How to Play

Tammany Hall

3-5 players 90-90 min 7.3 Board Game Geek Rating

Players manipulate New York's immigrant populations in this backstabbing political strategy game set during Boss Tweed's era. Gain favors from immigrant groups, place ward bosses to secure votes, and slander opponents. Elections occur every fourth year, with the winner becoming mayor. However, mayors must share power with rivals through patronage appointments, creating temporary alliances in the ruthless pursuit of control.

Published 2007

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

Place the Year marker

Put the Year marker on "1" on the Year track

Prepare the general supply

Place all Political Favor tokens separated by color, with City Office tiles and Council President tokens nearby

Distribute player pieces

Each player chooses a set of 20 colored Ward Bosses and 3 Slander tokens

Initialize score tracking

Each player places 1 Ward Boss on the "0" of the Score track

Set up Starting Immigrants track

Place immigrant cubes on the track: Zone I (2 green, 2 white, 2 yellow), Zone II (2 green, 2 white, 1 yellow), Zone III (2 green, 1 white, 1 yellow) - no blue cubes on track

Determine active zones

Check player count: 3 players use Zone I only, 4 players use Zones I and II, 5 players use all three zones

Populate Zone I

Place 1 green cube on Ward 14 (Tammany Hall), then randomize remaining Zone I cubes and place 1 random cube on each other Ward in Zone I

Populate additional zones

For each other active zone, place 1 random cube from that zone's Starting Immigrants track box on each Ward in that zone

Prepare the draw bag

Place all cubes not on the board (including blue ones) into the draw bag and shake well

Fill Castle Garden

Draw cubes from the bag equal to the number of players plus 2 and place them on Castle Garden

Select start player

Randomly choose a start player for Term 1

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

Check Castle Garden

At the start of your turn, if Castle Garden is completely empty, draw new cubes equal to number of players plus 2 and place them there

Take one Ward Action

You must perform either Campaign or Settle on your turn

Campaign action

Place 2 of your Ward Bosses in any active Wards (can be same or different Wards)

Settle action

Place 1 Ward Boss in an active Ward, then place 1 Immigrant cube from Castle Garden to any active Ward and receive 1 Political Favor matching the placed cube's color

Understand active Wards

A Ward is active if it contains at least 1 Immigrant cube; Ward Bosses cannot be placed in inactive Wards

Protect the last cube

If only 1 Immigrant cube remains in a Ward, it cannot be removed or moved by any means

Use Slander (Term 2+)

Once per Term, spend 1 Political Favor matching a population in a Ward where you have a Ward Boss to remove 1 opponent's Ward Boss from that Ward

Spread Slander

After initial Slander, optionally spend 2 more Political Favors of the same color to remove 1 Ward Boss from the same opponent in an adjacent Ward where you both have Ward Bosses

Track Slander usage

Discard 1 Slander token after using Slander to indicate you cannot Slander again this Term

Use Office Benefits (Term 2+)

If you hold a City Office, use its benefit once per turn

Deputy Mayor benefit

Take 1 Political Favor of any color from the supply

Chief of Police benefit

Remove 1 Immigrant cube from any Ward with at least 2 cubes and return it to the draw bag

Council President benefit

Place a Council President token (up to 2 per Term) on any active Ward without your token; no one may place or remove Ward Bosses or Immigrant cubes there until after next Election

Precinct Chairman benefit

Move 1 Immigrant cube from any Ward with at least 2 cubes to an adjacent active Ward (no Political Favor gained)

Winning

How to claim victory.

Complete four Terms

The game spans 4 Terms of 4 Years each (16 Years total), with Elections at the end of each Term

Hold Ward Elections

During Elections, resolve each active Ward in order; players count Ward Bosses as votes, then secretly bid Political Favors matching populations present

Win Ward Elections

The player with most total votes (Ward Bosses + bid Political Favors) wins; all Ward Bosses removed except 1 of the winner's; ties result in no winner

Claim Special Ward benefits

Ward 1 and 2 winners place 1 cube of chosen color from bag to any active Ward; Ward 4 and 7 winners take 1 Political Favor of any color

Become Immigrant Leader

After Ward Elections, the player with most cubes of each population in their won Wards becomes that population's Immigrant Leader and gains 3 Political Favors of that color

Score Ward victories

Earn 1 Victory Point per Ward won; Ward 14 (Tammany Hall) is worth 2 Victory Points

Become Mayor

The player who won the most Wards becomes Mayor, scores 3 bonus Victory Points, and becomes first player next Term

Break Mayor ties

Use tiebreakers in order: most total unspent Political Favors, then most Irish, English, German, and finally Italian Political Favors

Score end-game Political Favors

After the final Election, each Immigrant population awards 2VP to the player with most unspent Political Favors of that color (ties award 2VP to all tied players)

Score unused Slander tokens

Each Slander token remaining in your supply is worth 1VP

Determine the winner

The player with the highest total Victory Points wins; if tied, use Election Tiebreakers, then final Mayor wins remaining ties