Round up your gang and get ready to pull off a series of bank heists using the power of poker!
In The Gang, a co-operative version of Texas Hold'em, players bet on how good they think their hand of cards will be relative to the other players, then try to make their predictions a reality.
Early in a round, without talking to each other, each player chooses a chip indicating how good they think their hand is. Then they begin dealing cards into the middle of the table and have a chance to reassess their hands as more cards are revealed. At the end of the round, players see whether they correctly evaluated their hand. If all players did, you get to open one of the bank vaults! If not, you trip the alarm! If you manage to open three vaults before you trip the alarm three times, your gang wins!
—description from the publisher
- unique co-op twist on a poker dynamic
- thematic and engaging
- can be complex and punishing
- cooperative poker-based heist
- gang heist/robbery theme
- tense and flavorful
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- cooperative play — players form a team to pull off a bank heist.
- hidden information / bluffing — players must read hands and bluff as needed to succeed.
- poker hand mapping — cards and tokens represent the hand strength and actions.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Rock Hard 1977 is my top game of 2024 right now
- Flip seven is a Wonder to behold
- the gang is awesome
- it's Texas hold em but cooperative
- Pixies very small box
References (from this video)
- Fun and engaging cooperative experience
- Excellent for Texas Hold'em poker knowledge
- Generates interesting banter and player interaction
- Multiple plays with variety in outcomes
- Works well with players familiar with poker
- Dragon Ball-like chip designs
- Requires Texas Hold'em knowledge to play well
- Difficult to find copies available
- Very challenging to win at 5-6 players
- May be less fun if played with strict communication rules
- Texas Hold'em poker as cooperative challenge
- Cooperative poker game environment
- Card game simulation with communication restrictions
- The Mind
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Chip allocation — Players place chips based on perceived hand strength relative to other players
- Cooperative Texas Hold'em — Team-based poker game following standard Hold'em rounds: initial cards, flop, turn, river
- information deduction — Players must gauge hand strength from observation of other players' behavior
- limited communication — Players cannot directly state their hand strength but can infer from others' reactions
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- You're listening to the Broken Meeple show, a podcast that speaks passionately about board games for the benefit of those who play them
- This is probably one of the most interesting and possibly one of my favorite trick-taking games I've played now
- My eyes lit up you know and it's kind of like the first time I saw that typewriter mechanic for civilization of New Dawn
- People crying that this is like a nearly Flawless game are seriously downplaying the luck problem in this
- This is the Pinnacle of Bland
- There is no excitement in this game, this game just doesn't generate an emotional response
- It generates a lot of fun banter, a lot of cool thinking
References (from this video)
- unique cooperative poker experience
- removes betting and bluffing but retains poker essence
- creates memorable moments
- works for both poker and non-poker players
- dynamic challenge and helper cards
- elegant mechanical elegance
- heist
- Ocean's 11 style
- poker gameplay
- The Crew
- Rinocersia
- Shot & Totton
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- you can only hate this game if you hate fun
- it's basically poker meets the Mind folks and it is absolutely brilliant
- Cole has tricked me into playing and liking a war game
- I've probably played this game two dozen times since it came out I am obsessed with it
- if you like the vibe of Ivy Studios stuff then fractured sky will likely hit as well
- everything just flows wonderfully in this game
- this is hands down my favorite entry in that genre
References (from this video)
- high energy social play
- very popular at the convention
- bluffing and hand optimization
- cooperative poker-style hand-building
- social, light-hearted
- The Crew
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- group discussion — players coordinate to influence outcomes
- poker-hand mechanics — players form and compare hands for points
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Gen Con is verying it's own beast beast at this point
- it's bananas of people running into the Hall
- don't be scared please don't be scared
- we love play sessions with our community and friends
References (from this video)
- fresh cooperative take on hand ranking
- strong theme for poker enthusiasts
- great at higher player counts
- steep learning curve for non-poker players
- less optimal at very low player counts
- Cooperation under poker-like pressure
- Cooperative bank vault heist inspired by Texas Hold'em
- nonverbal communication with thematic flair
- The Crew
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- cooperative play — All players work together to order hands from weakest to strongest.
- Hidden Information — Each player holds two private cards with chips indicating perceived strength.
- Nonverbal communication — Four communication moments reveal relative hand strength without speaking.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- a light card game that has just enough decision-making
- the artwork is really cute it's such a whimsical looking City
- five minute trick taking game
- it's a big math problem
- I love this game I am complete opposite of Monique
- you cannot pass until you've run out of cards
References (from this video)
- Brilliant round-by-round self-balancing system
- Makes each round feel different
- Adds thematic twist to poker-based game
- Recent favorite game for Jamie
- Gang coordination and cooperation
- Heist/crime scenario
- Cooperative poker
- Pandemic Legacy
- Legacy of You
- Mind Management
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Dynamic Win/Loss Conditions — Game ends when either 3 victories or 3 losses are achieved, not after a set number of rounds, affecting when difficulty scaling occurs
- Round-Based Difficulty Adjustment — After each round, winning players receive cards that make the next round harder (like security cameras adding extra cards). Losing players receive cards that make the next round easier (like information sharing)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Balance, perfect balance, I think is kind of boring in games.
- I like games that have a card that might feel better than a different card either circumstantially or always.
- As long as you have a fair shot at getting that card over just a random draw, that's the key.
- Self-balancing mechanisms make sure that games remain balanced while you play.
- Games that use the players to selfbalance it, especially if there's a lot of direct interaction in the game.
- If you pull one lever up, something else is going to go down.
- There's a way that the game kind of gives you an interesting choice and a little way of catching up if you are falling behind.
References (from this video)
- cool cooperative vibe
- poker-inspired tension
- slightly longer than All BOMB
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- cooperative play — cooperative puzzle-solving with a poker-like push-your-luck tension
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I love Wingspan. As you know, it's my number one board game of all time.
- My number one game this year is Date of Merchants.
- This is like one of my most favorite games ever.
References (from this video)
- accessible co-op flavor with light strategy
- simple rule-set great for mixed groups
- social interaction is constrained by silence rule
- heist/poker-driven competition
- crime-capers with poker mechanic
- lighthearted, cinematic
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- poker hand ranking without talking — players rank hands across rounds to claim chips
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- In PX Premiere, you are playing an Afghan tribesman trying to appease all the giant nations that have come in here and trying to make fortune for themselves.
- First to reach 30 fame wins the game.
- The Gang has been my go-to simple co-op game where if you know poker, you're going to love this.
References (from this video)
- strong, thematic cooperative experience
- value-oriented price point
- engaging tension and social interaction
- some players may struggle with hidden information and inference
- not as accessible to non-poker players
- cooperative, social deduction-ish heist vibe
- gang heist theme with poker-style hand ranking
- poker-hand evaluation with team planning
- The Crew (cooperative heist vibe)
- Counter Insurgency lineage
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cooperative hand evaluation — players collaboratively determine order of hands for a heist
- Heist theme with bank vaults — rounds of opening vaults based on collective card assessment
- Poker-inspired mechanics — hand strength, deducing others' hands, and shared decisions
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's got the feeling of a Euro with tile Drafting and lay(e) but also you're rolling dice to determine the actions
- it's all about secretly bidding power as you fight for area majority and control around the board
- the story is so well written and the choices you make feel like they matter and they're important
- I love Robin Hood as a theme give me all the Robin Hood Stories movies games more please
- River of Gold is my number one game of 2024 for me
References (from this video)
- Unique cooperative poker mechanism
- Interesting hand-ranking challenge
- Requires communication and strategy
- High complexity
- Potential for failure
- Requires careful coordination
- Cooperative poker gameplay
- Casino/Bank Heist
- Collaborative criminal endeavor
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- cooperative play — Players must work together to rank poker hands and open vault cards
- Hand ranking — Players must arrange their poker hands in ascending order
- Token Selection — Players choose tokens representing their hand strength
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I'm here to rob the bank.
- This game is crazy because it's co-op, but we're all beefing.
- We're criminals. Crim doing crimes.
References (from this video)
- Low intimidation for players new to poker
- Great for teaching poker concepts in a social setting
- Strong social and cooperative dynamic
- Requires some poker familiarity for best enjoyment
- Luck still plays a role
- Group decision-making on best hand
- Cooperative poker game
- Casual, informative
- Poker
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card reveal order and information flow — Rounds reveal more about the hands and rankings
- cooperative play — Players work together to deduce the best poker hand
- Poker hand ranking with shared information — Cards are revealed to guide group decision, not individual gain
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- Nature is a reincarnation of Evolution.
- Nature is simpler than Evolution.
- This is really my grail game. It's the game that I've been kind of trying to figure out how to do for the last 15 years.
- Cooperative poker game.
- Very simple, elegant, simple, fun.
- You can mix and match modules which really changes things.
References (from this video)
- accessible entry point for players new to poker
- strong cooperative deduction and shared narrative
- high-energy con presence; fans loved the concept
- teaching poker terminology can be a hurdle for non-players
- some complexity added by optional rule components may overwhelm casual players
- cooperation under pressure blending poker mechanics with a vault-heist narrative
- Cooperative heist scenario with a modern urban feel
- story-driven cooperative puzzle with heist flavor
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Adaptive/variant rules via artifacts or challenges — Winning a round can trigger a challenge card or allow hiring a specialist to modify the next round; failures modify difficulty.
- Cooperative Texas Hold'em poker — Players share community cards and secret hands to collaboratively deduce the weakest hand while aiming to correctly identify it at the end.
- Hidden hand information and deduction — Two pocket cards per player are hidden; players infer hand strength as community cards (flop, turn, river) are revealed.
- Variable player counts affect difficulty — The game declares higher player counts increase difficulty and interaction complexity.
- Vault-and-alarm victory condition — Correctly guessing three times to enter vaults before triggering three alarms wins the game; narrative supports a heist objective.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's just going to be me and Christina and we can't contain everything we've seen in one episode right it's just too too much
- Gen Con this is a mass massive convention where so many companies are launching games
- there's a big Gen Con Library that's there you can borrow a bunch from their library and there's open gaming and tournaments
- I felt like a tiny little fish in this big channel
- it's also a spectacle like when you're inside the exhibitor hall there's massive tall ceilings
- River of Gold is really clever, very smooth and looks elegant too
- The Rebel Princess theme is one of the best themes of all the games we play
- We were laughing a lot with this game and it was surprisingly fun
References (from this video)
- easy to learn with a social hook
- great for groups
- depends on group dynamics
- poker-based teamwork
- cooperative heist
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- cooperative poker — Team-based objective using standard poker hands to orchestrate heists.
- Hidden Information — Players must deduce and coordinate without revealing all cards.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- There will be only one topic. Only one.
- We wanted to do our traditional deep dive into this year the 2025 American Tabletop Award winners, nominees, and recommended games.
- To prevent conflicts of interest, we ask people who have any connection to a game … to not submit any game that they have a conflict of interest with during that nomination process.
- The fundamental nature of taxonomic organization, right? There is no one rule that will satisfy every single person for where a game belongs in terms of like is it a good game for people that are getting into gaming?
References (from this video)
- engaging social play
- easy to teach
- depends on player skill and cohesion
- poker mechanics
- cooperative bank heist
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- betting/hand evaluation — Classic poker structure used to determine success of heists.
- cooperative play — Players work as a crew to execute heists with common goals.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- There will be only one topic. Only one.
- We wanted to do our traditional deep dive into this year the 2025 American Tabletop Award winners, nominees, and recommended games.
- To prevent conflicts of interest, we ask people who have any connection to a game … to not submit any game that they have a conflict of interest with during that nomination process.
- The fundamental nature of taxonomic organization, right? There is no one rule that will satisfy every single person for where a game belongs in terms of like is it a good game for people that are getting into gaming?
References (from this video)
- Fun cooperative challenge
- Engaging deduction under communication constraints
- Requires knowledge of poker rankings
- Can be challenging for new players
- cooperation under constrained information
- Tabletop, cooperative poker with limited communication
- analytical overview
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- cooperative poker — Players work together to achieve a correct poker hand with restricted communication.
- Hand ranking — Players manage and assemble a hand based on hidden or revealed card ranks.
- limited communication — Players coordinate without full verbal exchange to reach a common goal.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's a stocking stuffer, to go under the tree, whatever it might be.
- The box will fit into a stocking.
- Wine Seller is the number one card game for Christmas.
- It's a really fun mechanism.
References (from this video)
- inexpensive and accessible
- works well with large groups
- best with 10+ players, may feel light for some
- semi-cooperative party game vibe
- Texas Hold'em style hand ranking with cooperative elements
- social, light-hearted
- Telestrations
- Flip Seven
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- semi-cooperative / poker-style ranking — rank hands cooperatively while bluffing and comparing
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- it's the cutest little game with these cute oversized Rocap bars
- Green Team always wins
- Endeavor Deep Sea... due to problematic slavery mechanic
- Windmill Valley is beautiful to look at
- I love cities
- Arcs is hot
- Cities USA coming soon
- Telestrations was hilarious
References (from this video)
- high social interaction
- tension and humor from misreadings
- great group experience
- not super intuitive for new players
- teaching time can be longer than average
- Criminals planning and executing a heist
- Cooperative heist
- Array
- The Mind
- Scout
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- cooperative poker — Players share empty pocket cards and community cards; together they try to assemble the strongest hand.
- hand signaling and discussion — Players discuss and infer who has what strength without full disclosure.
- phase-based hand evaluation — Hands are evaluated across phases; players reassess strengths after each reveal.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- the Rose Gauntlet Foundation lounge was a welcoming space for everybody
- River of Gold is a beautiful production with gold spot gloss
- it's a simple game but it's brain dead, perfect after a long day
- Candy elements add energy and risk in Rock Hard 1977
- SETI will be very crunchy and different depending on alien species
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
References (from this video)
- Fast-paced and easily repeatable play sessions (roughly 20 minutes per game).
- Accessible for players with or without deep poker knowledge due to clear hand-chart references.
- High production quality: sturdy clay chips, thick cards, and visually appealing components.
- Strong cooperative/communication dynamic that can be tailored by group etiquette.
- Flexible difficulty adjustments via challenge/specialist cards and mode options.
- Group-dependent experience; some groups may dislike poker or the limited-communication constraint.
- Less satisfying for players who dislike competitive signaling or hidden information games.
- Lower player counts (3) can be easier but may reduce interaction variety; 5-6 players generally recommended.
- Not ideal for players who expect a deep, strategic puzzle rather than social deduction and luck elements.
- Cooperative poker-based heist with secondary thematic relevance; theme is noted as not central to the experience.
- A fictional heist scenario framed around a Texas Hold'em style round, played as a cooperative caper with limited communication.
- Minimal narrative integration; theme largely used as flavor rather than driving mechanics.
- The Crew
- The Mind
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Ascending hand-strength ordering — By the end of a hand, players must arrange their hands in ascending order of strength; misordering constitutes a failure.
- Challenge and specialist cards for difficulty tuning — Successful missions grant challenge cards to raise difficulty; failures grant specialist cards to ease later rounds.
- Cooperative play with limited communication — Players work together to achieve a common objective but are discouraged from divulging exact cards, using signaling instead.
- Poker-hand signaling via chips — Each player selects chips to indicate how strong they think their hand is, without revealing their actual cards.
- Scalability and group dynamics — Difficulty and pacing scale with player count; more players generally increases tension and strategic depth.
- Three successes or three failures to end a game — A round ends the game when a team has achieved three successful hands or three failed hands.
- Two private cards + board-style signals — Each round uses two private cards plus a board of signals (colored chips) representing rounds, echoing Texas Hold'em structure.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- two words, cooperative and poker, instantly I was interested to try this one out.
- the crux of it is that co-op limited communication game with poker.
- I absolutely love this game.
- it's a 9 out of 10 for me.
- The games are super fast, I mean, you play through a hand with all these chips in like about 5 to 10 minutes.
References (from this video)
- Strong poker theming with a cooperative twist
- Chips provide tangible read of group hand strength
- Good for groups who enjoy social deduction vibes
- Depth depends on group; some may find decision space limited
- Not ideal for players unfamiliar with poker
- Poker mechanics embedded in cooperative gameplay
- Cooperative poker teamwork; assessing hands with minimal information
- procedural with light humor
- The Crew
- Dice Town
- Caesar Blitz / Caesar Dogfight series
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Cooperative decision-making — Team aims to optimize bets and plays with limited data
- Limited information, restricted communication — Direct sharing is minimized; players deduce others' hands
- Poker hand strength tracking via chips — Players indicate relative hand strength with chips, inferring others' positions with limited info
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- If you're looking for an intro trick taking game this is probably not the one
- River of gold is one of my favorites
- it's set in like 1800s New Orleans
- There is a simple decision space in this it is a very small boox War themed game