired, if wished; whoever's turn it is plays 1 card.

The Cards

There are three different kinds of cards: legal businesses, illegal businesses and action cards:

1. LEGAL BUSINESSES - white company signs

For each of the eight legal businesses there is exactly one business card. This card only has an effect if one has already invested in legal businesses, i.e. if the investment chip is no longer on space "0" of the family photo. Whoever receives this card and has not yet invested anything must lay it down unused during his turn. In the first year, therefore, nobody can use this card meaningfully.

(Margin: legal business cards are only played if already invested.)

Whoever plays this card places one of his bodyguards on the legal business space named on the card. For this he immediately receives from the bank, for his investments already made, the amount stated in the table:

Investments in 100,000	Income
1	10,000
2	20,000
3 - 4	30,000
5 - 6	40,000
7 - 8	50,000
9	60,000

(Margin: set 1 bodyguard on the space; money according to the table immediately.)

Example: On his family photo, the investment chip lies on space 3. Alberto therefore receives $30,000 according to the table.

2. ILLEGAL BUSINESSES - company signs in green, yellow, orange, red

Each of the ten illegal businesses exists twice on the game board. For each of these businesses there are, with four to six players, four illegal business cards each. With three players there are only three each. A lot of money can be earned through illegal activities. For this one must place family members and/or bodyguards of one's colour on the business space named on the card. The pieces placed must together amount to at least the dollar amount stated on the card.

The value of each family member is printed on the playing pieces. Each bodyguard is worth $5,000.

(Margin: use pieces worth at least the value of the card. Family member = printed value; bodyguard = 5,000.)

Placing on an illegal business

The following restrictions apply to placing pieces:

The Don may never be placed on a space together with another family member, but may be placed with any number of his own bodyguards.
The Mama may be placed together with at most one other family member, but not with the Don. Here too he/she may add any number of his own bodyguards.

(Margin: Don without other members, plus bodyguards. Mama with max. 1 member, not Don, plus bodyguards.)

To a space already occupied by one's own pieces from earlier rounds, one may later add further pieces by playing a corresponding card. These too must again at least equal the card value. The restrictions for the Don and the Mama continue to apply. (Margin: adding own pieces is allowed.)

If one wants to place pieces on an illegal business and one or both of the two spaces on the board are already occupied, one may choose to place one's pieces on the empty space or on the occupied one.

Business is already occupied

If one wants to place pieces on a business space occupied by another family, the value of one's own pieces must be at least $5,000 above the total value of the pieces found on the space. The pieces of the other family are then removed from the business. Family members drop out of the game entirely and are placed in the harbour. For this, a separate pile is formed for each family. Bodyguards are laid down next to the game board and can be hired again at the end of the year.

(Margin: space occupied: place at least 5,000 more; remove foreign pieces; members drop out entirely; bodyguards can be hired again later.)

Example: On a casino space are Alberto's "Secretary" ($30,000) and four of his bodyguards (value $20,000). To clear the space, Carlotta must place pieces worth at least $5,000 more. She places her "Right Hand" ($50,000) and one bodyguard ($5,000) on the space and removes Alberto's pieces.

Last card at the end of the game year

If the last player of a year plays an illegal business card as his last card, he must place the exactly matching number of bodyguards corresponding to the value of the card. If he cannot, he may instead place a single family member, namely the lowest possible one. This may even have a higher value than stated on the card if the exactly matching member is not available. Here too the piece may be placed on an occupied or a free business.

If the player has only lower-valued pieces left on his family photo, he must lay the card down unused.

(Margin: last card: matching bodyguards or lowest member.)

Example: The last card is Jeweller -$30,000. Since Luigi has only one bodyguard (value $5,000) left, he places his lowest family member. Since, regrettably, he has already lost a few, he places his lowest still available member. This is an "Enforcer" (value $40,000).

3. ACTION CARDS

There are eight action cards. These may be played in one's turn instead of a business card. The "Out of Circulation" cards have violet company signs, the other cards have grey signs. With the exception of the "An Offer ..." card, each action card exists only once:

OUT OF CIRCULATION

There are three different cards of this kind, which however all have the same meaning:

Party at Molly's; Appointment at the Hairdresser; Invitation to Dinner.

One may move any family member of another player that is on an illegal business space to the space named on the card. There it remains until the end of the current year and brings no income in this game year.

(Margin: place a foreign member on an "Out of Circulation" space.)

F.B.I.

Off to jail! A foreign family member goes to prison until the end of the current year and for two complete further years. For this one places any family member of another player that is on an illegal "business" or "Out of Circulation" space in Block 3 of the prison.

A family member serving time in prison can be released at any time against a payment to the bank, as bail, of the amount of his printed value. He can then be placed again immediately.

(Margin: place a foreign member in prison for 3 years.)

PROTECTION MONEY

Payday! From another player who has already invested in legal businesses, one can extort protection money in the amount stated in the table:

Investments in 100,000	Payment
1 - 2	10,000
3 - 4	20,000
5 - 6	30,000
7 - 8	40,000
9	50,000

(Margin: collect protection money from a player according to the table.)

Example: With relish, Frederico plays the protection money card against his worst rival Bernardo. Since the latter has already invested in legal businesses, his chip lies on space 5 of his family photo, so Bernardo must pay Frederico $30,000 according to the table. No money can be extorted from a player who has not yet invested in legal businesses, i.e. whose investment chip is still on space 0.

TAKEOVER

Ciao! One may clear any illegal business space occupied by another family and replace the pieces by one's own pieces of the same total value on the same space. The removed pieces are returned immediately to the player concerned.

(Margin: replace pieces of equal total value on any space.)

Example: Gianna removes from a bank space, held by Roberto, a secretary (value $30,000), a novice (value $20,000) and four bodyguards (value $20,000), and replaces them with her Mama (value $60,000) and two of her bodyguards (value $10,000).

AN OFFER THAT CANNOT BE REFUSED

Heads up! From any illegal "business" or "Out of Circulation" space, one removes all pieces of another player. Family members drop out, bodyguards can be hired again at the end of the year.

ATTENTION: This card exists twice!

End of a Game Year and Settlement

When the last card has been played, a year comes to an end. Starting with the starting player, the banker determines for each player how high the income from the game year is. For this he adds up, for each illegal business space on which the player has placed pieces, the value of these pieces. The player receives from the banker exactly as much money as he himself has placed on the spaces.

(Margin: determine the income for each illegal business.)

Example: Carlotta has placed in the casino a bookkeeper (value $30,000) and two bodyguards (value $10,000). At the jeweller three bodyguards (value $15,000) have remained for her, and in the nightclub her novice (value $20,000) holds out. For her Don in prison and her Right Hand in the penthouse she receives no income. Nor does she for her bodyguard on the scrapyard. For this legal business she has already received the money for her stake. Carlotta now gets paid out a total of $75,000 by the bank.

Directly after the settlement the player gets his pieces back from the businesses and from the "Out of Circulation" spaces.

The bodyguards removed from businesses during the year can now be hired again, for $5,000 each. If they are not hired, they drop out of the game.

(Margin: hire lost bodyguards: $5,000 each.)

All family members serving time in prison are now moved forward one space, that is from Block 3 to 2 and from Block 2 to 1. Inmates in Block 1 are now released to freedom and returned to their owners.

(Margin: move prison inmates forward, possibly release.)

Investment in legal businesses

Starting with the starting player, each in turn may invest in legal businesses. For each $100,000 that he pays to the bank, he may move his investment chip on his family photo forward one space. For the price of $50,000 each, an investment can be undone at any time to the bank by moving the investment chip back accordingly.

(Margin: per $100,000: advance chip 1 space; undoing at half price possible.)

New year, new luck

The player to the left of the old one now becomes the new starting player, shuffles all cards and deals for the next game year. The rest of the course is as described.

End of the Game and Winner

The winner is whoever first makes investments worth 1 million dollars in legal businesses, i.e. moves his investment chip to space 10 of his family photo. If several players do this at the end of the same year, the one who owns the most cash wins. Should there still be a tie, the one of them who owns the highest total value of family members wins.

(Margin: winner: first chip on space 10; tie: most cash, then value of members.)

Variant

If at the settlement at the end of a game year the pieces on an illegal business no longer suffice to cover its value, no income is paid for this business.

As a reminder, the spaces have the following values: green = $5,000; yellow = $10,000; orange = $20,000; red = $30,000.

A Few Tips Before the First Game

You will quickly notice: in CAPONE you must dish out, but also be able to take it. To survive in the hard business, you should heed a few pieces of advice. You should regard these as an offer that you may occasionally decline.

IT DEPENDS ON YOUR RISK. With every illegal business you can earn the same. It depends on your personal stake. If, when the cards are dealt, you should get two or more cards of the same business, keep them. The more identical cards you have, the smaller the risk of losing a business to your fellow players. Remember that four cards of each illegal business can be in the game. If you have the choice of keeping low- or high-valued cards, decide for the low-valued ones. Especially in the course of the game it can otherwise happen that you can no longer raise the required value and come away empty-handed.
DO NOT MAKE UNNECESSARY ENEMIES. Think carefully about whether you should remove a fellow player from an illegal business if the other one of the same kind is still unoccupied.
DO NOT BE TOO GREEDY. It is tempting to earn a lot of money in one stroke through a high stake, but you should not overdo it. Since it is visible to everyone who will earn how much at the end, you practically challenge your fellow players, by too high a stake, to remove your family. The fewer members your family has left, the less you can earn. Pay particular attention to the middle values. If you later have only high-valued pieces left, you risk everything or nothing each time you place them.
PLAY AGAINST THE LEADER. Revenge is a sweet word, yet you should not respond to every attack immediately with a counterattack. Show that you are not vindictive. This often pays off later. Besides, your main opponent should be the leading player if you really want to win.
EASY MONEY AS THE LAST PLAYER. Use your opportunity, as last player in the round, to earn a lot of money without risk. True, you may only place your lowest-valued family member, but if you prepare it skilfully and by chance have only the Don left, you can pocket a cool 100 Riesen.
JUST DO NOT STAND OUT. Do not always invest all your money in legal businesses. If you present yourself to everyone as the leading player, you quickly become the target of attack of the assembled round. On the other hand, you should not despise the risk-free gains either, especially later.