Bootleggers: The Boardwalk
Bootleggers: The Boardwalk Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Play Overview
Bootleggers rounds are enhanced for Casinos:
Phase 1: Muscle (Bidding & Driver Graft Phase)
- Casino Cards are available for selection in addition to existing Men of Action cards.
Phase 2: Send in the Boys (Influence placement Phase)
- Speakeasies may optionally be redeveloped into Casinos.
Phase 4: Run the Whiskey (Shipping Phase)
- Casino owners may optionally destroy a maximum of 3 of their influence markers to decrease O'Malley's consumption.
Phase 5: "What's the Password?" (Selling Phase)
- Casinos pay owners and sellers.
Game Components in Expansion
- Casinos – placards of size and shape to be placed over Speakeasies on the game board.
- Casino cards – new Men of Action cards to be used with the Casinos.
- Entertainment Act Tiles – Casino improvements.
Detailed Play (Da Rules)
Preparation
- Shuffle and place Casino Cards face down next to the Game Board.
- Place Casinos and Entertainment Act Tiles within reach.
Each Round, perform these actions in order:
Phase 1: Muscle (Bidding & Driver Graft Phase)
- After the Truck card and Men of Action cards are placed for selection, draw and place a Casino card next to the board. Additionally, draw and place next to the board one Casino card for each open Casino.
- Casino owners must pay graft of $1G per die plus $2G booking fee for each Entertainment Act in their Casinos.
Phase 2: Send in the Boys (Influence placement Phase)
- A Mobster may optionally choose to redevelop a Speakeasy into a Casino for the base price identified on the Casino plus $3G per Influence marker paid to their owners. The Influence markers are returned to their owner's Back Room.
- There are only 4 Casinos available for purchase. The 4th Casino is only used in 6 player games.
- The Speakeasy need not be open to be redeveloped.
- A Mobster is not required to have influence in the speakeasy being redeveloped.
- The new Casino owner moves his Influence from the Speakeasy being redeveloped to his Back Room.
- Speakeasy Improvements are discarded.
- The new Casino owner selects the matching casino from the supply, places it over the Speakeasy being redeveloped, and marks the ownership with an Influence marker from his supply (not his Back Room).
- The new Casino owner may optionally place Influence according to the Bootleggers rules.
- The new Casino owner finishes his action by discarding his Truck, dice, and any Remote Stills.
Phase 3: Fire up the Still (Production Phase)
- Casino owners have no actions this phase.
Phase 4: Run the Whiskey (Shipping Phase)
- Trucks line up in single file in Muscle card order at Casinos or Speakeasies.
- At any time during this phase, Casino owners may choose to destroy one of their Influence markers from the board or their Back Room to reduce consumption at O'Malley's by one Crate per Truck. No more than 3 Influence markers may be destroyed per Round.
Phase 5: "What's the Password?" (Selling Phase)
- Casino owners roll consumption. Entertainment Acts, like Speakeasy Improvements, add 1 to each die rolled in the Casino. Also, like Speakeasies, Casinos will only buy Crates up to the maximum number of the consumption roll.
Payouts for Mother's, Barleycorn's, and The Real McCoy (6 player only) are as follows:
- $3G per Crate paid to the sellers from the bank.
- $3G per Crate paid to the owner from the bank.
- If the consumption roll is greater than the Crates available to be sold then $1G gambling profits is paid to the owner from the bank for the difference between the consumption roll and the number of Crates sold.
Payouts for The Real McCoy (less than 5 players) and the Volstead (6 player only) increase to $5G per Crate. Gambling payout is unchanged.
For example, 2 Trucks with a total of 7 Crates are lined up at a Casino. The Casino owner rolls 10 for consumption. Sellers receive $21G for the whiskey. Casino owner receives $21G for the whiskey plus $3G gambling profits (10 rolled - 7 Crates bought).
Phase 6: The Heat! (Long Arm of the Law Phase)
- If a Casino card remains unselected at the end of the phase, it is discarded.
Game Ending and Winning
The game ends at the end of the round after the 12th round. The early game ending condition of a player earning $100Gs is not used.
Player with the most money wins.
Optional Rules and Designer Approved Variants for Bootleggers
There are many variants out in the wild that we have seen after the first printing. Here are some of the ones we thought worked and did not break the game. The following optional rules can be used with Bootleggers: Boardwalk or when Bootleggers is being played as a standalone game:
- Ramp Still Production – Dice are no longer rolled to determine production for the first 3 turns. The first die in the Family Still (received during setup) produces 4 Crates of whiskey. All additional dice received when upgrading Stills produce 3 Crates of whiskey. Dice can be placed on the Stills with the appropriate face shown as a reminder of how much they produce. NOTE: The Copper is not involved because he does not appear until Round 4.
- Play it Cool - For any given Round, a Mobster can "play it cool" and declare he does not wish to roll for production. All dice that he would have rolled result in a 3. Cannot be done if you have the Copper.
- Ring up the Boys – A Mobster may move one Influence marker per Round from a Speakeasy to his Back Room during Phase 2: Send in the Boys if it does not result in the Speakeasy closing. Placement of Influence in Speakeasies is unchanged.
- Muscling In – Unplaced Influence markers add to your Muscle card. Ties are broken by the values of unmodified Muscle cards (highest wins tie).
- Need a Little Help - In a three Mobster game, turn over an additional Men of Action card (i.e. there is an extra card choice) each Round to allow for more choices.
- Throw the Bums Out (Boardwalk) - For those who like LESS negotiation in their expansion, adapt the optional rule that you can "throw out" the existing other Mobster Influence markers in your new Casino at a fixed cost of $5G/each. The money is paid to the Mobsters ejected, not the bank.
- New City Ordinance - Player pays additional $5G to open a new Casino. New Casino is not opened if player can no longer afford opening cost. May be saved for later use.
- State Gaming Commission - Casino owner must pay you $5G or Casino owner receives no payout from this casino this turn. Money is paid to bank. May be saved for later use.
Bootleggers Boardwalk Expansion Cards
- Fire Chief - Send the Fire Chief to inspect a Speakeasy or Casino. Crates from last truck in line do not get bought. May be saved for later use.
- Police Raid - Play on a Casino. That Casino is closed for one round only. No crates are sold to the closed Casino. May be saved for later use.
- Political Pockets - The heat is on. Casino only buys crates from one player this turn. May be saved for later use.
- Pssst. Hey bud. Over Here. - Play on a truck lined up at a Speakeasy or Casino. Move the truck to a Casino. May be saved for later use.
- Gambling Windfall - Casino owner paid additional $1G per crate from bank this turn. May be saved for later use.
- Apple Pie! - Crates in one truck at a Casino are doubled. Can be played anytime during Selling Phase. May be saved for later use.
- Inside Job - All crates in one truck at a Casino receive Casino owner's payout for that truck in addition to sellers payout. May be saved for later use.
- Break the Bank - Casino owner receives no payout from gambling or crates sold at this casino this turn. May be saved for later use.
- (3x) Hire a Big Act - Pay $2G and redeem immediately for 1 Casino Improvement.
- Crazed Fan - Destroy Casino Improvement marker in a Casino. May be saved for later use.
- (2x) Steal the Show - Redeem immediately for 1 Casino Improvement.
Bootleggers: Where are da boys?
A Variant for 2 Mobsters Playing Bootleggers
"Hey Mickey, what you want to do?" "Dunno. The boss ain't going to be back for a while." "How about we play a game?" "A game? Like a boardgame?" "Yeah. A boardgame. Sure."
Sometimes you hit a rough spot on the social calendar where there just ain't enough of the gang around to pull off something big. That don't mean you can't do nothing. Here's a version of Bootleggers you can play with only two mobsters.
Game Play Overview
For the two player variant, changes to the base Bootleggers game are made in the Preparation and selected individual Phases.
- Preparation – Preparation of Muscle Cards; Pre-placement of Influence in Speakeasies.
- Phase 1: Muscle (Bidding & Driver Graft Phase) – Bidding and card selection with only two Mobsters.
- Phase 5: "What's the Password?" (Selling Phase) – Modified consumption roll.
Detailed Play (Da Rules)
Preparation
Do the following in addition to the basic Bootleggers setup:
- After dealing Muscle cards to the two Mobsters, set aside the highest quarter of the remaining cards (the blue cards). Shuffle together the remaining Muscle cards and deal three additional hands of Muscle cards. Place these three additional hands above the first three Men of Action Offer Spaces next to the Men of Action deck. These hands are called Non-Player Muscle hands.
- Place Influence markers of a neutral, non-player color in the shaded circles of Speakeasies as follows:
- Mother's – 1
- Barleycorn's – 2
- The Real McCoy – 3
- The largest Speakeasy, "The Volstead," and the Copper are not used.
Each Round, perform these actions in order:
Phase 1: Muscle (Bidding & Driver Graft Phase)
- When turning over Men of Action cards, turn over 5 Men of Action cards and place them on the board. There will be one Men of Action card beneath each of the three Non-Player Muscle hands, plus two additional cards without Non-Player Muscle hands.
- After the Mobsters reveal their Muscle cards, turn over the top card of the three Non-Player Muscle hands.
- Select Men of Action/Truck cards in Muscle card order as usual, including the 3 revealed Non-Player Muscle cards.
- Mobsters can select from any available card (including Men of Action cards beneath to Non-Player Muscle hands).
- For the Non-Player Muscle hands, take the appropriate action based on the Men of Action card:
- If the Men of Action card has already been taken – do nothing.
- If the Men of Action card is a Single or Double Influence - exchange the Men of Action card for a Single or Double Influence of a neutral, non-player color and place it according to the following:
- Beginning with Texas Lil's, fill all of the shaded circles in order of smallest to largest Speakeasy. Specifically, fill all shaded circles in Texas Lil's, then fill all of the shaded circles in Mother's Groceries, etc.
- If all of the shaded circles are filled, begin again in Texas Lil's fill the remaining available circles. Specifically, fill all remaining circles in Texas Lil's, then fill all the remaining circles in Mother's Groceries, etc.
- Reminder: The largest Speakeasy, "The Volstead," is not used.
- Any other Men of Action card – discard.
Phase 2: Send in the Boys (Influence placement Phase)
The booklet lists no changes to this phase for the two player variant; it is played as in the base Bootleggers game.
Phase 3: Fire up the Still (Production Phase)
The booklet lists no changes to this phase for the two player variant; it is played as in the base Bootleggers game.
Phase 4: Run the Whiskey (Shipping Phase)
The booklet lists no changes to this phase for the two player variant; it is played as in the base Bootleggers game.
Phase 5: "What's the Password?" (Selling Phase)
- Roll consumption at the open Speakeasies. Discard the lowest value die for all speakeasies except Texas Lil's.
- Determine ownership and payouts as usual, including the neutral non-player influence markers, then make the payouts to the Mobsters.
Phase 6: The Heat! (Long Arm of the Law Phase)
The booklet lists no changes to this phase for the two player variant; it is played as in the base Bootleggers game.
Game Ending and Winning
The game ends after the "What's the Password" Phase of either the 12th Round or the first round in which one Mobster has accumulated at least $80G, whichever occurs first. The Mobster with the most dough at the end of the game wins. Ties are broken in favor of the Mobster with the higher Muscle card visible this Round.