Background

My family loves this game. My sister has not yet played it because it's a little over her skill level. But my mom, dad and I love this game. We have played this game dozens of times. When it comes to the expansion (which I will talk about later), we have only played it a few times.

In Chili Mafia, you are a mob boss building gangs of various chili peppers. You can either build a gang of different peppers, or one of similar peppers. Both have their benefits. The game ends when the cards run out. The gang worth the most points wins!

So, gather your gang, and let's get into the review for “Chili Mafia”

Rule Clarity

There is one rule me and my dad always forget. How many cards are dealt out in the beginning? 5 or 6? Psst: it's always 6 but we keep forgetting. While it's not the rules fault, I still put it here because it is about the rules. The rules are very clear. There are examples that help with the different gangs and how they score as well as how they can attack.

Time to Explain to Newcomers

The time to explain to newcomers is very short, say less than 10 minutes.. The game is very simple but it leaves lots of room for strategy. The game is easy to pick up

Gameplay

On your turn, you play as many cards as you can, or want to, from your hand. To play down chili cards you have to put them in an already existing gang, or start a new one. To play cards in a gang, the card number you play can’t be already in the gang. To start a new gang, you have to have 3 (or more?) chili cards. The cards can be the same number, but they all have to be the same number. For example, 3 fives but not 2 fives and a 6. However, there are chili cards with a one on them that you can place in any gang, including cards of the same number. Ie a group of 6s.  The 1 card (baby chili) can’t be hit by whack cards. On your turn you can also play whack cards, which are used to hit other players' chili cards. But to hit one of their cards, you have to have a card equal to or greater than the card you want to whack. You also have cards with a green background that are action cards. These cards allow you to do a variety of things, some letting you draw more cards or take a card from an opponent's hand. At the end of your turn, you draw up 2 cards. There is a special card you insert into the deck and when you get to it, you are allowed to change around your gangs. The only rule is all gangs have to have 3 members or more. The game ends when all of the cards have been drawn. To count points, add up all of the numbers in your mixed gangs. For gangs with the same number, you double the amount of points.

Replayability

Since there are so many cards in chili mafia, you could easily play this game many times over. There are many strategies you can try. Build many small gangs, few large gangs, all mixed gangs, all brotherhood gangs? Attack a lot? Defend a lot? So many choices.

Component Quality

Since the only components are the cards, they are nice cards. They hold up really well, even after dozens of plays. They have a nice linen finish. I will also say that there is a neoprene mat for the expansion, and it is of standard quality. Oh, and I can’t forget the box. The box is nice and has a magnetic closing.

Lunchtime Potential

The game plays in about 20-30 minutes, meaning you could play it 1 or 2 times in a lunch hour, and once in a lunch half hour. We typically play 2 or 3 three games in a sitting before bed. This is a game you can take to a friend's house, and fit in, even if you weren't expecting to play games because it's short of a game. We take this on vacations all the time.

Artwork

I love the artwork in this game! It is so funny and cute. All of the chili peppers are different, not just a template with new colors slapped on. Each of the chili peppers have their own unique charm that is really cool. The cutest pepper by far is the baby chili!

Again, I don’t want to forget the box. The art of the box is great. It looks like a suitcase complete with a destination tag. To reinforce the Globetrotter series feel, the rulebook looks like a passport.

Other

There are play mats available. Personally, I don’t think they are worth the money, as they limit the play area. They don’t feel necessary for this game.

Expansions

Goodfellas

This is a 58 card expansion that adds new chili peppers to replace existing ones, 4 player aid cards, and 16 hot property cards. The newer peppers replace the old ones of the same number and provide different special abilities. Do not forget to remove the originals. Ahem, we did and it makes for a longer and slightly confusing game.

The Hot Property cards add more heat to the game. Every time you start a new gang of 3 peppers, draw a hot property card. Keep it secret, and it doesn’t count as in your hand.

They will instruct when they can be played, but make sure the requirements have been met. Three is max allowed at one time per player in hand.

Promo Packs

There are a couple of promo edition packs that are also on their website. Currently me and my dad do not own these packs. But we are very likely to buy them because we know that they are a thing. UPDATE: Dad bought them while reviewing this script. As you might know, we love to get Everything a game has to bring to the table. I am very excited to use them once we purchase them. There are three different packs: Rumble Hot, Taste Me, and Yatsufusa. The taste me adds cards that when drawn require you to eat something spicy. The rumble deals with the values of gangs when attacking. The Yatsufusa adds cards that protect against turncoat attacks. Again, I am very excited to try these out with mom and dad.

Bang for the Buck 

On sale from Lemery Games website for $28.00 for just the base game.

Other promo packs are 8 dollars a piece, or all of them in one order for 24. I think that it's absolutely worth it. The game is amazing, we have played this game dozens of times, and if you calculate the math, for each time we've played it a dollar each time. Considering we played 20+ times.

https://lemerygames.com/collections/chili-mafia

Summary

There is another game in the Globetrotting series that we have had for a long time. We haven't played it in a while. There is also reviving kathmandu, which we haven't played at all.