Tips & Strategy

How to teach Speakeasy, advice for a first game, planning your business, player counts and solo, and where popular videos differ from the rulebook.

Advice, not rules: where anything here seems to disagree with the rules pages, the rulebook wins.

How to teach it

• Start from the goal (money) and the Golden Rule, then the barrel chain: produce or buy → Truck → Operating building → sell. Everything else feeds that chain or protects it. The Teach the Game page follows this order.
• Teach the locations in the rulebook’s order — Contractor, City Planning, Garage, City Hall, Commission, Docks, Restaurant, Park — not the board’s order; the designer chose it as the easier way in.
• Point at the red Mob War tiles and the face-down Cop tiles: future trouble is always visible one Act ahead.
• The official tutorial from Gaming Rules! runs about an hour and covers solo as well; use it to prepare.

Your first game

• Play with the rebuild your Stills variant (Variant): losing the Stills for good in a Mob War is harsh while you learn.
• Keep a few Goons and some cash before each Luciano Phase. Defence only has to match the Mobster, and you defend each building separately.
• Buying barrels from Ships is the fastest way to start selling, even without a Stills; it is just less profitable.
• Cooking Books is one of the best sources of money: keep Books ready and check which goals you already meet before each Restaurant visit.
• Do not be afraid of laundering. Spending safe money 2:1 to take a strong action now is often worth it.

Planning your business

• Nightclubs and Casinos early. They sell at the higher price, score more, and Operating Casinos skim cash whenever turn order changes — which happens often.
• Take over weak Mobsters rather than opening on empty spaces: empty spaces in districts with a red Mob War tile will be attacked later. Building where an early, weak Mob War is due and surviving it makes the district safe for the rest of the game — a Mobster attacks only when it arrives.
• Strength is the most connected track. It multiplies your Docks attacks and is the base of every take-over and defence. The video from Rolling Doubles recommends pushing it early, remembering levels 4 and 5 cost discards.
• Get an Associate early and trade up to stronger ones as they appear; associating costs nothing until you use them, and many powers work without paying.
• Turn order is a resource. Going late makes protection cheap (1 Leverage per Family Member in the last column), going first gets you the action spaces. Time a late position with a full VIP area to protect many buildings at once.
• Watch where the Cops arrive before the payout: a building there without a Family Member does not count for district control.

Player counts and solo

• With two players (and solo) five districts are blocked, there are fewer persons at most locations, Casinos skim $5 and each player starts with a Family Member at the Docks.
• Solo against Jo: Block the location you need before he does, and remember he collects $1 from you for each of his Family Members you use at the Docks.

Host game

Before turn 1, demonstrate a building with a Cop and no protection, then show what changes when it is protected. Ask players to check Operating status before planning delivery, production or sales. On the first three turns, have each player name the next step after their chosen action: building a Still or taking barrels only helps if a later action can transport and sell them. Keep that planning advice separate from the legal-action check.

Videos versus the rulebook

• Family Members lost after an ambush. One video suggests removing the Family Member from the game when it does not fit in your VIP area; the rulebook returns it to your supply.
• Mobster attacks. Videos describe Mob Wars correctly as one district at a time; the official FAQ adds that you decide each defence before the next Mobster is revealed.
• Casino payout. Some board printings show a shield at the Restaurant’s Casino; Casinos only need to be Operating, not Protected (publisher errata).

Sources

• How to Play Speakeasy - Official Tutorial video — Gaming Rules!
• Speakeasy How to Play & Strategy Tips — Rolling Doubles
• 5 Things You Need to Know About Speakeasy — Man vs Meeple
• Publisher rulebook, solo rules, FAQ and errata — Eagle-Gryphon Games, Speakeasy
• BoardGameGeek Rules forum