Gangster (Mayfair Games, 2007 – Thorsten Gimmler) is a game that I thought would be a pretty good marriage of tried-and-true mechanics (area control) with a fun theme (um, gangsters). In the game, players are driving their limousines around the city, possibly with other player's pieces in the trunk, and attempt to control different areas of Chicago. The art and methods of the game seek to really bring across the theming of this era, and I expected the game to be a winner when I brought it out.

And some folks found the game to be fun, especially when they got into the theming of the game. Sadly, I found the game to be fairly pedestrian, with the theme just barely there. There are a lot of good area control games out there, and this one is just a mediocre entry in the group. The theme is interesting, and it works; but it doesn't have enough draw for me to really get into the game. I think that players who came across this game as their first entry into the realm of games that use area control would enjoy it, but the game went on a little too long and was just a bit boring for me.

Each player takes a player mat of their color, along with three movement cards and nine gangster cubes. The rest of the cubes are placed in a pile near the board, and a scoring marker of each player's color is placed on a track that goes around the board. A pile of upgrade markers is shuffled, and three are placed face up in the Gold Coast harbor space. Fifteen district tiles are shuffled, and ten are placed face up on each of the ten districts on the board. A pile of scoring cards are shuffled as well as a pile of casino cards, and they are placed near the board. Each player uses two draw scoring cards to place a cube of their color, with an automobile of their color placed in the first region drawn. One more scoring card is drawn, and a doubler token is placed in the matching district. The player who has seen The Godfather last goes first, and play continues clockwise.

On a player's turn, they either drive or unload/load gangsters. When driving, the player chooses one of their movement cards and moves their auto that many districts, using connecting roads between the districts. The player then turns the movement card they used face down. When all three cards are face down, the top scoring card is revealed; and the player turns all their movement cards face up. If the scoring card shows a policemen, nothing happens; but if a region is shown, then a doubler token is placed in the shown region.

Each region has eight to sixteen spaces in it for gangster cubes, and a player may load a gangster into the first available spot in the region their car is currently in. The player may also take a gangster from a spot and load it back into their card. In fact, players can load another player's gangster into their "trunk" of the car, which only has room for one. A player may unload the gangster in another spot later on if they wish. If a player is at the Gold Coast, they may empty their truck, killing the gangster there; and then they must take one of the three upgrade markers there, adding them to their car (each player may have two upgrades). The upgrades are:
- Bodyguard – If a player's auto is in a region, other players may not affect their gangsters there.
- Trunk – The player can fit two opponent's gangsters in their trunk.
- Bumper – When moving into a region, the player may "push" an opponent's car out of the region.
- Door – The player can place two gangsters in a district per turn.
- Engine – The player may add one to their movement.
- Tommy Gun – The player may add opponent's gangsters into their trunk from adjacent districts.

After eight doubler tokens have been placed on the board, the "Day of Reckoning" occurs (also known as scoring). Each district shows points that are given to the player with the most, second most, third most, and sometimes fourth most gangsters. The numbers are not necessarily in order – sometimes the player with the most does not get the most points. Occasionally no number is shown, but rather a question mark. The top gangster card is flipped, and its value is equivalent to all question marks on the board. Players score points for each district, with ties going to the person who has placed a piece last. The next round of the game is then started, with all cards reshuffled, and players getting six more gangsters to place (all gangsters on the board stay there). At the beginning of the third round players get five more gangsters. At the end of the scoring of the third round, the game ends, and the player with the most points wins the game (ties give the victory to all players).

Some comments on the game...

1.) Components: The game has a darker overtone, with drab colors and artwork that tends to portray the grim reality of the mobsters during this era. It works, for the most part, and the city itself is very well done; I actually felt as if I was driving around the city. Each player has a different color and symbol, making it easy to tell the difference. I wish that gangster pieces had been included rather than cubes, adding to the theme; but the cubes do work, and it's easy to tell at a glance who is winning each district. Everything stores well into a typical-sized box with more of the grim artwork.

2.) Rules: The rulebook is five full-colored pages that do a good job explaining the rules, as well as two pages of theme from Robert Nippoldt, author of the book Gangster – Die Bosse von Chicago. Everything is very clearly explained, and I found that teaching the game is easy – if only because it makes sense to drive around and drop off/pick up gangsters. The scoring is a little unusual, since ties are broken by the last person to place a cube; and it's also strange to some players that second or third place might score higher than first, but it all works out once players go through a game or two. Reference cards are included that explain the meaning of the upgrade chips, which are simple enough to grasp almost immediately anyway.

3.) Upgrades: The upgrades are nice, since they allow players to customize their gangster to a degree. At the same time, none of them are extremely powerful, and some of them come in handy only a few times during the game. Two of them in combo can cause some interesting strategies – such as the Tommygun and Trunk, allowing players to snag opponent's gangsters from all over the place. At the same time, these upgrades don't define the game as much as I would like, and a player can ignore them and have a good shot at winning.

4.) Interaction: The aspect of the game that I enjoy the most is the fact that you can pick up other gangsters and deposit them in other places, or even kill them off in the bay. Granted, taking them to the bay and dumping them is usually more work than it is worth (although it is extremely satisfying), but dropping them off in another region is very useful – especially if it helps a player gain a different point total because of the new numbers of gangsters there. In fact, placing other player's gangsters often is more important than placing your own, since it's usually pretty obvious what a player is going to do.

5.) Timing: The game has an interesting feel; as there is very little downtime, players simply do one action on their turn, and play passes on. At the same time, the game really feels like it lasts entirely too long; the box says ninety minutes, and I just think that's too long for a game of this type. Move, drop off, move, pick up, move, move, pick up, drop off, etc. The game tends to drop into a monotonous zone that could possibly be resuscitated by players who really get into the theme -- but not over an hour and a half! Perhaps if there were only two rounds in the game, it would be better.

6.) Fun Factor: Some people are going to be drawn to the game based on theme alone, as the romantic version of mobsters is entertaining, especially when based on popular movies. And you can find the theme here if you try hard enough; but in the end the game is a bit boring, and I'm not seeing how the theme rescues it. I wanted to enjoy the game; but near the end I find myself thinking about other things, hoping that the game ends soon.

7.) Players: The two player game has each player use two colors, which makes for an interesting and somewhat quicker game. But I'm convinced that the three player game may be best, if only because of the higher interaction and slightly faster game.

There are a few folks who would like Gangster – those who are looking to add an area control game to their collection and think this theme would work. And perhaps it might be a good introductory game for some. I, however, really don't have a place for this game in my collection; while the theme is interesting, it's done better in other games – such as Bootleggers. Gangster is a game that tries to look tough and dresses the part, but in action is fairly unimpressive.

Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
www.thedicetower.com