The Gang
Cooperative poker without betting: rank hidden hands with chips, crack three vaults and keep the alarms quiet.
Each player sees two private cards. Four rounds of star chips signal how strong their eventual five-card poker hand is compared with teammates, while community cards emerge one stage at a time.
Only the final red-chip order determines whether the heist cracks a vault or trips an alarm. The 2026 More Players expansion and complete Deluxe editions extend the table to as many as ten.
Why it stands out
The Gang makes poker a shared logic problem. Players can change their chip as new community cards appear, but cannot reveal or hint at private cards. A good game creates a tense final comparison from information everyone interpreted differently.
Game at a Glance
Private Cards
Study your own pocket cards without sharing them.
Rank With Chips
Take and exchange stars as estimates change.
Read the Board
Five community cards reveal across the heist.
Crack Vaults
Correctly order final hands three times to win.
What is The Gang?
The Gang is a 2024 cooperative card game by John Cooper and Kory Heath. KOSMOS lists it on the 2025 Kennerspiel des Jahres recommendation list. Its base edition plays with 3–6 people, ages 10 and up, in roughly 20 minutes. It borrows the best-five-card hand ranking of Texas Hold’em without betting or bluffing. Teammates must infer where everyone’s hand belongs in a weakest-to-strongest order.
How the game works
A game lasts between three and five heists: three successes win, three failures lose. In each heist, players privately receive two cards. Before shared cards appear, they take white chips; three community cards introduce yellow chips; a fourth card introduces orange; a fifth introduces red. All players can exchange the current color’s chips, including taking one another player holds, but may not explain their hidden cards aloud.
At showdown, compare each player’s best five-card hand against their red-chip rank. The earlier chips were communication, not scored attempts. True ties are allowed in either internal order. Read the full turn and setup guide and the hand rankings and tie FAQ for precise examples.
The decisions that define it
When a community card changes the likely order, do you take a higher or lower chip even if another player is holding it? At the river, did your private cards improve the shared board, or are you tied with someone playing the board? The strategy guide covers honest signals and legal deductions.
Who should try it?
Choose The Gang for a group that likes cooperative deduction and brief rounds with a lively final reveal. Poker beginners can use the included hand-ranking references, though learning kickers improves the experience. Groups who want a two-person head-to-head map puzzle might prefer Toy Battle.
More Players and Deluxe
The base game’s included Advanced, Professional and Master Thief modes alter difficulty. The separate More Players expansion adds chips and Exit chips for 7–10 players and offers a gentler 5–6 player variant. KOSMOS’s 2026 All-In Deluxe is a complete 3–10 player edition with premium components and additional modules; regional edition names and contents should be checked against the box.
Complete The Gang guide
- How to play: setup, four chip rounds and showdown.
- Strategy and tips: chip changes, legal signals and difficulty.
- Poker hands and true ties: rankings, kickers and red-chip order.
- More Players and Deluxe: expansion contents and edition choices.
Publisher sources and scope
Checked September 2026. The base player count and basic heist apply to the original edition; follow your specific expansion sheet for larger groups.