Solo: Jo

Speakeasy's official solo mode against the bot Jo: setup and difficulty, Jo's turn, how he delivers, sells, builds, protects, ambushes and cooks Books, and solo scoring.

The official solo rules (version 11c, by Vital Lacerda, Shelley Danielle and Dávid Turczi) pit you against Jo, a mobster bot. You play the normal 2-player game; Jo follows his own cards.

Setup Jo

Set the game up for two players, then (see also the Setup page with Solo selected):

1. Jo takes a colour, his own Operations board and a supply of Operations, Infamy, Turn Order and Zone Control markers, 4 Capos, Family Members, Books, Stills, 8 Speakeasies, 3 Nightclubs and 3 Casinos. He has no Strength marker, Trucks, Associate marker or safe, and no money.
2. His Family Members, Books and Stills go beside his board; one Zone Control marker at the bottom of each Zone track.
3. His Capos beside his board and his Operations markers on level 1; Speakeasies, Nightclubs and Casinos left to right above his board.
4. Shuffle his 16 District cards face down.
5. Shuffle deck 0 and reveal cards until one raises an Operations level: raise that level of Jo’s by 1, box the card.
6. His Infamy marker on space 5.

Jo’s action decks and difficulty

Shuffle decks 1–4 separately and box 2 random cards of deck 2, so each has 3 cards. Then choose:

Box the swapped-out cards and the rest of deck 0. Each Act, Jo’s deck on his board is: Act 1 decks 1 + 2 shuffled; Act 2 the 2 cards left plus deck 3; Act 3 the 2 cards left plus deck 4, used to the end. Every card is pictured on Cards & Components.

Setup Round

Turn order is random. In reverse order you each follow the 2-player Setup Round; for Jo, draw District cards until one shows a district with an empty space, put his Stills on its leftmost/top space and his City tile on his board, then reshuffle the District deck. Jo ignores card bonuses this round and puts no Family Member at the Docks.

Jo’s turn and actions

Flip the top card of Jo’s action deck. Put his Capo on the left person of the location shown if free, otherwise the right one. Ignore the location’s actions: Jo does the card’s actions instead, top to bottom, left to right; then discard the card.

• Both persons blocked by your Capos: your leftmost Capo there is moved to the Park and you take one of the three Park rewards; Jo takes the spot.
• All spaces blocked by Jo’s own Capos, or the Park full: draw until Jo can go somewhere, then shuffle the unused cards to the bottom of his deck.
• If he cannot do one action on the card, he skips that action and does the rest.

Jo’s general rules

• No Operations cards, no Helper benefits, no City tile benefits, no Goons, no Associates — he always has enough strength to defend, take over or ambush.
• He never pays for buildings or barrels and always gains cash. He spends money only in Mob Wars: for each building he defends, the Mob War strength of the Mobster in dollars, or all he has; with nothing to pay he loses it like a player.
• Jo at the Park gains $5.
• At the Restaurant Jo takes the lower-row space with the lowest Leverage cost if he can, otherwise first place. His Operating Casinos pay $5 each when turn order changes.
• Building value: Casino > Nightclub > Speakeasy > Stills. Unresolved ties: lowest district number.
• His Family Members at the Docks go left to right, top to bottom.
• His Operations levels limit him like a player; his buildings must be Operating to produce, receive, sell, control or score.

Jo’s common choices

• Deliver: no Trucks — he delivers anywhere, up to his Fleet level in barrels: first from his Stills, then from the cheapest Ship, to his most valuable Operating buildings without a barrel.
• Sell: up to his Party level, at his Infamy price, most valuable buildings first.
• Build: draw a District card; if he cannot open or take over there, keep drawing. He never pays, never gains building benefits and never upgrades; buildings go left to right / top to bottom and he takes the City tile. The first card with a Family Member icon sends one of his Family Members to that Docks Zone; the first with a Helper icon takes the most valuable bottle he lacks from the display (left to right). Later icons that turn are ignored. The District deck is reshuffled at the start of Acts 1–3 or when empty.
• Get Protection: up to his VIP level in Family Members from his supply, ignoring Leverage: first buildings in Cop districts, then buildings with barrels, then more valuable ones, then Uptown, Downtown, Midtown.
• Ambush: Jo needs no strength and no Family Members; he attacks the Ship with most barrels (lowest district on a tie) and gains $5 in Act 1, $10 in Act 2, $15 in Acts 3–4 instead of the Crate’s cash. He keeps the Crate, puts the barrel at his best Operating building without one (or his Stills area), returns one of his Family Members from that Dock to his supply and moves the Ship. When you ambush, Jo gets $1 from your pocket per Jo Family Member you use; when Jo ambushes, you get $1 from the bank for each of your Family Members at that Dock.
• Cook Books: up to 3 Books, in this order: Zone goals (+$20, and his lowest Operations level goes up), City Hall (+$20), Docks (+$15), Infamy track (the space’s money, and his lowest level goes up). If fewer than 3 were placed, he puts exactly one Book on the leftmost free Central Park space for $10, ignoring its goal and benefit.
• Infamy track: Jo only takes the Helper card and safe-money rewards.

Solo scoring

Score both of you as in a 2-player game (money, Protected buildings, Helper bottles). Jo also gets $1 per City tile on his board. You win only with more money than Jo.

[Stretch] With the Stretch Goals Solo Achievements each achievement you reach adds $10 after scoring, and your margin over Jo gives you a rank from Goon to Godfather.