- Designer: John Cooper & Kory Heath
- Graphics: Fiore GmbH
- Publisher: Kosmos
- Players: 3-6 Players
- Playtime: 20 minutes
- Ages: 10+
If you are like me, you enjoy playing poker, but you don’t really enjoy gambling. I was fairly young when my mum first introduced me to Texas Hold ‘Em, and we’d play with pretzels instead of poker chips. I really enjoyed it, but playing the same game for decades can begin to feel a bit stale. Enter The Gang! A cooperative Texas Hold Em’ experience for 3-6 players, aged 10+ that plays in about 20 minutes. If you are a newer player, you can play the standard game, and if you are more experienced you can choose between Advanced, Professional or Master mode! The game also becomes more difficult with more players at the table. So if you are wanting a more streamlined game, play the standard mode with only 3 players and work up from there.
What’s In the Box?
- 52 Playing Cards
- 3 Vault Cards
- 3 Alarm Cards
- 6 Gameplay Cards
- 6 Hand Ranking Cards
- 10 Challenge cards
- 10 Specialist cards
- 24 Poker Chips (6 white, 6 yellow, 6 orange and 6 red)
Setup
Set up is straight forward and can be completed in just a few minutes. First take 3 Vault Cards and 3 Alarm Cards and place them gray side up at the edge of the play area. Then, ensure every player has a Gameplay Overview Card and a Hand Ranking Card to help guide them during the game. Finally, deal the chips. Pull out any chips with a higher value than the number of players and put them back in the box. You and your players are now ready to play The Gang.
Objective
A full game of The Gang contains between 3-5 heists, with each heist lasting for 4 rounds. At the end of a heist, you will learn if you and your team were successful. To win the game, players must have 3 successful heists. Players lose the game if there are 3 unsuccessful heists.
Gameplay
The Gang plays in 3 to 5 heists. At the end of each heist, you will find out if you are successful or not. If you are successful, flip over a Vault Card. If you are unsuccessful, flip over an Alarm Card. If you are able to flip over all 3 Vault Cards, you and The Gang win the game! If 3 Alarm Cards are flipped over, you lose.
Each heist is played similarly to a round of Texas Hold ‘Em. Each players is dealt 2 cards face down. These are called a players “pocket” cards. Each player has their own pocket. Players may look at their own cards, but not the cards of other players. In the center area, leave enough room for 5 cards to be laid out. For round 1, you will put all of the white chips, in order, in the center of the playing area.
The chips for The Gang all have a set number of stars on them, 1 through 6. If you were playing with 3 players, you would have numbers 1, 2, and 3 out. Add a chip for each additional player you have at the table. The chips are the only way you can communicate to the other players how strong you think your hand is. For example, if someone had pocket Aces, they may feel they have the strongest hand of the group and pick the highest numbered chip. Alternatively, if a player has a 7 and a 2 of different suits in their pocket, they may pick the number one chip because their hand usually has low odds of being a strong hand by the end of the game. While picking chips, players may choose a chip from the middle of the table or choose a chip another player has already picked. Keep in mind you may never have more than one chip of the same color in front of you. You are also allowed up put your own chip back in the middle of the table and are never able to place a chip in front of another player.
Once everyone has a white chip in front of them and no one is swapping with another player, round 1 is ends and round 2 can begin. For round two, put out the yellow chips in the center of the play area. Round two is called the “flop.” For the flop, the dealer takes the first 3 cards from the top of the face down deck and flips them over. Now players can use their pocket, and the cards from the flop, to use all 5 cards to make the best hand. Players then use the yellow chips to determine the order of the value of everyone’s hand. Once everyone has a chip in front of them, the round is over.
Round 3 is played with the orange chips and it is called the “turn.” The Dealer will take 1 card from the face down pile and put it next to the flop. Players now have the option to use 5 out of any of the 6 cards (2 in their pocket and 4 face up) to make their best possible hand. Once everyone has a chip in front of them, the round is over. Then begins Round 4, also known as the “river,” begins. Players will use the red chips in this round. Now players have the option of their two pocket cards and 5 community cards to play with. Players will take the best score of 5 cards and use that to determine their hand. Players must carefully choose their chip in this final round, as this is the scoring round.
Players then reveal their hand, stating their best possible hand out of all 7 cards. The part of the game is called the “showdown.” If the red chips show the correct order, The Gang wins and can turn over a Vault Card! However, if even one hand is out of order, The Gang loses and an alarm card is turned over. This ends the first heist and cards are then shuffled and a new heist begins.
If you are able to flip over all 3 Vault Cards, you and The Gang win the game! If 3 Alarm Cards are flipped over first, The Gang has lost.
Poker can be a complicated game so it is recommended you keep your Hand Ranking Card close by. Especially for newer players, this will help you determine if you have a good hand or not. This is essential to winning the game.
Final Thoughts
We tested out The Gang with 3 players and 4 players at the table. The addition of one more player had a noticeable effect on the overall complexity of the game. We only played in standard mode for the time being, as we were all a bit rusty from our college poker days. I look forward to trying Advanced, Professional and Master Thief modes as we continue to improve our game!
If you’ve been reading Berry Plays Games for a while you know I like to rate small box games on whether I would take them to a brewery to play. While this game could realistically be played at a brewery, I think I would leave this one at home due to the length of play and space needed to spread out the cards. I would highly recommend this one for camping or other family style vacations as it packs up easily and is approachable for a wide range of gamers. Even those who don’t consider themselves a gamer will often pick up a card game or two. At its price point, The Gang is a steal, and I think it would find a nice home in almost any game collection!
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