Teach the Game

A table-side script for teaching Speakeasy: how you win, the boards, a turn, the Acts, how the game ends, every way to make money and what each piece is for.

This guide follows the English rulebook v19c (2026), the solo rules v11c and the publisher’s April 2026 FAQ.

How you win

It is 1920 and Prohibition has just begun. You are a mob boss in Lucky Luciano’s Manhattan: open speakeasies, distil and smuggle liquor, sell it, keep the Cops paid off and survive the Mob Wars. Thirteen years later Prohibition ends — and the boss with the most money wins. About 45 minutes per player.

• What you need: money — cash in your pocket plus what is in your safe, plus end-game pay for Protected buildings and Helper cards (Final Scoring).
• How you get it: build a network of Operating buildings, move barrels to them and sell (the barrel chain); control districts for Luciano’s payout (Payout Zone Control); cook your Books on goals (Cooking the Books); rob Rum-runner Ships (Docks).
• The threat: Cops shut down unprotected buildings, and every Act new, stronger Mobsters attack the districts marked in advance.

The boards

The rulebook’s own setup markers point at each part:

1. Mobster board — Mobsters waiting to be hired as Associates
2. Mobster supply — Mobster Speakeasies and Strength tiles
3. Mobster decks — B, C and D Mobsters for the three Mob Wars
4. Mobster tiles — the A Mobsters already in Manhattan
5. Mobster Strength tiles — the defence of the Mobster Speakeasies in that district
6. Mobster Speakeasies — take them over to build there
7. Mob War markers — red tiles: where the next Mobsters arrive
8. Time track — future Mob War tiles, so you can plan ahead
9. Zone Control tracks — one per Zone, with the Luciano payout beside it
10. Cops — districts where unprotected buildings stop working
11. Cops to come — face-down Cop tiles arriving at the end of the Act
12. Cop stacks — the Cops of later Acts on the Time track
13. Building spaces — each with a City tile you collect when you build there
14. City tile display — City tiles to take
15. Zone goals — one per Zone, worth $20 to cook a Book on
16. Central Park goals — five goals, $10 each
17. Operations decks — VIP Room, Party, Stills and Fleet
18. Helper cards — the display of three
19. City Docks board — the four Rum-runner Ships with their prices and defence
20. Barrels on the Ships — buy them at a port or steal them
21. Crate tiles — the loot for robbing a Ship
22. Ports — where the Ships moor
23. Supply — barrels, Cops, money, Leverage tokens and Goons

Along the top of the main board are the eight locations with their Persons of Interest; on its right the Infamy track (Infamy) and Turn Order track (Turn order).

Your Operations board holds your four Operations tracks and Strength, your buildings, Goons, Books, City tiles and the slots for one card of each Operations type.

A turn

1. Optionally use one Helper card, then put it in your safe.
2. Send a Capo to a free Person of Interest at one of the eight locations and do that person’s actions top to bottom (Locations).
3. Draw an Operations card.

What the locations are for, in one line each: Contractor Office — open Speakeasies and the Stills; City Planning Office — Nightclubs and Casinos; Garage — trucks deliver barrels; City Hall — protect buildings; Commission — hire an Associate; Docks — rob a Ship; Restaurant — change turn order, play City tiles, cook Books; Park — steal someone’s spot.

The Acts

See Act structure and Lucky Luciano Phase.

How the game ends

After the single round of Act 4, count your money: cash + safe + Protected buildings ( $10, $15, $20, $20) + one Helper card per different bottle. Most money wins; ties go to most Protected buildings (Final Scoring).

Ways to score

Source	How and when	Goes to
Barrel sales	Sell barrels at Operating buildings; price by Infamy, higher at Nightclubs and Casinos	cash
Crate tiles	Win a Rum-runner ambush; up to about $25 each	cash
Casino skim	$3 per Operating Casino ($5 with two) whenever turn order changes	cash
Family Members hired	$1 when someone uses yours in an ambush	cash
Cooked Books	$10–$20 per goal at the Restaurant	safe
Luciano payout	Zone rank after Acts 1–3	safe
Protected buildings	$10 / $15 / $20 / $20 at the end	score
Helper cards	each different bottle at the end	score
[Stretch] Public Goals	$10 per goal met at the end (Stretch Goals)	score
Losses	Buildings lost in Mob Wars, money laundered 2:1 from the safe, unprotected buildings at the end	—

What each resource is for

Resource	Why you need it	How you get it	How you use it
Cash	pay for everything at face value	barrel sales, Crates, Casino skim	spend 1:1
Safe money	the bulk of your score	Cooked Books, Luciano payout, starting $30	spend at 2:1 (laundering)
Capos	your actions	4 / 3 / 3 / 1 per Act	one per turn at a Person of Interest
Operations cards	benefits, Leverage and the four key actions	draw one every turn, locations, tiles	play into a slot; discard to raise levels, at the Restaurant, for Casinos
Family Members	protection and ship attacks	locations, Infamy, building benefits, cards	VIP area → protect a building; Docks → ambush
Leverage	pays for protection	Operations cards in slots, tokens	4/3/2/1 per Family Member by turn-order column
Barrels	the product	Stills, buying or robbing Ships	Truck them to Operating buildings, then sell
Trucks	carry barrels	1 at start, 2nd at Fleet 3	move up to range, 2 barrels each
Strength, Goons, Associate	win fights	tracks, hiring, Commission	add up for attack (must beat) and defence (must match)
Books	turn goals into safe money	locations, building benefits, tiles	cook at the Restaurant
Infamy	barrel price and rewards	raising any track	automatic
Helper cards	one-off boosts and end-game money	locations, Infamy	use one per turn, then safe
City tiles	extra actions	building on a space, display, Park	play two at the Restaurant
Crate tiles	cash now, a bonus forever	ambushing Ships	automatic

Teaching tips

• Teach the Golden Rule first: a building next to a Cop without a Family Member does nothing at all.
• Walk through one barrel’s life: Produce at the Stills (or buy at a port) → Truck → Operating building → Sell.
• Show the red Mob War tiles and Cop tiles on the board: everyone knows where trouble comes next.
• Mention the cash/safe split before the first purchase, and the 2:1 laundering.
• For a first game, use the “rebuild your Stills” variant (Variant).

Rehearse an Operating building

Put a Cop beside a building with no Family Member protecting it. Ask whether it can receive or sell a barrel. It cannot: the building is non-Operating. Now protect it with a Family Member and check again. It is Operating even though the Cop remains.

Before choosing an action that needs a building, point to the Cop and protection in that district. Owning the building alone is not enough.