The Crew Review: A Trick To Remember
Intent: Inspire you to try playing The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine
Have you ever looked up at the stars and wondered what is out there? You now have an opportunity to assemble your crew and journey through the vast emptiness of space. Will your journey be smooth? Will you undertake the challenges that get thrown your way? Will you ultimately accomplish the mission at hand? The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine designed by Thomas Sing, art done by Marco Armbruster and published by Thames and Kosmos is a cooperative trick-taking game for 2-5 players in which you travel through space in hopes of discovering the mystery of the ninth planet.
Overview
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a twist on classic trick taking games such as Bridge, Hearts or Spades, throwing the fully cooperative element in it as well as a rich narrative, which keeps you coming back for more. There are fifty missions in the campaign, each with different conditions and tasks. Cards are dealt equally to players, tasks are distributed, and players begin the trick taking process working to complete each task on the table. You’ll need to work together to ensure that players win specific tricks with limited communication (The only way to communicate is to play a card and indicate if it’s the lowest, highest or the only card of that suit) . Fairly easy game to grasp but watch out, each mission is different and will test your crew’s teamwork.
This game won the Kennerspiel des Jahres award and is the tenth winner since the award started in 2011. Past recipients include 7 Wonders, Wingspan and Quacks of Quedlinburg. The award is meant to recognize connoisseur/expert game of the year and is meant for a more experienced audience as compared to Spiel des Jahres (game of the year). Having said all that, The Crew is a welcoming and accessible game that provides a fantastic experience each time it’s played.
First Game Impression
Our expectations for this game were quite high as we have heard nothing but good things going in, and surprisingly this game not only met our expectations but exceeded them as well. The game was simple to grasp and although the first round was a breeze, the possibilities of future missions and the deep narrative drew us in instantly. What was the ninth planet? Will our teamwork be enough to get us there? And how fast can we make it?
What stands out the most is the immersion in the theme. The design of the game is simply brilliant. The artwork matches the theme well and I often found myself lost in the cards. From the first handful of missions, I really felt that we were training to go to space. We were examined on how we would communicate, our problem-solving skills, and if we were really fit to be blasted off because as you know astronauts are the only individuals who get to keep their job after they’re fired.
Thoughts After Seven Games
Well I’ll be honest here, we’ve finished the campaign of 50 missions and have played over 100 missions with various individuals and at different player counts, which far exceeds expectation of thoughts after seven games, which is great as you know I want to make sure that my reviews are thorough and my experiences are as complete as possible before sharing my thoughts with the world.
The design of this game is smooth and immersive. My experience in space was exciting and thrilling although sometimes filled with conflict and frustration. Teamwork is what made it so successful and worthwhile, this game isn’t only cooperative but really fosters team building as well. It was exciting drawing tasks and knowing I can easily accomplish my own, while at times struggling to figure out if fulfilling this mission was even possible with the cards in hand. Every game felt different and the overall experience was rewarding and joyful.
I cannot recommend this game enough, it caters to many audiences and provides a different experience each time it's played. Our progression through the narrative was exciting and suspenseful, it was hard to stop playing at times. Following the campaign, I love that you can repeat your favorite missions or even create your own progression you can play as a session.
MERIT Report Card
Overall Letter Grade: A-
Strengths: The narrative flows extremely well with the theme allowing for a deep immersive experience. It’s easy to play for five minutes, five hours or anywhere in between. The Crew is extremely versatile, appealing to many audiences.
Areas of Improvement: There honestly isn’t much this game can improve on, but if I was to be nitpicky I would have to say that if I was at the store this game wouldn’t catch my eye. It wasn’t until I heard all the amazing feedback by the board game community that I purchased this game, but then again that can often be said for many other games.
Memorability: A
How often do I think about the game? I fell in love with the design of this game, a different presentation of trick taking in each mission. I often find myself thinking about how this game could be rethemed and what other immersive narratives can be experienced (I love this theme, I just want more.) This game is just so clever, how you choose to communicate, prioritize missions, and the flow the possibilities really are endless.
How often is the game brought up by the individuals I play with? Everyone we have played with wanted to complete the entire campaign. Although we’ve never done it in one sitting, usually 3-10 missions a session but those who’ve started have been committed to finishing. I have noticed that once the campaign has finished it hasn’t been a priority to get this game back to the table, although I would never turn down an opportunity to play this game.
How many memories can be built from this game? Many many memories. The immersion of the narrative allows for some memorable moments. I distinctly remember when the commander asked each one of us individually if we are sick, to which we could only respond “yes” or “no.” Our response would indicate who is the most fit to go on the mission and although we could only say those two words I remember stretching out my yes, trying to present that I could go on the mission, but I’m not fully sure of myself. I’m not sick but I’m not healthy?
The various points of tension provide great memories and team building as well, I had to trust completely that my team mates could handle this trick I could not take and really put faith in my crew, which was often extremely nerve wracking. The feelings ranged and because of that this game is fairly memorable.
Education : B
Now beyond learning that Pluto is no longer a planet and the order of the planets heading out of our solar system there aren’t many facts within the game but that certainly doesn’t mean the education of the game is limited. You’re exercising many elements of your brain throughout this game, including strategic thinking, memory (as after the trick is claimed it is placed face down), and how to communicate efficiently with the limits set in place.
One of the best educational elements this game demonstrates is the notion of having to pay attention to what people are not saying or not doing. The best way to demonstrate this, is how communication works. Like I mentioned before, the only way to communicate is to play a card and indicate it if it is the lowest, highest or only of that suit. You can do this at any point in the game between the tricks. I absolutely love seeing someone give a clue that provides more than just the clue itself. For example, indicating that the eight is the lowest card, immediately you can deduce that that individual has a nine as well. Optimizing how you communicate is extremely clever and it often pushes individuals to read into each clue and pay attention to their crew.
Beyond the obvious, the more subtle ways you are educated is teamwork. You learn how to trust your crewmates, how to delegate tasks and support each other through the journey to space. Learning to trust can often be difficult, but this game allows you to many practice essential skills such as trust in a safe way.
Replayability: A-
With fifty distinct missions, an immense number of combinations of how the cards can be dealt out, you can really be guaranteed that each game will be different. I love that the game scales with difficulty as well, so you can really focus and play in your own comfort zone.
Although this is a game I would never turn down, finishing the campaign and reading the Epilogue I am slightly less motivated to keep playing it again. This is the primary reason this game is not an A+ for replayability.
Imagination: A+
Can you tell I really love the immersive narrative yet? From training in the beginning to all the challenges you encounter in space, the way the mechanics flow into the theme is a joy and I am always fascinated by it when I play this game.
What caught me immediately was the suspenseful progression of the story, it took me everything not to flip pages and look ahead. Thomas Sing should have sealed the conclusion to the campaign in a separate envelope because there have been times where I almost caved in. However, waiting for the end was completely worth it, it took us 74 combined attempts to win the campaign. (Some missions took us one time but some unfortunately took us many attempts.)
I can now say I’ve been to space and I had a blast because I had my crew with me.
Target: B+
I love how versatile this game is, and how it can appeal to many different players. I will note that this game did an incredible job with accessibility with no text in the actual gameplay, symbols to explain missions and colorblind friendly symbols as well on each card. This is certainly a game I can introduce to anyone and chances are they would like it.
My only concern here is that this game is almost like a hidden gem. I purchased it because of the hype from the community, the high reviews it got and the praise it obtained from the masses. As a general consumer not familiar with the board game hobby, this game would likely not catch my eye or appeal to me. I do think that that statement is overarching for many wonderful games out there, and I struggle saying this because I don’t believe this game should be flashy as I love the art and the theme.
Definitely makes me wonder how I can support the board game community and encourage more individuals to play games. (Then again, this is my primary goal for this blog.)
Tylor’s Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This game is the definition of nostalgic but with a twist! I remember playing trick taking games with my parents and grandparents growing up and having a great time. It even brings me back to my university days where my roommates and I would play hearts for hours on end to pass the time or take a break from studying! They were always easy to learn/teach and all you needed was a deck of cards. Now, The Crew takes this experience to another level. I enjoyed the change of pace from competing to cooperating and when you add a story into the mix, I’m sold. Honestly, great game, fun to play but after making it through the campaign once, I think it will be a little bit until I want to play it again.
Final Thoughts: If you love either cooperative, trick taking, space theme or card games this is certainly the game for you. If you do not, try it anyway, it may change your mind. This will be a game I introduce to many individuals who are interested in board games. I would highly recommend playing this game to generally anyone as the memories and experience you obtain will be invaluable.
MERIT Report Card Letter Grade: A-
Find your crew and blast off to space, it’ll be worthwhile.