The Gang Review: Deal We In

[@jacobstein5678]

Really appreciate Tom listening and responding to Joey in the final scoring. Not that anyone is bad, but it just felt so genuine and from a place of curiosity. Great collaboration on the video for a collaborative game.

[@4757joshua2]

Awkward framing trying to get the logos on the front in there. It would look better if the top of the table were closer to the bottom of the frame. (By zooming in)

[@elqord.1118]

Yeah awful job

[@Infil]

Part of playing poker is learning to evaluate hand strength/put your opponents on ranges (in this case, your teammates), so this seems like an interesting way to try and teach people how to do that. Yes I think there will be a bit of that "there's no way to tell whether my weak hand is better or worse than my teammate's weak hand", and because you can never fold in this game you'll see that happen quite often (although weak hands can improve more often in this game because you see all 5 cards), but maybe that's where comparisons with The Mind make sense. You kind of learn an inherent sense of rhythm and improve game sense to where it becomes possible. It seems to live in an interesting crossroads between playing an isolated game and "practicing" skills for a different game (poker). I can see people who don't care about poker and don't want to learn how to evaluate hands just bouncing off the game completely, but "bite-sized cooperative poker" does seem like there will be an audience for either existing poker players, or people who "always wanted to learn how poker works". Curious to try it myself with my poker friends.

[@PetrVojtech]

I played this and my knowledge of Poker was very limited at the very beggining. I've enjoyed the game very much! And it has taught me a lot about Poker! After a few games we have developed a much deeper understanding of hands and values. It's also important to say the chips mean very different things and should always reffer to a very specific game state. It's a good idea to watch when a player goes for higher or lower chip - in combination with new cards beying revealed I can better understand what cards and what type of poker hand the player has.

[@lots_of_numbers7580]

As someone who really enjoys poker, but other players doesn't really play seriously without money, and i don't want to play too brutally against my friends while playing with some money, i think I'd really enjoy this. It would be a good exercise practicing hand strength and range in poker while having fun with friends I'd guess

[@warpo007]

i like the bar, much better than the little IKEA couches. the 'all play' logo is obnoxiously large

[@Hyescapism]

I was looking forward to a review of this because i have the same doubts like Tom: the ranking system feels too vague. With The Crew, you get info from the cards being played as well with the communication token, but without those boons Chris talked about, i'm not sure there is really a good way to deduce other people's hands. I'd still like to try this one, but unsure if I wanna buy it just to do so.

[@mreed7947]

I think the room y'all are in is too small for that desk

[@mystemo1980]

The game that breaks The Dice Tower. Great review

[@PatrickBrophy]

After Tom initially explained the game, I immediately put it in my cart. It seems cool, especially if your playgroup has good poker experience as mine does. But the game not seeming to help eleviate that vagueness in hand variations of having a 2-3 vs. 2-4 has me second guessing. I guess for $11, it’s worth trying.

[@bonniemacpherson7742]

Hey Joey and Chris - I like poker and would love to play this with you. Deal me in! 😃

[@meravl7615]

11:30 Was that "I don't know who's higher" intentional? Because if not subconsciousness rocks, and if it was - kudos. Still getting used to the news anchor table, but it's really pretty in a classy sort of way. My complements to the internal designer.

[@wolflarson71]

Sounds like 3-4 player is the sweet spot.

[@ryanmiddleton6335]

But what if you hate The Mind, but love poker?

[@johncullen9436]

OK, so, yes, you really need a familiarity with poker to play the game well. In regular poker, however, which I have played a considerable amount of, you are encouraged to have a "poker face", to have no "tells". Here, not so much. You actually want everyone else to know what you have. I play a number of other card games in which I frequently have to say, "Excuse me, no board talk." Which is, as frequently, ignored. This game is rife with the potential for "board talk". From what I have seen, those who have claimed that it is to easy are those who have had too much "board talk". Yes, if automatons were playing the game based on just the choice of chips, that would work. But we're not dealing with automatons. Don't get me wrong, I think that with the right group of players, this would be a great game.

[@simone3484]

It‘s a handicap if you play Poker - you‘d be playing the potential of your hand, which you must not do with „The Gang“. I‘m sure it can absolutely be a blast!

[@cjhnm9492]

This would be like if you added a poker chip mechanism to Chess... and makes it cooperative? Why?

[@CEO_of_Hogwarts]

Playing poker only makes sense when there's really something at stake. Only then do people behave the way they do and you can start to read facial expressions and gestures. Everything else is kindergarten and pointless for poker.

[@wolflarson71]

Poker in this case is just a vehicle to harness group comradery that exists in coop games like The Mind, The Game, The Crew, etc.

[@CEO_of_Hogwarts]

@@wolflarson71 sorry I should have put a timestamp. I was referring to Tom's statement that he likes to play poker from time to time, but only without stakes.

[@danielcobin2873]

First!