I don’t know if it’s still true, but Otter has said that cooperative games are his favourite games to play. He loves the collaboration, and especially, the discussion that most cooperative games feature. Creating a plan together, and seeing it all come together, is very satisfying. It makes sense with his personality, he’s a very kind and inclusive fellow. Gross, right?
The Gang, designed by John Cooper and Kory Heath, art by German design studio Fiore GmbH, and published by KOSMOS in 2024, is cooperative poker. Much like how Balatro is roguelike Poker, The Game uses the familiar mechanisms of creating 5 card poker hands in a unique and interesting way. Or, it would be familiar if your experience with Poker was more than randomly clicking buttons while playing Vegas Stakes when you were 7 years old. And besides, Vegas Stakes Poker game was 7 card stud, not Texas hold ’em
Now, because I don’t live under a rock, I’ve been tangentially aware of what Texas hold ’em is, because it’s always on the many screens in pubs over the years, as well as being featured in Casino Royale. I’ve seen it around, but I’ve never really played the game. For some people, it can be hard to imagine that people out there are largely unfamiliar with how Poker plays, yet, before Balatro hit earlier this year, I was an utter novice at anything Poker.
So, here’s a rundown for the uninitiated. In Texas hold ’em, each player is dealt two cards, face down. Then everyone has a chance to bid or fold. Once bidding is complete, three cards are turned face up from the deck into the centre of the table, creating a pool of community cards. Then another chance to bid or fold is presented to all players. Then a fourth card is turned face up, and again, all players have the chance to bid or fold. Then a 5th card is added to the community pool, and all players have a final chance to big or fold. The goal of the game is, to create the best 5 card poker hand between the 5 community cards and the two cards that were dealt with you at the beginning of the round. A pair or two pair is having one or two sets of cards, a full house is when you have 3 of the same card and a pair, a straight is when you have a run of sequential cards, and a flush is when you have 5 cards of the same colour.
The Gang, uses the core mechanisms of card distribution and hand value, but strips out all the bidding. Instead, after each phase in which players are given information, each player must take one of the poker chips on the table. There’s one chip for each player, starting with a value of one, and increasing for every player at the table. The ultimate goal here is that on the final round, players will take the value of chip that corresponds to the order of strength of their hand. And of course, much like The Crew or The Mind, there is no communication allowed during game play. All you can do is take the chip that you think tells the story of your cards.
It’s worth mentioning that we played The Gang a bit wrong at first. We were getting frustrated when players would jump to grab the low chips before someone who was a bit less experienced with Poker (me) had a chance to evaluate their cards and consider what they wanted to grab. Then we realized that when you take a chip, you can take it from the supply, or, from another player. It was hilarious when two players just took the same chip back and forth from one another, and the accusations and mud that were slung when the hands were revealed and one of those players was the misstep our gang took, were something to behold.
In Poker, if you’re not first, you’re last. It doesn’t matter if you have a pair of kings if someone else is rocking a flush. But in The Gang, correctly assessing where you stand in the order of hands is paramount. sure, you might have a pair of 7’s with a queen kicker. But does anyone else also have a 7 with a king kicker? Is your hand the worst, or the second worst? Maybe you started the round with an Ace and King of the same suit, you have strong potential here, it could literally be the best hand in the game. Do you take the 5 to demonstrate the potential your cards hold, or do you take a middle of the pack chip, to hopefully communicate to your teammates that you don’t have anything solid, but not nothing.
Communication is important in all aspects of life, but the joy in The Gang lies in what you can communicate with those bidding chips. Kind of like Brandon Sanderson’s second law, which reads “Limitations are more important than abilities“. When all players get into the flow, make the correct reads, and actually succeed at the heist, oh the feeling of jubilation is something to behold. If you enjoyed The Mind, I can strongly recommend The Gang. That said, if you found The Mind a boring exercise of sorting cards, then The Gang isn’t going to change your mind.
I also need to caveat that none of the players at my table are poker players. None of us are able to tell you why an Ace Jack suited is actually a better hand than a King Queen suited. None of us knew the odds of the river holding the card we needed, or how to really value a good hand from a bad. We all played based on vibes and our guts, and we had an absolute blast. It’s also worth mentioning that, especially when playing with inexperienced Poker players, The Gang is exponentially more difficult to succeed at when you have more players at the table. The odds of two players having nearly identical is higher, and really, it’s just luck at the end of the day if those players manage to get their chips in the right order.
The Gang was one of the most engaging games we’ve played in a long time. During each round, we were silent and tense, weighing the potential our hands held with the scant information that we could glean from the chips others took. Each revealed card swaying the balance, one person dropping their bid from a 4 star to a 1 star. After the 5th card is revealed, and we slowly reveal our hands from the weakest to strongest, we’d usually groan in defeat, but then launch into a frenetic conversation about what we all meant when we took the chips that we did. Yelling at our friends for taking the chip we wanted, or commiserating that we had a really unlucky deal. Inevitably, we’d shuffle up, deal again, and another tense hush would fall over the table. There’s no greater endorsement than when a player says, “I know I need to go, but let’s just do one more round”. And The Gang demands several more rounds.
