Marketability: Eric Lang and CMON have both developed a pretty loyal following by producing good quality games with excellent components, and The Godfather definitely continues that trend. The Godfather: Corleone’s Empire is a great mix of area control and worker placement which takes place in New York, with players shaking down businesses to pay tribute to The Don. The map can still feel a little empty at game end when playing with smaller groups, as the varying setup leads to fewer buildings and certain regions being less fought over, but is cleverly designed to avoid players never coming into contact with each other, ensuring that battles over territory – the crux of the game – spark off with just as much ferocity. These jobs, which include extortion, shakedowns and even planting car bombs, are among the most satisfying and thematic parts of the game, with killing rival gang members, stealing from opposing families and hiding cash away exactly the kind of nefarious dealings any self-respecting mafioso should be indulging in. There is a quote from Michael Corleone which helps set the tone of what the game will be about, as well as a more detailed description of what you will be doing throughout the game.

It doesn’t help that you’re competing with other aspiring crime families, each looking to grab a piece of the pie in 1940s New York City. All of the minis have their own tray with lid, which lifts out of the box and reveals more storage space. The world’s favourite family board game brings you another exciting edition of MONOPOLY – The Godfather! And there's a succinct answer—well, because there's an opposing mobster with a gun already standing there. While I don't really care for nor have any attachment to the movie series, and am generally repulsed by gun violence, it made for an immersive, fun, and thinky time.

The only draw back I found was that there is not a solo play and that the "Godfather" Vito Corleone is just a moving piece on the turn track and has nothing to do with the game.

It was protested by New York mayor John Lindsay, the Italian-American Civil Rights League (IACRL), and The New York Times.At three and four players the number of starting businesses is the same, which makes four players a restricted game.

I also like how there is a round tracker included on the board, which clearly outlines any extra benefits or actions that need to take place each round. On the last page of the rulebook, there is rules summary which I think is always a useful inclusion.The back of the box features a large image showing the full set up game, as well some examples of the minis included in the game. After this, the players with majority control in each Turf get to place a control marker indicating they currently ‘own’ that area, and can reap additional rewards when Thugs from other families start shaking down businesses in their Turf, etc. At two players the game is extremely close as you start with more figures and all attacks are directed one way. The allies, who scale in power as the turf war heats up, present reusable powers, but take up a vital slot in your hand and can be costly to acquire. These cards are powerful enough to win you the game, but not only do you have to pay your hard-earned victory cash for them, they also take up precious space in your limited hand size.

Every single job card, and the back of every card in the game, features the exact same picture of Don Corleone. This allows you to take one cash card and put it into your case laundering it into sweet, sweet victory points. Allies can be extremely powerful, and they get more powerful as the game goes on, allowing you to do things such as send figures to other locations on the board, organise drive by shootings, shake down businesses multiple times, take control of turfs and make some serious cash. That designer is Eric Lang, who brings his ‘dudes on a map’ philosophy previously perfected in Blood Rage to the blood-soaked world of The Godfather. In long, you play as competing mafia families who are vying for economic control of the organized crime networks of New York City, deploying your thugs, your don, your wife, and your heir on the board to shake down businesses and engage in area-control turf wars.While they are kept in your hand and are thus subject to having to pay tribute to the Don you can otherwise keep them and reuse abilities, so weighing up their potential usefulness against the amount of cash, which let us not forget are actually victory points, creates an intriguing decision.