There’s a trick to space exploration, you know
THE CREW: THE QUEST FOR PLANET NINE
Designer: Thomas Sing | Artist: Marco Armbruster
Space travel is all about teamwork. In order to survive in the cold, vast, merciless depths of the vacuum, an astronaut must be able to operate instinctively and smoothly alongside their fishbowl-wearing colleagues – sometimes with minimal communication. Most importantly, they must be really, really good at, um… trick-taking card games?
Casting its players as a group of astronauts, The Crew is intended to be a light campaign game with an even lighter story element, which takes you through no fewer than 50 missions on a journey to the far end of the solar system to confirm the existence of a ninth planet (not Pluto, that got downgraded to a moon, the poor heavenly body). However, in truth, this sci-fi story thread is little more than gossamer window dressing for what appears to be yet another trick-taker, in which cards are won by nothing more complicated or exciting than playing down the highest number in a given suit (or if you are able to, a trump card).
While the theme and gameplay don’t ever really feel like they gel beyond a dash of added flavour, it should be made clear that The Crew is actually far more than ‘yet another’ trick-taker, and offers a really interesting new spin on the genre. Because it is a cooperative trick-taking game.
Each mission sets the group a task. For example, one player might need to need to win the Yellow 8 in a trick, while another might need to win the Blue 4. Which means everyone must work together to ensure that happens – deliberately losing, in effect, if they’re not the tasked players. This is complicated by the fact that no verbal communication is allowed between players. All you can do, once per mission, is reveal one of your cards and indicate with a token if it’s the highest card you have of that suit, the lowest, or the only one.
This limited form of signalling is guaranteed to get the entire group’s brain-cogs whirring, adding a lot of deduction and also a tingle of psychology to proceedings. If someone signals that the Green 7 is their lowest card in hand, then you know you’re not gonna win that Green 4 without a Rocket card (which always trumps, but can only be played if you don’t have any cards of the relevant suit), or without the Green 7 player winning a few tricks to clear their hand first.
It is compelling and addictive stuff once you start vibing properly with the other players; similar to The Mind, but not quite so seemingly supernatural. And, after the first half-dozen or so missions, it becomes very challenging, with cards having to be won in specific orders, or certain cards being instant game-losers if played, or communication being disrupted in some way. Not that you need to play it as an escalating campaign; you can just dive in and pick any mission you like, in any order, and given the slightness of the story element, you’re not missing too much if you approach it this way.
Of course, if you’re just not into trick-taking games, then The Crew is tough to recommend. On the flipside, if you dig cooperative games, this is one guaranteed to generate some entertaining and interesting group dynamics around the table.
DAN JOLIN
WE SAY
If you love trick-taking games, or games which offer cool new spins on old genres, then you must seek this out. But if tricks are not for you, neither will this be.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
◗ 36 Colour cards
◗ 4 Rocket cards
◗ 5 Reminder cards
◗ 36 Task cards
◗ 10 Task tokens
◗ 5 Radio communication tokens
◗ 1 Distress signal token
◗ 1 Commander token
TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED… THE MIND
There’s both more and less to The Crew than Wolfgang Warsch’s oddball hit. It’s not quite so innovative, but it offers more range and depth.