Bootleggers

It's the roaring 20's and prohibition is in full swing in America. The business of illegal alcohol is growing bigger and getting more dangerous by the day. With so much money and corruption, organized crime is sure to follow. Illegal stills dot the countryside and (not so) secret speakeasies exist in every major city. Local authorities look the other way for a price, but G-Men are harder to sway and can wreak havoc on a budding enterprise.

In Bootleggers, you take the role of a boss, making a name for yourself in the trade of illegal alcohol or “hooch.” By muscling in on competition, paying off local authorities, and shipping trucks of hooch, your goal is to make more money than your competition by using any and all means available, both fair and unfair as you see fit.

Sound easy? Don’t bet on it. Bootleggers is easy to learn, but hard to master. It is a strategy game based on the production, shipment and consumption of illegal whiskey. Start your "family business" and build it into an empire. Deceit, lies, and alliances of convenience are the norm as you attempt to control the whiskey trade any way you can. Remember, it’s not personal, it’s business. How you interact with your fellow bosses is very important (“The Art of the Double Cross” by Donald Flush is recommended reading). But be careful, that boss that you double cross won’t just “forget about it.”

Bootleggers is designed for 3 to 6 players, with a playing time of 60 to 90 minutes. Each game has 12 turns (or it ends when a player reaches $100Gs, whichever comes first). Each turn consists of five phases, Muscle, Distillery, Whiskey Running, “What’s the Password”, and the Heat.