Family Business is a card game of "mob vengeance" for 2 to 6 players, published by Mayfair Games in 1982, and then again in 1989.

Components

The 1989 Mayfair edition of the game includes:

  • One 54-card deck, composed of six families of nine mobsters drawn from historical gangs:
  • The Moran Gang (headed by Bugs Moran)
  • The New York Mob
  • The Capone Mob (headed by Al Capone)
  • Murder, Inc.
  • The Purple Gang
  • The Bank Robbers (including Bonnie and Clyde, Alvin Karpis, John Dillinger, and Ma Barker)
  • One 54-card deck of action cards, composed of 26 "contract" cards, 6 "attack" cards, 10 "block" cards and 14 "rescue" cards.
  • One "Up Against the Wall" card
  • One Cemetery card
  • a 4-page rule sheet

Game play

The purpose of the game is to use contract or attack cards to force other players to place their mobsters in the "Up Against the Wall" queue, where they are in danger of being eliminated from the game.

The Mob War ends when all mobsters on the wall have been eliminated, or when someone plays a rescue card that ends the Mob War.

In the February 1991 edition of Dragon (Issue 166), Jim Bambra called the game "an ideal ending to an evening of role-playing when the adventure is finished but it’s too early to go home... It's fast, fun, and simple enough to pick up quickly."

Reviews

  • Backstab #6 ("Service Compris"; French version)
  • Games #99
  • ' #59
  • Family Games: The 100 Best

References

  • Mayfair Games Homepage
  • BoardGameGeek page