Any good gangster/1920's themed game out there?

I've always loved this era. The Godfather is one of my favorite books. Any game that evokes that kind of feeling?

Not really similar to the Godfather, but I have always found Bootleggers to be quite enjoyable. I would consider it to be a hybrid between Ameritrash and Euros, where the goal is to make the most money by selling whiskey in speakeasies.

Euro elements --
worker placement
some efficiency planning

Ameritrash--
die rolling
loads of negotiation

It's not a board game, but the video game 'Mafia' evokes a similar feel. And driving those cars around is awesome.

I love The Roaring '20s, but it's way out of print. It was one of the short-lived Yaquinto "album" games, designed to be stored with your LP collection. Anyway, Roaring '20s is a pickup-and-deliver game with some serious AmeriTrash attitude. Heavy interaction, with some smack talk, some deal-making and some payback. The best part is the car chases, which often include drive-by shootings, roadblocks and car crashes.

There is an AH game called Gangsters that is...ok. The worst problem is some Don Greenwood development to the combat system and income systems.

The original game Supergang! is a bit more interesting.

At the core, you roll 4-5 dice, and use those to move around your 3 pawns (Don, Enforcer, and Moll), and one of the police tokens. At the target locations, you collect money from your various rackets, and the odd shootout.

The AH version uses a dice combat system, and has some added complication with income.

The French version has combat via stand up targets and a dart gun. Not just any dart gun, but one that also takes old school roll caps for a bit of added sound to each shot. And it has a big silencer on the end, and no orange safety end anywhere in sight.

---

Cosa Nostra / Vendetta is another favorite. It is basically Backgammon with drive-by shootings and kidnappings.

---

Then there is Don Pepe. The scene is a bunch of different gangs seated at a table covered with weapons. You collect income from being in the correct seats, then play a card which always involves sleeping pills, shooting stabbing, moving to a new seat, or delivering an exploding birthday cake.

It is a children's game. Which prompted one child to utter the immortal line, "I don't think, I just stab."

Arkham Horror. Duh. Just pick Michael McGlenn - The Gangster!

kookoobah wrote:

I've always loved this era. The Godfather is one of my favorite books. Any game that evokes that kind of feeling?

For a fast and fun themed game... Family Business

moofrank wrote:

There is an AH game called Gangsters that is...ok. The worst problem is some Don Greenwood development to the combat system and income systems.

somewhere I have a trophy from winning the gangsters junior event at avaloncon....I don't remember much about the game though.

There's The Mob which is a light but pretty fun game for up to six players. You have your family and you place them around the town in different businesses to make money. You can take over businesses another family runs which means 'sleeping with da fishes' time for opposing members in that business. I've sold my copy as it wasn't getting played these days, but with the right group it is fun.

Is it Malloc who runs Gangsters sessions at WBC ? I've got a copy but have never had the right group to get it out (plus it was missing one police counter which meant I was going to have to do a little bit of work to use replacement counters -> lazy bastard).

Also a card based game called Gangland that was OK but which also I got rid of due to the gathering dust factor. I remember it had a giant heavy dice.

Bootleggers is on sale for $12.00 at Funagain. Shipping to Asia???

http://www.funagain.com/control/rc/~p=spring09sale/~VIEW_SIZE=10/~VIEW_INDEX=4

I wonder if building the right sort of decks in Call of Cthulhu CCG/LCG or Shadowfist would work. Both games have a lot of good Gangster theming. Though that would require investment in a CCG.