Dirty Money: The Money Laundering Game

The publisher behind wongamania and Cryptocurrency is back in the compact economic-game business, this time with a properly shady subject: turning suspect cash into art and real estate. The theme does genuinely fit the rules, and that is Dirty Money’s strongest asset.

Each round, you pick one of the available locations, take the money it offers, then see what you can afford to buy. Locations provide bundles of cash and things to acquire, but they also bring a fair amount of chance; this is much closer to wongamania than Cryptocurrency, with a simpler and rather flatter core.

You can also use an available action to needle the other players, which is where the modest laughs live. You spoil someone’s plan, take a little hit yourself, and then return to the same routine: choose a location, take money, buy something. Fine for one outing. Then what?

It is not unpleasant at the table; it just never grows enough teeth to pull me back. The cards are the poorest quality of the publisher’s games, and their odd sizes make sleeves feel close to essential if you intend to play it often. Dirty Money is going into my cupboard for the foreseeable future, which is a shame because the theme deserved far more.