Bootleggers
Run booze in 1920s America, where every handshake is a deal and every deal is a lie waiting to happen.
Who it's for
You like games where the table talk is the main event, and you have five friends who enjoy a theatrical betrayal. Think Chinatown, but with bootleg whiskey.
Not for you if…
You want a tight, quiet puzzle or you play with fewer than five people. With three, the haggling loses its bite.
Vibe's take
Loud, scheming and a little theatrical. You spend as much time talking as moving pieces, and the table keeps shifting who is allied with whom.
About this game
January 1921: Prohibition is a year old and the nation's thirst has not noticed. In Bootleggers you are an ambitious crime boss chasing a slice of the illegal booze business, from making it to hauling it to selling it. Local cops look the other way for the right price, but Eliot Ness's G-Men are a tougher crowd. The rest is negotiation. You haggle out loud, swear alliances that last exactly as long as they pay, and lie with a straight face. Open drafting, trading and secret simultaneous choices feed into majorities that decide who really runs the town. It works best with all six seats filled, when there are plenty of rivals to sweet-talk and double-cross.
Get it
By the numbers
Players
Duration
90 min
Ages 12+
Complexity
2.6 / 5 — MediumBGG Rating
6.2/10
Rank #2,447
3.3k ratings
Published
2004
Language
Moderate text
Designed by
Don Beyer, Ray Eifler, Steve Gross
Published by
Eagle-Gryphon Games, Mayday Games
/pic8165052.jpg)
/pic5169196.jpg)
/pic403442.jpg)
/pic166390.jpg)