How to Play Speakeasy: Setup, Capos, Mob Wars & Final Scoring

How to play Speakeasy: the objective and your first turn

Speakeasy is Vital Lacerda’s economic strategy board game set in Prohibition-era Manhattan. You control a mob boss’s business network, opening illicit bars and more expensive venues, producing or buying liquor, making deliveries, and keeping rival mobsters and police from disrupting your operations. The goal is not to have the most buildings: the winner has the most money after final scoring.

A turn follows a simple rhythm even though the decisions are complex: optionally use a Helper card, place one Capo at an available Person of Interest and take that person’s actions, then draw an Operations card. Over the entire game you have eleven normal Capo placements, spread across four Acts. The challenge is making those placements work together.

This guide is a practical teaching order for the standard multiplayer base game. It explains the board’s most important rules and shows a clear example. Keep the official rulebook nearby for detailed icon costs, action exceptions and the player-count setup diagrams. If you are looking for longer-term decision advice rather than rules, go to our Speakeasy strategy guide.

Read the boards before setting up

Three shared areas are especially important. The main Manhattan board holds the city’s districts, Persons of Interest, buildings, police, Infamy and turn-order tracks. A Mobster board tracks opposing criminal forces and associates. A City Docks board supports the rum-runner ships and related supply opportunities.

Your personal Operations board shows the VIP Room, Party, Stills and Fleet tracks, together with your Strength, buildings and other pieces. These tracks affect what you can do with Family Members, liquor, selling and truck deliveries. You also have a Safe screen; money in front of it and money behind it are not equally easy to spend.

The Operations cards come in four decks corresponding to the four tracks. Other important components include Capos (your placements), Family Members (protection and other uses), Goons (combat support), barrels, trucks, Books, City tiles, Helper cards and the various Mobster and Cop tiles. You do not need to memorize every symbol at the start. Learn what your first Capo’s action does, then introduce the other systems as they appear.

Speakeasy setup: player count, cash and the 1920 opening

Choose the side of the main board appropriate for the number of players. The one- or two-player side has five blocked districts; the three- or four-player side uses its own positions and restrictions. Place the Mobster and Docks boards, Operations decks, ships, tiles, supply and starting Mobsters according to the printed numbered diagrams. Set up each player’s personal Operations board and markers as directed.

In ordinary multiplayer setup, each player begins with $15 of pocket cash in front of the screen and $30 in their Safe behind it. Arrange Capos, starting resources, Family Members and the board’s Infamy and Zone Control markers using the official setup chart. Complete the Docks opening placement and starting cards in the published order; do not improvise the solo automa while playing multiplayer.

Before Act 1 there is a special 1920 setup round. In reverse turn order, each player pays to open a Stills or one Speakeasy on a legal empty building space, takes its City tile and receives the associated personal-board benefit. Players then play an Operations card for its printed setup benefit. This is not a regular Capo turn: the normal end-of-turn card draw does not apply.

For the first game, follow the board’s numbered setup diagram rather than memorizing the quantity of every token. A mistaken starting Mobster or blocked district changes the action economy substantially.

What happens on a normal Speakeasy turn?

During a player round, players take one turn each in the current turn order. The three steps are straightforward:

1. Optional Helper: you may use the lower benefit of one eligible face-up Helper card you have in front of you, then put that card behind your Safe screen. It cannot be used a second time in this way, but may still count for final scoring.
2. Mandatory Capo placement: send one of your available Capos to an unoccupied Person of Interest at one of the eight Manhattan action locations. Resolve the actions that character offers in the printed order. The Restaurant has special capacity rules.
3. Draw one Operations card: take the top card of any one of the four Operations decks. There is no ordinary maximum hand size for Operations cards.

Some actions within a chosen Person’s sequence are optional; the rulebook identifies any compulsory elements. You cannot move the same Capo from one location to another to take both actions. A Person of Interest normally receives only one Capo per Act, even when other people at the same location remain available.

New-player reminder: put a small marker or a verbal reminder by the four Operations decks. Forgetting the card draw after a turn is an easy source of future resource errors.

Four Acts and the 4–3–3–1 Capo schedule

After the one-off 1920 setup, Speakeasy contains eleven regular player rounds distributed over four Acts. Each player normally places four Capos in Act 1, three in Act 2, three in Act 3 and one in Act 4.

At the start of later Acts you retrieve the number of Capos indicated in the rules and place the excess in the box. This cap on future actions means Act 4 is not a long final round where everyone can rebuild an engine. The Lucky Luciano phase happens only after Acts 1–3; Act 4 ends with final scoring instead.

The historical timeline and Act markers help you remember where you are, but player-count and turn-order exceptions should always follow the specific reference for your board side.

Eight action locations: what each one is for

You activate a Person of Interest at one of eight action locations; you are not simply choosing from a free menu of actions. The action spaces have different printed instructions and costs. Use this table as an orientation, not a substitute for those texts.

The Restaurant is important because more than one Capo can occupy it according to its own rules; the normal one-per-Person restriction does not prevent that. The Park has its own special exchange/displacement procedure, not a general power to ignore all costs or board restrictions.

To teach an opening turn, choose a Person of Interest, read their actions from top to bottom, pay required costs, finish any resulting building or resource effects, and draw an Operations card. Do not attempt to explain every contact’s exceptions in advance.

Operations cards: play, upgrade and manage your engine

The four Operations decks—VIP Room, Party, Stills and Fleet—support different parts of your criminal economy. At the end of each ordinary turn you draw one card from any deck, so the deck you choose should match an action you can meaningfully take later.

VIP Room improvements influence the Family Member system; Party relates to selling capacity, Stills to production, and Fleet to trucks and delivery. Cards also provide benefits or icons relevant to playing and improving your Operations board. The cost, type and effect of playing a card depend on the printed slot and the action that permits it, rather than a universal free-play rule.

Example: suppose your next plan requires a truck to deliver barrels to an operating venue. A Fleet-related action may be more useful than another production improvement, but only if you have the exact resources and the correct Person of Interest available. Read the board and your card before committing the Capo.

Operating buildings, police and Family Members

A building being physically on the Manhattan board is not enough. The game’s Golden Rule is that a building that is not Operating effectively cannot participate in the production, delivery, sale or ordinary control effects that depend on it.

In the published rules, your building is Operating when its district has no Cop, or when a Family Member protects that building. Family Members provide a way to keep businesses running in districts under police pressure. A building can be legally placed in a district with a Cop but remain unusable until properly protected.

Do not confuse Operating with Protected for every purpose. Some effects, including final scoring, specifically require Protected buildings. A Casino’s turn-order-change payment is based on it being Operating; later publisher clarification notes that a printed shield in that area of the board is misleading. For exact timing, use the official FAQ corresponding to your printing.

When you move a Family Member, check the personal-board and location rules for the relevant protection cost and capacity. One Family Member should not be assumed to protect every building in a district.

Make liquor money: a simple supply-to-sale explanation

The bootlegging economy has three main steps: obtain barrels, deliver them, then sell them. You may use an Operating Stills to produce liquor or other legal sources such as rum-runner ships at the Docks. Trucks transport barrels within the reach and capacity allowed by your current Fleet arrangements. Eligible Operating businesses can then sell them according to their rules and your Operations levels.

A common beginner mistake is assuming that owning a Stills automatically generates income without a delivery and sale. Similarly, a truck does not make a non-Operating business eligible to accept a delivery just because it can reach that space.

1. Confirm the barrel is legally available, and that any Stills involved is Operating.
2. Confirm your truck and current Fleet position allow the intended route and amount.
3. Confirm the destination is Operating and eligible to receive the barrel.
4. Perform the legal delivery/sale sequence and take the cash required by your board or card.

Your Infamy level, venue type and Operations tracks change the economic results. Use the printed values for the exact action; an all-purpose price per barrel would be misleading.

Mob War, combat and the Lucky Luciano phase

At the end of the first three Acts, resolve the Lucky Luciano phase in the printed order. Its central effects are the Mob War, police activity and Zone Control payout. The board and Mobster tiles indicate which districts will come under pressure, so players have time to plan defenses before those Acts end.

In a Mob War, compare an incoming Mobster attack with each threatened building’s available defense, using your Strength level, Goons you spend and any qualifying paid Associate. Defense holds when it equals or exceeds attack. When you are the attacker against an opposing Mobster location, your attack total normally must exceed its defense instead.

Hypothetical comparison: if attack strength is 7 and you have 5 defense, you need two additional eligible defense to match it. With 7 attack against 7 defense, the attacker does not win. This demonstrates comparison rather than a specific scenario tile.

After the battle effects, the police patrol can stop unprotected buildings from Operating. Then resolve Zone Control according to the official track rules, placing the payout into the appropriate money area. Do not treat interim control payouts as identical to your final-building score.

Cash, the Safe and why laundering costs extra

Speakeasy uses a cash distinction that is easy to forget. Money in front of the Safe screen is available to spend at face value. Money already inside the Safe is valuable toward final victory but costs more to spend during the game: the basic laundering rule charges $2 from the Safe for every $1 paid.

For example, if you must pay $6 and fund it entirely with money in the Safe, you surrender $12 from the Safe. At final scoring, however, the amount you still have behind the screen counts at full value, not half. Keep this separation clear whenever you count affordability.

Barrel sales and some other income sources give pocket cash; cooked Books and Luciano’s Zone Control payouts contribute to Safe money. The exact recipient area of a payment matters. Keep the areas physically separate rather than using a single undifferentiated pile of cash.

Cooking Books and changing turn order

At the Restaurant, you may access abilities including playing eligible cards or tiles, changing turn order and cooking Books, subject to the costs and limits printed there. A Book represents progress against a specific printed goal. You must meet that goal’s conditions at the moment it is cooked; placing a Book is not a free way to claim a goal you hope to satisfy later.

Changing turn order has its own sequence: the player using the action moves to an available position on the lower row. At the end of the round the markers are transferred according to the track’s instructions. This change also creates the Casino skim opportunity for players with Operating Casinos, at the amount specified for the player count.

Do not award Casino skim whenever somebody takes any action at the Restaurant. The relevant trigger is the prescribed turn-order change. Some published aids have errata concerning how they depict the Casino’s Operating requirement.

Final scoring in 1933: how the winner is determined

After the single round in Act 4, carry out final scoring. Add the money the game tells you to count, including pocket cash, Safe money at full value, value from eligible Protected buildings, and applicable Helper-card bonuses.

The Helper-card rule counts eligible bottle types using the published criteria; you cannot assume that multiple copies of the same type multiply a particular bonus. Protected-building scores are not earned just by owning the pieces if the protection and other eligibility conditions are missing.

In a tie, the rulebook compares Protected buildings, total buildings, placed Books and Family Members in the published order. The game may continue to further tie outcomes only as specified there.

A beginner can remember the core distinction: money you earn during the game can be spent, money you leave unspent still matters, and certain remaining buildings and cards add endgame money. The largest business network does not automatically win.

Does Speakeasy have solo rules?

Yes. The base box includes a separate solo board, solo cards and an independent solo rulebook. Solo uses an opposing automa and its own setup and action priorities; it is not simply a two-player game with one player removed or a reduced Capo schedule.

If you are teaching yourself the mechanisms, begin by learning the cash, building, delivery and Mob War systems from the regular game. Then follow the publisher’s solo setup and Jo rules rather than substituting multiplayer costs or decision logic. Additional solo achievements in the optional Upgrade Pack are separate from the base game’s solo mode.

A beginner turn example: opening a legal business

This is a teaching example, not a claimed historical match or a full printed example from the rulebook.

1. During an ordinary Act, look at the main board and identify an available Person of Interest that can legally open a new Speakeasy. Check the precise cost and the building space restrictions.
2. Place a Capo there, pay the required cash from your pocket if possible, and place the building on a legal empty space. Claim the City tile and any board benefits that the chosen action actually awards.
3. Check whether the district has a Cop. If so, the new building may not be Operating until you provide the required protection. Do not immediately count sales or control from an ineligible venue.
4. Finish any other legal printed action of that Person, then choose an Operations deck and draw one card.
5. When the Act ends, resolve the Lucky Luciano phase at its proper time, including attacks, police and the control payout.

For your actual game, the exact cost and number of effects depend on your chosen Person, available space, Operations cards and current discounts. The useful habit is to separate placement, operation, and income rather than assuming they happen all at once.

Speakeasy rules FAQ

How many players can play Speakeasy?

The publisher lists 1–4. The base game includes separate solo components and rules.

How many turns does each player take?

Eleven ordinary Capo placements across four Acts: four, three, three and one. The special 1920 setup round is separate.

What do you do at the end of a normal turn?

Draw one card from any of the four Operations decks. The ordinary draw does not occur in the one-off 1920 setup round.

Can I place a Capo at an occupied Person?

Normally not during the same Act. The Restaurant is a specified exception, and the Park has its own displacement rules.

Can a business exist but not operate?

Yes. Police can shut down a business unless it has the required protection, and the Golden Rule removes most of its effects while it is not Operating.

Is all my money worth the same during play?

No. Pocket cash can be spent normally; Safe money is laundered at a two-for-one cost during play. Both count fully when remaining money is tallied at the end.

Does a Casino need to be Protected for its turn-order skim?

It must be Operating. Publisher errata clarify a misleading printed shield in this context. Other scoring effects may expressly require Protected buildings.

What happens after Act 4?

The game goes to final scoring rather than a fourth Lucky Luciano phase.

Rulebook references and editorial notes

Primary publisher: Eagle-Gryphon Games: Speakeasy, including the official English rulebook and expansion download folder. The publisher’s current English rulebook, printed player aids and corrections should take priority over summaries or older preview files.

Independent navigation aid: Ludex Speakeasy gameplay reference notes the 2026 English v19c rules and April 2026 FAQ; the setup checklist provides player-count-specific preparation. Use these to locate a rule, not as a replacement for the publisher files.

Research checked 2 November 2026. This article is an independently written teaching summary. It does not quote lengthy rulebook passages, reproduce publisher artwork or claim first-hand play sessions. Prices, card exceptions, legal routes and variant rules not spelled out here must be checked in the official rules for your printing. See our editorial policy for corrections.