New York City, 1926. Prohibition didn't stop the drinking; it just made the price go up. Every basement is a brewery, every back room a bank, and every block worth killing for. Forge fragile alliances, corner the market, and turn the Police loose on your rivals. This city has a thirst that can't be quenched, and only one mob will wear its crown. Carve your name into the skyline, or vanish like cigar smoke in a hurricane.
2-4 Players | 90-120 Mins
In Moonshine Kingdom you are a rising Kingpin, one of four bosses clawing for a city that isn't big enough for all of you. The war plays out over a series of Days, each running from the fog of morning to the reckoning at night.
Dawn breaks over the Hudson and the boilers burn. Fire your Stills and cook cheap molasses into liquid gold, but every crew is drawing off the same batch, and the pipes you leave behind have a habit of bursting. With the smoke still clearing, you take your pick of the Jobs on the Market: dirty work with your name on it.
The sun is up, and so is the heat. Run your barrels, seize turf, and strong-arm the competition. Every Play costs Influence, your political clout, and it runs dry fast. Step off the street early and you strike first tomorrow. Remember: violence is loud, and the Police are listening.
Twilight settles like a bruise. The cops sweep up any crew grown too big to ignore, the Deeds and crowns change hands, and the city takes its measure of you. Did you build an empire today, or just a body count?
Cash buys bullets. Respect buys immortality: the turf you bled for, the crowns you tore off rival heads, the jobs so brazen the papers set your name in ink an inch tall.
But the throne isn't seized at gunpoint; it's bought, from the judges and aldermen who quietly decide which animal gets to call himself King. Every one of them has a price, paid in cold cash, and what you buy is Influence. Build a legend the city can't ignore, buy up the men who hand out crowns, and keep your name clean: that is how New York changes hands.
Your whole damn operation in miniature. Every piece earns, bleeds, or burns.
The City Map (Game Board): A soot-stained blueprint of 1920s New York, carved into 25 Districts across 5 Boroughs, including 12 standard Speakeasies (Tumbler Glass): a boiler on every block, and a shared Heat Track measuring how badly the city wants you gone.
The Ledger (x4): Your back-room desk. A slotted player board where the day's Influence sits, gets spent, and comes back. Every move you make starts here.
Mob Pieces (x4 Sets): One color to a mob: take the set matching the Playbook you're dealt. Each holds 1 Boss and 15 Runners (the brains and the muscle), 1 Safehouse, 10 Influence Markers, and 1 Mob Playbook of dirty tricks only your family can pull.
The Cards: The paper trail of your empire.
Turn Tokens (8): Two sets numbered 1–4. One set runs today; the other decides tomorrow.
The Town Planner (1): City Hall's own paperwork: the District roster you carve the map up from at setup. Its reverse holds a quick reference for the Day's phases.
Liquor Barrels (x30 Moonshine, x15 Havana Rum): The lifeblood of your operation, in two flavors: Moonshine (Grey, x30) and Havana Rum (Brown, x15). The grey runs deep; Rum is scarce and contested. Barrels cycle back to the bank when sold or Traded away, and the bank is the ceiling: when a supply runs out, it's out. Cheap swill and the good stuff; nothing in between.
The Dice (11): 5 White, 5 Red, and 1 grey Mash die. White and Red settle grudges and fire the boilers; the lone Mash die does one job only, and the whole table watches it.
The Bankroll (Cash): Dirty, untraceable bills in denominations of $100, $500, and $1,000. The kind that never sees a bank.
Police Squads (4 Blue Pieces): The blue wall that wants to see you swing. Four patrols prowling the mainland, drawn to noise.
Hotspot Tokens (4 Martini Glass): One per mainland Borough. Place one on a Speakeasy to mark it as The Hotspot, where Havana Rum commands the city's richest price.
Federal Crackdown Tracker (1) (4-Player Team Variant only): A 10-space pressure clock. Leave it in the box for a standard game.
From the cold steel of the Sicilian Syndicate to the fiery grit of the Hell's Kitchen Irish, every family kills in its own accent. You command:
One rule turns headcount into results everywhere it matters. Count the Mobsters (Boss and Runners) in a District, then halve it, round up, and stop at 5: that number brews your barrels, drops your dead in a Blowback, and fills your dice in a firefight. No Mobsters, no result: a Safehouse holds the turf but works no boiler and fires no gun.
Nobody is ever gone for good. However a Mobster leaves the board, he returns to your supply and can be Recruited again; your Boss the same, waiting on a Rise. There's always another kid off the boat who'll carry a crate for a dollar.
Your empire is a broken city: 25 Districts across 5 Boroughs, each a flavor of poison and profit. Certain key Districts offer unique opportunities:
To rule the city you'll need more than bullets. Two resources fuel the hustle, and a third buys power:
Influence is your political clout, and the throne itself. You start with 6 markers and Bribe for more, one at a time, to a hard ceiling of 10. Hold all ten and you've bought the whole council (see Winning the Game). Nothing destroys a marker: what you start with and what you Bribe for stays yours all game. Day to day, those markers cycle:
Kingpin's Tip: Capacity, Not Actions
The Ledger holds 5 markers at once, never six: a limit on what you can carry, not on what you can spend in a Day. What deep Reserves buy is capacity: markers to stake Jobs, and enough left to fill tomorrow's five after the Heat Track keeps a few. You can't out-action your rivals. You have to out-think them.
An empire isn't built on bullets alone. It's built on logistics: moving product, and drawing borders your rivals won't cross. Your muscle is always spread thin, so a well-placed Safehouse and a few guards usually keep the peace.
You can't tax what you don't hold. You Control a District if you have a Mobster (Boss or Runner) or a Safehouse standing on it.
The difference between a payday and a bloodbath:
Flanking a rival and slipping a blockade both start with the layout. Two Districts are Connected if they are joined by land or by water, and a Move follows either:
In this city a reputation outlives any bankroll, and it's the one thing a bullet can't take back. Respect is that reputation made currency, and you build it two ways: Jobs too loud to ignore, and Titles that prove you own the streets.
Deeds and Titles pay you for what you hold; Jobs pay you for what you do. Beside the board sits the Jobs Market: the word on the street, dealt face-up for every boss to read. It doesn't churn and nothing on it expires. What the city is offering stays offered until somebody is man enough to take it.
Every Job prints two numbers and nothing else you need: its Stake, the Influence you lock up to claim it, and its Respect, what it pays when you pull it off. Pay the stake, do the deed, take the respect. They run from a 1, an evening's work, to a 5: the kind they print on the front page and talk about for twenty years.
Once each morning, at The Offers, you may take a new Job or walk away from an old one, never both (see Grease the Wheels). Claiming means staking Influence from your Reserves equal to the Job's Stake, and those markers sit locked until it resolves. There's no deadline; the only clock is your money. Nobody signs contracts in this business, but breaking one takes time to smooth over.
The Stake Is Rent, Paid in Plays The Offers run before you fund your Ledger, and only Ledger markers buy Plays. So every marker locked on a Job is a marker that never reaches your Ledger, and you make one fewer Play every Day you hold the card. Claim a 5 on Monday and pull it off on Thursday, and you've handed your rivals four short days on the street.
No declarations, no paperwork: do the deed with the whole table watching and the Job completes on the spot. Take back your stake and add the card to your Respect pile; completed Jobs never return to the deck. When a card says Seize, it means take Control of a District from a rival, by gunfire or by strolling in where they left the door open. Control must actually change hands: slipping into a rival District while they still hold it, as a Viper does on a Stealth, seizes nothing. Standing in a man's hallway isn't the same as owning his house.
A Job is a deed, not a board position. Check each Play against your claimed Jobs: if the Play did the deed, the Job is done, and it stays done even if the deed didn't survive the Play. Kill a rival Boss, then lose the firefight: nothing un-kills him. The job pays.
Titles aren't owned, they're held, and only while you're the biggest name on the block. Pull ahead of every rival on the turf that counts and the crown swings your way; slip behind and it swings just as fast to whoever stands tallest. The city settles its crowns each nightfall (see Stake Your Claim), and any Title still in your grip when the books close is worth 2 Respect.
Seizing a Borough turns muscle into empire. Hold more Districts in a Borough than any single rival to claim its Deed. If two or more rivals tie for the lead, the Deed goes to the tied boss who Controls the Borough's Hotspot; if none of them holds it, nobody claims the paper. When the count comes up even, the city asks who owns the night.
The Boroughs make headlines, but the Wards decide who owns the block. Hold more Ward Districts than any single rival to claim the Ward Boss Title. When a rival Recruits, they pay you a $100 Union Fee per Runner; you pay only the standard $300 per Runner to the bank for your own recruits.
You can't stop a man's ferry, but you can own the pier. Hold more Dock Districts than any single rival to claim the Harbormaster Title. Every barrel of molasses lands on your docks, so you set Tomorrow's Mash: you name the Mash die's face instead of rolling it (see The Morning Fix). Feed your own Stills, starve the rivals'; the whole city cooks the number you choose.
The sun belongs to the law; the night belongs to you. Hold more Speakeasies than any single rival to claim the Night Mayor Title. During The Morning Fix, you may move one Hotspot Token to any other Speakeasy in the same Borough. Tonight's hottest room is wherever you say it is.
Jobs and Titles forge your legend, but they don't buy you a chair at the table. Above the sirens and the smoke sits The Commission: the judges, the aldermen, and the money men who quietly decide who gets to call himself King. Every last one is for sale, and they all take the same coin: cold, untraceable cash. Every Bribe buys another marker of Influence, another man in your pocket, until all 10 answer to you (see Winning the Game). Respect makes you feared; a bought Commission makes you untouchable. You need both.
Days unfold in three phases:
The city wakes to the hiss of steam.
The Mash die already sits on the board, rolled at the end of yesterday's Shadows. The boss holding Turn Token #1 rolls the communal pool: Red dice equal to Player Count + 1 (4 players: 5 Red).
One Red die is left undrafted. Add that leftover Red to the Mash for the Blowback Number. Cheap pipes, high pressure, and the boilers blow: the Blowback is communal, so every active, Controlled Still matching it bursts, whoever owns the block. Tally casualties in each bursting District by The Muscle Ratio; no Runner can throw himself over an explosion, so if your Boss stands on a bursting Still, he is the first to fall. The survivors patch the boiler and hold on: they keep their barrels, keep their turf, and the Still runs again tomorrow.
Kingpin's Tip: The Mash die has been public since yesterday, so every Red in the pool is a Blowback waiting to happen. Sometimes the smart draft isn't the die that fires your best Still; it's the one you daren't leave behind to burn it down. The first seat brews richest. The last seat is left holding the match, and takes first pick of the morning's Jobs for its trouble.
The Offers: In reverse Turn Order (last off the street last night picks first), each boss does one of three things, never two:
You may hold as many Jobs at once as your Reserves can stake. No Boss, no business: A crew with no Boss skips this step entirely.
Fund the Ledger: Move whatever's left in your Reserves into the Ledger, up to its 5 slots. Staked markers stay locked on their Jobs. Stake first, fund second.
Before the day's business begins, the city's supply and demand are fixed:
You'll play the whole day knowing tomorrow's Mash and where the city pays top dollar, so seize the right Stills, run the Rum, and Lay Low early while the intel is fresh.
Setup: Day 6, and a Raid has long since opened the Speakeasies that began under the Police Squads. Yesterday's Mash die shows 3. Turn Order is Sicilians #1, Irish #2, Knights #3, Vipers #4, so the Sicilians roll 5 Red for the pool: 1, 4, 4, 5, 6. Four bosses, five dice: one Red will be left holding the match.
The Mash is 3. Every number this morning starts there. Each boss already knows which Red he needs; the only question is whether he gets it.
Each boss drafts, brews and takes his barrels before the next man touches a die. Shown as a table for space; at the table it happens one seat at a time.
| Boss | Their Still | Takes | Brew Number | Brews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sicilians (#1) |
Sugar Hill The Cotton Club, Still 7 |
4 | 3 + 4 = 7. Fires. | Boss + 3 Runners = 2 Barrels, then Split the Batch carries the run to West Side (Still 11, 3 Runners) for 2 more: 4 Barrels. |
| Irish (#2) |
The Bowery Dock, Still 9 |
6 | 3 + 6 = 9. Fires. | 4 Runners = 2 Barrels. |
| Knights (#3) |
Fordham The Penny Whistle, Still 8 |
5 | 3 + 5 = 8. Fires. | 5 Runners = 3 Barrels. |
| Vipers (#4) |
Sheepshead Bay Dock, Still 4 |
1 | 3 + 1 = 4. Fires. | 3 Runners = 2 Barrels, if the bank still holds them. |
The last seat's choice: The Vipers were left the 1 and the second 4. The 4 would have brewed them nothing (they own no Still 7) and left the 1 behind, blowing their own Sheepshead Bay. So they took the 1, fired their own Still, and walked away leaving a 4 on the table. They knew exactly what it was worth to the man in the first seat.
The Sicilians brewed the richest run of the morning, 4 Barrels, and took them out of the bank before the Irish had touched a die. Nothing could reach an 11 today: a Mash of 3 tops out at 9. Had the grey supply been thin, the Vipers in the last seat would have been the ones counting dregs.
One Red went undrafted: the 4. Add it to the Mash: 3 + 4 = 7. Every active, Controlled Still numbered 7 bursts, whoever owns the block, and the Cotton Club is lit.
Sugar Hill holds 4 Mobsters, so The Muscle Ratio tallies 2 casualties: the Boss falls first, then a Runner. The Sicilians keep their 4 Barrels, keep the turf, and the Cotton Club runs again tomorrow.
The Moral: The Sicilians brewed richest and lost their Boss to the very same number. 7 paid them and 7 killed them, and they could see the second 4 sitting in the pool the whole time. Worse, tomorrow morning they have no Boss on the board, so they skip The Offers until they Rise, and West Side goes back to waiting on an 11. The first seat brews richest. The last seat holds the match.
Players act in Turn Order, one Play each, around and around the table until everyone has Laid Low for the Day.
| Standard Plays (Cost: 1 Influence) | |
|---|---|
| Move | Send any number of Mobsters and/or Liquor barrels to one Connected District. Barrels can ride with your muscle or travel alone. You cannot Move into a District held by a Police Squad. Into rival turf: Your Mobsters are Pinned and the Occupier gets a Standoff choice first (see Combat); barrels ride in with them, and any left in a rival's District become theirs. Undefended HQ: Move onto a rival Safehouse with no Mobsters guarding it and it's yours to take over or raze: no Standoff, no shots fired. |
| Recruit | Hire Runners into the District holding your Safehouse. Pay the bank a fixed $300 per Runner. If a rival holds the Ward Boss Title, also pay that player a $100 Union Fee per Runner ($400 total per Runner). The Ward Boss pays only the standard $300 bank fee when Recruiting for themselves. With no Safehouse on the board you cannot Recruit at all, at any price. |
| Secure | Place your Safehouse in any Safe District for $500, relocating it if it was already on the board. Placing a Safehouse grants immediate Control, but leave it unguarded and a rival can step in to take it over or raze it for free. |
| Trade | At a Dock District you Control, swap one or more Moonshine barrels sitting in that District for Havana Rum, at a 1:1 ratio. No swill on the pier, no trade, and it is the only way Rum enters the game. (Dry Dock: Rum is a fixed 15-barrel pool; when it runs out the docks stay dry until sold Rum cycles back.) |
| Beg |
When the walls close in, go see Shylock. One Mark at a time; walk in and choose: The Loan: Take $1,500 and one of his Marks. Carry as many as you like, but Shylock keeps only 7 in his book; with all 7 on the street, nobody Begs until one comes back. Square Up: Pay $2,000 to clear one debt and discard that Mark. Shylock lends in fifteens and collects in twenties. While any Mark of yours is unpaid you cannot be crowned (see Winning the Game: Honor). |
| Collect | A quiet day's work while you wait out the street. Cash one Influence marker for $100 and end your turn: no board change, no Heat, nothing moves but the money. It's how you hold your seat as your Ledger empties, biding for a later Turn Token instead of stepping off. |
| The Free Play (Cost: 0) | |
| Lay Low |
End your Day. Flush, it's how you step off early; out of Influence, it's the only Play left to you. When you Lay Low:
|
Power Plays cost double, but still count as a single Play in the turn cycle.
| Power Plays (Cost: 2 Influence) | |
|---|---|
Unload  |
The Address Sets the Price: At a Speakeasy you Control, sell any number of your barrels sitting in that District for cash. The liquor has to be at the bar to be sold across it. Every Speakeasy takes Moonshine or Havana Rum at a flat $300 per barrel. At a Speakeasy holding a Hotspot Token, The Hotspot, Havana Rum sells for $500 per barrel instead. The rich follow the room, and the room follows the token. The Rum Kickback: For each Havana Rum barrel you Unload, at any venue, move 1 Influence marker from your Reserves into an empty Ledger slot (no marker resting, or no empty slot? That Kickback is lost). Moonshine pays cash only. A Kickback refilling a slot you already emptied is the one thing in the game that buys you a sixth Play: sell on your last markers and the Rum puts you straight back on the street. The Greed Tax: Unloading 4+ barrels in one Play generates Heat, wherever you sell. If two mobs' markers paid for it, you choose which goes to the Heat Track. Move more than three and the cops come sniffing. |
| Bribe | Everyone on the Commission has a price, and you pay it in cash. Pay the bank $2,500 and take 1 permanent Influence marker for your Reserves. You may Bribe only up to a ceiling of 10 total Influence (see Winning the Game). |
| Extort |
Shake down the locals. Once per Day, earn a flat $200 for each District you Control anywhere on the map. Brutal, profitable, and loud: the Heat comes however many Districts pay. |
| Rat |
There's no honor among thieves when the sirens wail. Drop a dime on your rivals: trigger an immediate Police Raid, and whoever fired the last loud shot bleeds worst (see Police Raids). The Mark of the Snitch: Making this Play, you take the Rat Card from the supply (or snatch it from the rival who holds it). While you hold it you are −3 Respect when the books open, and you cannot Rat again. The crown is still yours to take, if you can carry the brand and still count to 15. The word's out that you talk, and the street prices you accordingly. No Absolution: There is no paying your way clean. The Card leaves you exactly one way: a rival Rats and takes it off you, on his schedule and not yours. Somebody else has to want the sirens badly enough to wear the brand. |
| Rise | A Boss goes where he's needed, or a new one takes the chair. Place your Boss in any Safe District, relocating him if he was already on the board and anointing a successor if he was not. |
Four families, four ways to make a killing. Each runs on an always-on Trait, the thing that makes them them, plus two signature tricks no rival can copy. Those marked In a Firefight are made inside a fight you are already Pinned in: they cost Influence but never a turn, and like every other shot they happen before anyone else acts. The rest are ordinary Plays, and cost you your turn.
Old blood, older rules. An insult to the family is a death sentence, and the family is Untouchable: the precinct captains are on the payroll, so their Districts may hold any number of Mobsters at Reckoning: the Sweep never touches them.
| Hit (Cost: 2) In a Firefight |
The family doesn't fight foot soldiers; it goes for the head. While Pinned in a rival District, initiate a special attack. Both sides roll simultaneously as normal. However, if you score any hits, the rival Boss takes the first hit instead of a Runner. With no rival Boss in the District there is no head to go for, and a Hit lands like an ordinary Open Fire, drawing the fight's Heat only if it's the first shot. |
| Consigliere (Cost: 1) | One phone call and the trouble disappears. Remove 1 Influence marker of your choice from the Heat Track and return it to its owner's Reserves (slide the rest down to close the gap). |
They brew it strong and fight dirty, and they always come heavy. That's their Firepower: whenever the Irish Open Fire, they roll 1 extra attack die (up to the max of 5). Strictly an invader's tool: it never fires on defence, not even an Ambush. Why buy bullets when a brick works just fine, and why bring one gun when you can bring two?
| Plunder (Cost: 1) In a Firefight |
While Pinned, initiate a special attack (roll Muscle as for Open Fire): each hit steals 1 Liquor barrel of your choice from the target District instead of killing. Carry them off if you Advance (dropped if you Fall Back). Occupier hits still kill. Never generates Heat: nobody fired a shot, so a Plunder leaves the fight's first shot, and its one Heat marker, to whoever shoots next. |
| Peddle (Cost: 1) |
Rotgut sells itself in the tenements. Unload as normal, but in any Ward you Control as well as Speakeasies. Only Moonshine may be sold this way, at the flat $300 per barrel street rate (no Kickback, no Hotspot price). The Greed Tax still bites at 4+ barrels. |
They move like smoke and strike like snakes. Nothing happens in this city that the Vipers don't overhear first, and those Whispers are their edge: when they claim a Job, they may peek at the top card of the Jobs deck and claim it face-down instead of a Market card. Rivals see the Stake, never the job; reveal it the moment it completes.
| Stealth (Cost: 1) | A Move by another road: send up to 5 Mobsters (no Liquor) into a Connected rival District. You are Pinned, but you come in too quiet to answer: the Occupier can only Hold Fire, never Ambush, never Fold. You cannot end your Play Pinned, so resolve it: Open Fire (1) or Advance to a Connected Safe District (1). Slip in on your last Influence and you can afford neither, leaving only a free Fall Back: creep in on a full Ledger. |
| Tunnel (Cost: 1) | The city runs on rails the cops forgot. Move up to 5 Liquor Barrels (no Mobsters) between the District holding your Safehouse and any other District you Control, in either direction. |
Dressed to kill, literally. The Knights work the water, and no crew moves liquor like they do, because their Network runs every pier from Havana to Harlem. Whenever the Knights Trade at a Dock, they gain 1 extra barrel of Havana Rum for free, on top of the barrels they swap, so long as a Rum barrel is left in the supply to take. The free cask rides along with a real trade: no swap, no gift. Friends on every wharf, and a fresh cask waiting at each one, until the last cask is gone.
| Skiff (Cost: 1) | Move up to 5 Mobsters (no Liquor) from a Coastal District you Control to any other Coastal District. A Coastal District is any District touching water, so this reaches far beyond the Docks. If you enter a rival District, the standard Standoff applies (the Occupier may Ambush, Hold Fire, or Fold). The boat is also a way out of a fight: you may Skiff to a Coastal Safe District when you Fold or Advance, carrying up to 5 Mobsters (never Liquor). Any Mobsters you cannot carry are left behind and killed (return them to your supply). Never the Scatter's step: no boats when the cops surround the town. |
| Torch (Cost: 1) In a Firefight |
Burn down a Safehouse in a rival District. To strike the match you must have at least one Runner Pinned in the target District. Sacrifice one of those Pinned Runners; he goes up with the flames (return him to your supply). The rival's Safehouse is immediately destroyed (return it to their supply). Any rival Mobsters and Liquor in the District are unharmed and retain Control. Torching always generates Heat. |
Once the guns go quiet, the city settles its accounts. All players resolve this phase simultaneously, evaluating their empires exactly as they stand the moment the Hustle ends.
The cops can ignore a crew. They can't ignore an army.
In any District with more than 5 Mobsters, remove excess Runners to bring the count down to 5. (The Sicilian Syndicate is Untouchable and ignores the Sweep entirely.)
This is where the crowns change hands. For each Title, whoever leads the category takes it or keeps it; if two or more rivals tie for the lead, or no one qualifies, it slips back to the Supply. (Police never count as rivals; turf they hold counts as empty for every Title check.)
If any Kingpin holds all 10 Influence, 15+ Respect, and their honor, the game ends immediately! (see Winning the Game).
If not, the war continues. The Turn Tokens you claimed tonight become today's set, the other set becomes tomorrow's, and the next Day's Shadows Phase begins in the new Turn Order.
Every crew is grasping for the same brass ring, and the night one of you closes a fist around it, the war for New York is over. The crown falls to the boss who ends a Reckoning Phase holding all 10 Influence, 15+ Respect, and their honor intact. The books open only at Reckoning; a crown seized at noon can still slip away before nightfall.
You need 10 markers, your ceiling. Any thug can fire a Tommy gun, but it takes a true operator to buy the whole council. You start with 6; the last four come from the Bribe Play at $2,500 apiece. They count wherever they sit: banked, staked on Jobs, or cooling on the Heat Track. What matters is that all ten are yours.
You need 15 or more. Legitimacy means nothing if the streets don't fear you. Tally the spoils of your empire:
You need no unpaid debt. The council crowns no debtor: while you hold an unpaid Shylock's Mark, you cannot win, whatever your Respect. In the Blood Oath, neither can your Alliance. No commission hands the crown to a man another man owns. Square the debt, then take the throne.
If multiple bosses qualify on the same night, there's no war left to fight; the council simply opens the books and weighs one empire against the other:
There are no shared victories in Moonshine Kingdom. You either rule the city alone, or bleed out in the gutter.
Trust is fleeting, but even sharp kingpins need rivals. Every favor granted might be a knife in the back.
A Mobster's word is cheap. When a deal needs teeth, seal it the old way: look the man in the eye and shake his hand, where the whole table can see it.
Example: "Shake on it. If you let me pass through your Borough unharmed, I promise to give you $1,000 before Day's end."
You may wheel and deal outside the rules, but only Cash can be physically traded off the board. Hand it over anytime, no Influence required.
Violence isn't a backup plan; it's the cost of doing business. Smart Kingpins know a drawn gun beats a fired one. When talk fails, step inside and clear the room.
Violence runs on two numbers: The Muscle Ratio (how many dice you roll) and Threat (what number kills).
| Mobster Count | Dice Rolled |
|---|---|
| 1-2 Mobsters | 1 die |
| 3-4 Mobsters | 2 dice |
| 5-6 Mobsters | 3 dice |
| 7-8 Mobsters | 4 dice |
| 9+ Mobsters | 5 dice |
| Threat Level | Kill on Roll |
|---|---|
| Level 1 (Base) | 5-6 |
| Level 2 | 4-6 |
| Level 3 | 3-6 |
| Level 4 (Max) | 2-6 |
Your Base Threat is Level 1 (kill on 5+). Bonuses stack, to a maximum of Level 4:
These bonuses ride on the situation, not the Play, applying to every attack roll you make from that position: Open Fire, Hit or Plunder alike.
Every firefight is just two questions, asked in order:
A Firefight Is One Play. The Move that started it is the Play. Everything after it (Ambush, Hold Fire, Fold, Open Fire, Advance, Fall Back, and the signature tricks) happens inside that Play: each choice costs Influence from the Ledger of whoever makes it, but none of them costs a turn, so a fight of any length is still the single Play that walked in the door. That is why the crew holding the block always answers, even one that went home hours ago. Your free answers are always open to you; the paid ones need a marker in your Ledger, so spent out you can neither Ambush nor Open Fire (and Laid Low, your Ambush is stood down whatever you hold).
When an opponent Moves into a District you Control, the game pauses on Step 1. Set each crew along the edge it crossed from, so it stays clear whose Mobsters and barrels are whose.
| Ambush (Cost: 1) |
Greet the invaders with lead. Paid from your Ledger: spent out or Laid Low, you can't Ambush.
|
| Hold Fire (Cost: 0) | Stand your ground but don't shoot. Maybe they're just passing through. The Invaders are now Pinned. |
| Fold (Cost: 0) |
Surrender the District. You may immediately move your Mobsters to one Connected Safe District, across water via Docks if you like.
|
A Pin stops the city where it stands: it is fought out then and there, and no Play is made anywhere, by anyone, until it resolves. While Pinned you do nothing else: spend Influence to Open Fire or Advance, or Fall Back for free, and keep choosing until the Pin is resolved, or you run dry and must Fall Back. Hit, Torch and Plunder are open to you here too, if your Ledger can pay for them (the Irish Firepower Trait boosts Open Fire only). None of it costs a turn.
The Cost of Pride: A real Kingpin knows an all-out firefight is bad business. Burning 3 or 4 Influence to keep opening fire on one stubborn alley may win it, but it leaves rivals free across the city. Talk is cheap; bullets cost time.
| Open Fire (Cost: 1) |
Fight for the District. Both sides roll simultaneously.
|
| Advance (Cost: 1) | Shoot your way out. Move Pinned Mobsters, with any barrels they hold, to any Safe Connected District, including across water via Docks. You cannot enter hostile turf. |
| Fall Back (Cost: 0) (Invader Only) |
Cut and run. Retreat to the origin District you entered from, across water if that's how you came. Carried Liquor is left behind for the Occupier.
If you have 0 Influence remaining, you must Fall Back. |
Combat ends when one side is eliminated or the Invader retreats.
If the Occupier Holds: The District remains theirs. Liquor dropped by dead Invaders becomes the Occupier's property.
If the Invader Wins: The moment the last of the Occupier's pieces falls or flees, you claim Control of the District.
Setup: The Knights (1 Boss, 3 Runners) move into a Dock District held by the Sicilians (1 Boss, 2 Runners, Safehouse), aiming to seize the pier and the Trade it controls.
The Sicilians (Occupier) refuse to Fold, choosing to Ambush, spending 1 from their Ledger. They fire first; the Knights do not roll yet.
| Faction | Strength | Threat | Roll & Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sicilians (Occupier) |
3 Mobsters (2 Dice) |
Level 4 (Hit 2+) (Base + Boss + Ambush + Safehouse) |
Roll: [1, 5] 1 Hit |
Result: Knights lose 1 Runner. The Sicilians fired first, so this Ambush is the fight's one
Heat marker : their spent marker locks onto the Track.
Knights are now Pinned.
The Knights choose to fight. Both sides roll simultaneously.
| Faction | Strength | Threat | Roll & Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knights (Invader) |
3 Mobsters (2 Dice) |
Level 2 (Hit 4+) (Base + Boss) |
Roll: [4, 6] 2 Hits |
| Sicilians (Occupier) |
3 Mobsters (2 Dice) |
Level 3 (Hit 3+) (Base + Boss + Safehouse) |
Roll: [1, 5] 1 Hit |
The Knights spend another Influence to Open Fire.
| Faction | Strength | Threat | Roll & Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knights (Invader) |
2 Mobsters (1 Die) |
Level 2 (Hit 4+) (Base + Boss) |
Roll: [5] 1 Hit |
| Sicilians (Occupier) |
1 Mobster (1 Die) |
Level 3 (Hit 3+) (Base + Boss + Safehouse) |
Roll: [1] 0 Hits |
is theirs; the Knights drew none, block and all. Firing first put the Sicilians on the Track, so a Raid would chase them.With combat resolved, the Play comes to an end. The player with the next Turn Token now takes their turn.
Heat measures how hard the law is breathing down your neck. The Heat Track is a 5-space powder keg: generate Heat and you place one Influence marker on it. Played right it's a weapon; played wrong, a noose.
These noisy Plays push the track up one notch (any Play marked with the flame icon ):
, and it belongs to whoever fired first: the Occupier if they Ambush, otherwise the Invader on his first Open Fire. One marker, however many volleys, and its owner is the one the law chases., however many Districts you squeeze or barns you light., wherever you sell.A Raid triggers two ways: the 5th marker lands on the track, or a rival makes the Rat Play. Either way, pause the turn; the city's on lockdown.
A Raid puts every Squad on the move. Resolve them one at a time, in the numbered Borough order printed on the board, each finishing before the next stirs. Four precincts kicking doors in, block by block.
Each Squad hunts within reach and chases the freshest gunshot it can hear. Its reach is only the Districts directly Connected to it inside its own Borough. Find the target in two steps:
The Squad takes one step onto the chosen District and kicks the doors in:
The Squad now holds the District as an impassable wall, padlocking any Speakeasy or Still beneath it until a later Raid.
The Aftermath: Once every Squad has moved, all Heat markers return to their owners' Reserves and the turn resumes.
When the heat boils over, enemies become brothers. The Feds are kicking down doors and lone wolves get slaughtered. The Blood Oath is the recommended 4-player mode: a cutthroat free-for-all where escalating police pressure eventually forces the city into two permanent 2v2 alliances.
Set up as a standard 4-player match, with one addition: place the Federal Crackdown Tracker near the Heat Track with a token on space 1. Every time a Police Raid triggers, advance the token one space.
The moment the token reaches space 10 on the Crackdown Tracker, the underworld snaps. Pause the game. The four independent mobs immediately form two permanent alliances.
One goal, two crews. You still run your own operations.
The council only recognizes unified power. To win, an Alliance must hold 30 combined Respect and have at least one partner holding 10 Influence (one crew buys the council on behalf of the family). If met during the Reckoning Phase, the game ends immediately: first family to the finish takes the city.
If both Alliances clear 30 at the same Reckoning, the crown goes to the pair with the higher combined Respect; still deadlocked, the fattest combined bankroll buys the throne.
The Capo di Tutti Capi: There are no truly shared victories... even in a team. Within the winning Alliance, the player who contributed the most Respect to the final combined total is declared the Boss of Bosses and the true Kingpin of New York. Your partner doesn't get a crown; they just get the privilege of kissing your ring.