Dirty Money: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Set Collection, Drafting, Economic
Player Age: 12+ Player Count: 2 - 5 PlayersTime to Play: 30 - 45 Minutes
Game Designer: Daryl Chow
Player Age: 12+
Game Designer: Daryl Chow
Introduction:
Welcome back to the world of Banana Republic, this time you have stepped into the role of the villains and are trying to launder your dirty money into clean usable currency. Be mindful though, if caught with it, dirty money can be blacklisted and leave you with negative points at the end of the game.
Game Anatomy:
Villain Cards:
There are five villains that each have their own unique ability to help them navigate the corrupt world of Dirty Money.
Location Cards:
There are six locations that players will go to on a turn to collect money/actions then activate the ability on the location. The majority of the location abilities will let you buy from the placement cards above them.
Placement Cards:
Placement cards are the main way to score points and enhance your turns so you can do more. There are different types of placement cards; these may be artworks that give you more points based on the collection number, cards that decrease costs later on, or cards that increase hand limit. There are three types of placement decks: American, European and Japanese.
Money Cards:
This is what you will use to buy placement cards throughout the game. There are four currencies; EURO, USD, YEN and Crypto. The cryptocurrency works as a wild currency and will always be valued at the number three. These money cards can have a skull symbol that will depict that the money is dirty. When you have dirty money in your hand you run the risk of an action being activated that will place this card in your blacklist section.
Action Cards:
When taking money from the locations you will also gain and immediately activate actions if they are in the same location. These actions can give/remove blacklist cards and swap money with other players.
Set up:
- Place the location cards in the middle of the play area The black market location is used in 4-5 player games where the auction house is used in a 5 player game.
- Shuffle each placement deck and place them above their respective location and reveal two placement cards above the Europe, USA and Japan location.
- If the auction house is used, place a placement card face-up from each location above the auction house.
- Before shuffling in the action cards and money cards together, deal each player three money cards.
- Deal each player a villain card.
- Deal the first player the first player marker and the last player one additional money card.
- Shuffle the action and money cards together to form one deck.
- Under each location, reveal two face-up cards from this newly formed money deck.
How to Play:
The turns are easy and intuitive. On a turn you pick a location and take all the money and actions at that location. Money goes into your hand and actions will be instantly used then discarded. Now activate the location’s effect. This will usually let the player buy one or more of the placement cards above the location. Any of the placement cards you already have or special villain abilities can make these cards cheaper to purchase. The round ends once every player has ended their turn. When this occurs, each location will have money cards added to them. One card added from the money deck for any location that already has money cards (up to a total of four) and add two money cards to any location that doesn't have any money cards below. Replenish the placement cards above the location cards so there is two placement cards in Europe, Japan, and US. Also make sure the auction house has one card from each of the placement decks.
When any player has 10 or more placement cards the game ends after the current round is over. Each player will tally up their score from the placement cards and deduct one point for each card in their blacklist section. If you have been the most corrupt with the most blacklist money than you will lose an additional two points.
Final Thoughts:
Pros:
- Same depth in decision making as the larger games from Capital Gains (Debtzilla, Cryptocurrency) but easier to learn and start playing.
- For players that sleeve their cards, the card anatomy in the rulebook had the size of the cards for easing card sleeving.
- Really good rulebook, with strategy examples for each of the villain characters.
Capital Gains has found a great new groove in their games. Debtzilla and Cryptocurrency are great games but they are more fiddly to play because they have to successfully encompass the financial topic they’re displaying. With Dirty Money they have portrayed the corruption accurately but have also managed to make the game accessible and easy to learn, while still having depths in decision making. This is a great direction for Capital Gains and like always I can't recommend their games enough. This has earnt a Silver seal of approval. Well done Capital Gains.
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