Babysitting doesn’t ever pay enough. As a babysitter for the mob, however, there are far more chances to earn money. Mob Sitters gives those opportunities to you, but with those hopes of earning more cash comes a fear of getting caught by the police, or your boss.
Mob Sitters is a very interesting three to eight player game where you’re looking to make the most money while not getting caught. As a babysitter working for some dangerous people you’ll need to attempt to do other jobs for the mob, or steal from the mob bosses themselves, in the hopes of making bank.
The only issue is that the other players are also babysitters for the mob, looking to earn more than you and make sure you get caught. Each player draws up to six cards from their personal, color coded deck — each card showing the look of their character on the back of each one. These decks all.contain the same amount of each card, they just are styled to your personal character. Once each hand is full, on their turn, each must place three cards in their play area. These cards can be face up or face down, it’s up to the player.
The cards come in three types;
- Job cards, these list a price amount that you can earn if you end up successfully doing the job.
- Snitch cards, which can be used to stop another player from doing a job.
- Hand cards, which allow you to pass the blame if you are caught or avoid blame all together. When hand cards are used to blame someone they end up with your job card in their negative card bank, to count against them. Hand cards point in the direction you must pass blame.
When placing your three cards, hand cards are normally placed face down, so that others do not see your defenses. You can, of course, bluff with job cards in hopes of people leaving you alone. Snitch cards can be placed face up or down, but face up snitch cards must be resolved when placed. Snitch cards can either force someone to be caught by the mob bosses (if they have a gun symbol) or the police (if they have handcuffs). For them to work, the player you are snitching on must have a job card with the same symbol as the card you’re playing — either a gun or handcuffs.
The player you’re snitching on can flip over a hand card that’s placed, but if they have no way to avoid being caught then they will then have to put this card in their mob boss pile or police pile at the bottom of their play area. These cards are dangerous there, as the player with the highest amount in money in the mob boss pile is killed by the mob boss and loses the game. On the same note, the player with the highest amount in the police area of their board is arrested and loses the game. Out of the remaining players, whoever has the most money in their safe is the winner of the game. This forces players of Mob Sitters to really keep an eye on which piles are filling up in each player’s play area, as sometimes you just need to avoid being caught to stay alive without focusing on having the highest amount of cash in your safe.
Getting money in your safe is as simple as placing face up job cards into your play area and then keeping them their until it’s your turn again. On your turn your play area is then cleared: Face down cards are discarded and face up job cards are placed into your safe area.
Mob Sitters is has an entertaining theme. These babysitters range from old grandmothers to trustworthy (or not so trustworthy) looking teenagers. The various jobs have silly titles at times, like stealing a painting of a baby faced mob boss. This theming is something I enjoyed greatly, as I’ve never played a game about working such an average role in the mob.
I was able to play the prototype of Mob Sitters at UKGE 2019. The game is very balanced and polished — although some of the art work on the cards are temporary. I very much look forward to playing the completed game once it’s out.mo
Mob Sitters is going to be seeking crowdfunding on Kickstarter later this year but you can follow the developers on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram in the meantime. You can also find more information on their website.
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