Answers
FAQ
Is this a real crime game or a guide?
It is a browser strategy game with pulp-cinema flavor. Every public sentence is a game rule. There is no how-to on tax evasion, smuggling, or violence.
Why Google?
So the city can persist against an account. Your Google name and email are not the street name. Boards show the mask you pick at the sit-down.
Is there a development login?
Only when NODE_ENV is development. Production requires Google. The local button exists so the first sitting is playable without OAuth keys.
What age is this for?
The fiction implies heat, busts, and tribute. There is no gore, no narcotics, no weapons shop. Treat it as a mature strategy game; we do not market it to children.
What happens if I miss days?
The city ticks. Interest compounds on a capped curve. Spikes get eaten. Heat cools a little and never rises while you are away. Your save is not deleted.
Can I message other players?
Not by direct mail in this sitting. If you sit with a family you get their table: a shared wire with that family's bots, and any humans who sat with the same family. Twelve lines a night. Once you name a Capo crew, that wire becomes your crew's table and your soldiers talk.
What is a mug shot?
A pulp portrait you pick at the sit-down (and can change on the desk). It is not a photo upload. Boards show the mug next to the street name.
Can I stay unaffiliated forever?
Yes. That is locked. Offers sweeten after a few midnights and never freeze the street. The ceiling is Operator. Trade and boards, no crew, no Capo, no family jobs.
What are family jobs?
After you sit with a family, the boss leaves work on the desk. Most jobs are optional: extra cash and standing if you take them, no sting if you skip. Rare insists should not be skipped (heat and standing, never an account wipe). Accept costs a move. Loners get none. Standing from jobs is how you climb to Soldier (16) and Capo (32).
How do I become Capo and get a crew?
Family only. 32 standing, 3 midnights, and $2,000 cash-plus-parked or $200 tribute. Then name the crew (2 to 24 letters). A short sit-down vs a bot weighs cash, standing, and heat. You become boss of that crew inside the family. Family Boss stays NPC. Two soldiers work at midnight, take about 15% (12% in Lucente), and can get pinched. You cover half the fine. Loners never get a crew. Full ledger fights are the next knob.
Do ads watch me play?
Public pages may carry standard display units once a publisher id is set. The play screen uses a slim banner that does not cover action buttons. We do not invent a live client in the repo.
What is a pinch?
A game outcome: fine plus lost cargo. Never laid up, never skip-day, never erased. Muscle, fixer, bribes, and unused moves are the levers.
Can I reset?
WITSEC is the later-sitting reset: new street name, ghost on the boards, stipend, debt wipe, fourteen-day cooldown, unlimited per Google account. Not required for the first sitting.
Is there player-versus-player?
Not in this sitting. Named bots occupy the same price books and blotter. Later, humans drop into that city. A bot-only lane remains.
Why Staten Island ferry copy?
Flavor. Travel to or from the island still costs one move. Colonna members pick up heat off-island per deal and per travel. That is the tax, not a second ticket.
Who are the five families?
Fictional: Genara, Galliano, Lucente, Bonacci, Colonna. One per borough. Not stand-ins for real organizations, not a documentary.
What if I go bust?
You lose cash and cargo. The account stays. The shylock stays. Start lighter, sell, pay down the note.