This isn’t a theme I would have gone with, but here it is…
GoCaine is a multiplayer Go game in which 2 to 6 players compete to build the most lucrative cocaine trafficking network. GoCaine uses area control mechanics from the ancient game of surrounding stones known as Weiqi in China, Baduk in Korea, and Go in Japan.
how does it work
Give me inspiration for a nargoplanet one.
GoCaine is a game of both area control and of logistical and economic efficiency. Deploy multipurpose security cells to gain control of territory. Use your territories to buy, ship, or sell your product. Build smuggling pipeline infrastructure so you can move more product more quickly to more locations. Buy political influence to help protect your shipments from interdiction operations and to utilize law enforcement to disrupt your opponents’ supply lines.
On your turn, you:
- Choose 1 action (either: buy/build, transport product, or sell product).
- Then deploys 1 cell (i.e. 1 Go stone)
- at any point during your turn or during an opponent’s turn, a player may launch a Task Force Interdiction action to seize an opponent’s product. This is a probability based roll of two six-sided dice, adjusted by how much political influence the player has.
Territory is gained or lost using Go mechanics. In this regard, the game is an abstract game of strategic skill. Players who are able to control territory in more zones typically are able to then build a better economic engine to make money faster than their opponents.
The first player to reach $1 billion wins. Typically this happens at some point between 30 to 40 turns.
Whoever can move the most product the most efficiently and the most profitably will be victorious. Alliances can be made and broken throughout the game, making for lively player interactions.
wow… bizarre… but also clever (& interesting) IMO.
I didn’t know about this game until today. Fascinating!
Apparently there was also a multiplayer Go variant called The Godfather Game from 1971 that involved paying in-game money for each stone placement. It also had a gangster theme! You can read more about it on BGG.
A Quick Review of GoCaine
Price and Availability
I purchased Gocaine a few months ago. The game was, I believe around $25 on Amazon but ended up costing me €85 to get it shipped to the Netherlands…. What we do for Go… 
Sadly it isn’t for sale anymore. Amazon doesn’t stock it and on the main website there’s this message:
ATTENTION: I am out of GoCaine. All of my GoCaine inventory has been sold. I am presently working on designing another game. When it is complete I will release information about it. If you’d like to be notified when it is close to being released, send me an email at kharitago@outlook.com and I’ll let you know when it is available.
Thank you so much! To those who have already bought GoCaine or who have played it and left reviews.
However that said, the game pieces are simple enough to DIY. If you print out a copy of the game board on A3 paper, and have two different types of chips/tokens per player color (blocks and discs for example), as well as two global type tokens, 2 dice and Monopoly money, you have all that you need.
First impressions
The box is nice, the booklet reads easily, the game board looks simple and the tokens/pieces are cheap plastic. But the colours are nice and different from each other, so it’s fine for $25. I would pay for a more luxurious designed version, because…
The game is a lot of fun!
Main gameplay
The goal of the game is buy, transport and sell cocaine efficiently to become the richest smuggler.
The rules seem difficult but are actually very easy as soon as you get started. Especially if at least one player is familiar with Go, this is a game you can start playing straight away.
You can always do multiple things on your turn and there’s a nice freedom to balance your strategy, for example:
Pivoting from one strategy to another is continuously possible, and sometimes necessary.
The freedom and strategic depth “feels” very similar to the feel of Go. That makes this game feel surprisingly coherent. It is not just Go “tacked on” to some other random game elements. In fact, the game lacks any “tacked on” parallel scoring mechanics. Every thing works in tandem with the main goal. To have this so accessible (*for go players) is unique.
If you prefer a game with primarily solo-gameplay, then this isn’t for you. You need to respond to what’s happening on the board.
Is it only for go players?
No, not at all. We played it with me (11 kyu), my gf (~16 kyu), and two people who have never played Go.
All of us enjoyed the game equally. BUT
Knowledge of go does give a big advantage. It is up to your Go playing honour to help the newbies out to keep a fair game. However, the game allows and even encourages forming alliances, so it’s easy for the go player to make an alliance with a newbie. If two go players form an alliance against the noobs, I don’t think the newbies have any chance of winning.
If nobody knows go, I expect the same questions will arise as you often see beginners post here and on Reddit. The booklet does explain many situations nicely, but I predict it’ll still cause confusion, and will take away from the accessibility. However, if no player realises a group is dead (for example), then it doesn’t matter either. So it’s not a dealbreaker.
I noticed it piqued interest in Go in the non-go playing players as well, we’ll see how that pans out.
Conclusion
This game is a no-brainer for Go players who enjoy board games.
If you’re never played Go, it’s still a great game if the idea speaks to you, and it’s a good gateway to go.
Avoid it if you are into solo-boardgames.
In a few weeks I will have played this game with another group, with 4 non go players, and I’ll update this review accordingly.