OBJECTIVE OF THE CREW: As a team, win tricks to complete the task cards.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 to 5 players
MATERIALS OF THE CREW: 40 playing cards, 5 reminder cards, 36 task cards, 1 commander token, 10 task tokens, 5 radio communication tokens, 1 distress signal token, 1 logbook
TYPE OF GAME: Card game
AUDIENCE: 10+
OVERVIEW OF THE CREW
Are you a big fan of card games? If you’re looking for something unique and different from your standard card games, you’ve got to check out The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine. The Crew is a trick-taking card game, but the twist? It’s a cooperative game. In other words, all the players work together to complete missions. But don’t be fooled. This game is A LOT more difficult than it seems.
- Cooperative strategy game--win or lose together!
- A new twist on classic trick-taking card games
- Difficulty increases as the game progresses, making it a good choice for players...
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SETUP FOR THE CREW
Before we jump into the rules for The Crew, here is how to set up the game to get started.
SETTING UP THE GAME
Shuffle the 40 playing cards and deal them out to each player as equally as possible. Make sure the cards are face down. Players pick up their playing cards and keep them hidden from the other players.
Each player also gets a reminder card in front of them along with a communication token. Make sure the green side is up.
Then, place the distress signal token in the middle of the players, with the token face down. Keep the task tokens in a neat pile nearby.
Finally, shuffle the task cards and put them face down.
THE COMMANDER
Now, whoever has the 4 Rocket card (AKA the trump suit) announces themselves as the Commander and takes the Commander token.
A trump suit is the suit that beats all other suits.
THE LOGBOOK
The logbook at the end of the rulebook included with the game is key to playing The Crew card game. You can either play the Logbook in chronological order, following the story as you do, or you can play specific missions. How you play is up to you.
DISTRIBUTING THE TASKS
In most missions, you must complete a certain number of tasks. Unless a mission specifies otherwise, you distribute the tasks evenly amongst the players, starting with the Commander. Each mission specifies how many tasks must be completed.
According to the number of tasks needed, take that number from the task card pile and place them face up in the middle of the table.
Now, the Commander gets their pick and chooses their first task card. Then, the player to their left chooses a task card too. Keep going around in a clockwise direction until all cards are distributed. This means some players may have just one task card, while others may have two.
In the earlier missions, not everyone may have a task card. And that’s okay! If there are fewer task cards than players, a player may skip picking up a task card from the middle so that another player can pick it up instead.
HOW TO PLAY THE CREW
Are you ready to jump in and play The Crew with your friends and family? Here are The Crew game rules you need to know so that you can play this super fun and cooperative game for hours on end.
But first, let’s set the scene. This card game is played over a series of missions, each with increasing difficulty. Players must work together to complete tasks during each mission with limited communication and a lot of strategy and guesswork!
STARTING TRICKS
To start off the game, the Commander (the player with the 4 Rocket card) starts the first trick of the mission. If you’re not familiar with card trick-taking games, a “trick” is a round of play in which all players lay down a card from their hand. The winner of the round collects all the cards played in that round, or trick.
The Commander chooses a card from their hand and places it face up in the middle of the table. Going clockwise, all other players must play a card. If they have a card in the same suit, they must play it. However, if they do not have a card of that suit, they may play a card from another suit. A Rocket suit (the trump suit) may be played at any time.
WINNING TRICKS
Whoever plays the highest card in the leading suit wins the trick. However, there’s one exception: If someone plays a Rocket card, the highest Rocket wins. In many cases, this may be the ONLY Rocket played in a trick.
The player who wins the trick leads the next one.
Example play:
Player A opens a trick with a Pink 5, Player B plays Pink 3, Player C plays Pink 6, and Player D plays Green 9.
Since Pink is the leading suit, even though Green has the higher number, in this case, Player C wins the trick and leads the next one.
COMPLETING TASKS
Now, The Crew game rules are not as simple as simply playing tricks. Remember those tasks that were distributed at the beginning of the game, they’ll all come into play now! Each task card shows a specific card (such as Green 9 or Yellow 3). If you have a task card, your objective is to win a trick that contains that specific card.
You and your teammates all work together to ensure you win the specific cards needed. If someone else wins that card… that’s mission failed!
Keep in mind that sometimes players may need to complete tasks in a particular order, so always refer to the mission instructions! But more on this below in the task tokens section.
COMMUNICATION
As you know by now, the challenge is that there is a limit to how much you can communicate with your fellow players. After all, if you can clearly communicate what cards you have in your hand, the game would be way too easy!
According to The Crew rules, each player can only communicate ONCE per mission. This is where your communication token comes into play. At any point throughout the game, you may choose a card from your hand to place down in front of you face up. Then, you can place your communication token on that card on the top, middle, or bottom to communicate one of three things:
- Top of the card = This is the highest card of this color/suit in my hand.
- Middle of the card = This is the only card of this color/suit in my hand.
- Bottom of the card = This is the lowest card of this color/suit in my hand.
After communicating, that card stays face-up in front of you until you need to use that card. You can no longer use your communication token for the rest of the mission. To remind yourself you have a card face up in front of you instead of in your hand, take the reminder card and put it in your hand. When you are done communicating, flip over the token to the red side to show that you can no longer communicate.
DISTRESS SIGNAL
Before you begin the game by playing the cards, determine whether or not you want to use the Distress Signal token. You may use this token if you all collectively agree that the current hand is too difficult.
When you flip over the Distress Signal token to be face up (satellite-side up), each player must pass one card of their choosing to another player. All players can decide together whether to pass the cards to the right or left.
Then, follow standard game rules for The Crew.
Interestingly, once activated, the Distress Signal remains active for the entirety of the mission. That means, no matter how many times you attempt a mission, the Distress Signal will remain flipped up and active—even if you don’t want to use it.
When you move onto the next mission, after you successfully complete all tasks, you can flip over the Distress Signal again to be face down.
Note: Using the Distress Signal token affects your game score by one. For more on this, scroll down to the Scoring section of The Crew game rules.
TASK TOKENS
Some missions introduce task tokens with additional conditions. These tokens might include restrictions like:
- A player must win their task first/last (of all other task tokens).
- Tasks must be completed in a specific sequence.
Always refer to the mission log to understand how tokens affect your current game.
If your mission requires tokens, you’ll get the task tokens and place them next to each other BEFORE you draw the task cards. Then, place the task cards under each token one by one. Not all cards may have task tokens, depending on the number of tokens needed for the mission. When you take a task card, you’re also committing to the task token on top of it.
ADDITIONAL MISSION RULES FOR THE CREW
As you progress through the Logbook, you’ll start to encounter additional mission rules that make the game more difficult. Here’s what you may find:
- Dead Zone: This means your communications are disrupted. For this mission, you can communicate a card, but you cannot place a communication token on it.
- Disruption: This means you cannot communicate at all until whichever number is shown in the logbook for the mission. For example, if it says 4, you cannot communicate until the 4th trick.
- Commander’s Decision: This means the task cards are placed face down on the table. Then, the Commander asks all players if they would be happy to take on all of the mystery task cards. Players may only answer “yes” or “no.” The Commander chooses who the tasks go to. The Commander may not choose themself.
- Commander’s Distribution: The Commander reveals the task cards one by one, asking players whether they would want to take the task. Players may only answer “yes” or “no.” The Commander gives that card to a player of their choice, including themself. Continue this with all cards until they are all evenly distributed.
WINNING A MISSION
Congratulations! You win a mission if all tasks are completed successfully by the players without breaking any task or mission-specific rules.
Example play:
In a 4-player game, two task cards are drawn: Pink 7 (Player A’s task card) and Green 2 (Player B’s task card).
Over the next few rounds, the group carefully plays their cards so that Player B wins the trick that includes Green 2, and Player A later wins the trick with Pink 7.
Since both tasks were completed by the correct players, the team wins the mission! Now, you can move on to the next mission in the logbook.
LOSING A MISSION
The harsh reality is that you may lose a mission more often than you win one, especially as you progress in the logbook to the more difficult missions.
You lose a mission if:
- A task is failed (as in, the wrong player wins the task card).
- A task is completed in the wrong order.
- You break any special rules set out by the mission.
If you lose, reshuffle and try the mission again!
Example play:
- Player A has Pink 7 as her task, and Player B has Green 2.
- During the second trick, Player C leads a trick with Green 2.
- Player B plays Green 1 and Player A wins Green 9, winning the trick.
- Because Anna won the Green 2, which was Ben’s task, the group fails the mission.
SCORING
In the logbook, you may keep track of your score. Your “score” is the number of attempts it takes to complete a mission. On the earlier missions, this may be 1. But as you progress in the game, the number will 100% climb higher and higher.
If you use the Distress Signal token for a mission, add another 1 to your score.
END OF GAME
Technically, the game ends when you complete the final mission in the logbook. But that will take MANY settings and countless hours, as there are 50 missions in total. In a single sitting, you may end the game whenever you feel like it and continue another time.
OTHER THE CREW GAMES
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is not your only The Crew game to play. Thanks to the game’s popularity, the creators of the game came out with another fun version of the game that comes with a few extra surprises. You can also play The Crew for two—yep, that’s right, a game for two players.
THE CREW: MISSION DEEP SEA
- A follow-up to the Kennerspiel des Jahres winner, The Crew, with an underwater...
- The Crew: Mission Deep Sea has the same innovative cooperative twist on the...
- Work together to win the right tricks at the right time.
Love The Crew? You can get another version of The Crew game that has even more missions and amazing illustrations on the card + game rules are slightly different, adding to the variety. However, in this version, you have a whopping 96 task cards to play around with! Plus, the mission this time is a deep-sea mission.
THE CREW FOR TWO
While this card game is best played with 3 to 5 players, you can play The Crew for two people. Check out our The Crew for Two rules here.
FAQ
Can Two People Play The Crew?
Absolutely! However, the rules to play two-person The Crew differs from the standard game. When playing with just two people, you also have an “AI” playing with you who will take a third of the cards.
What Is a Trick in The Crew?
A trick is a round of cards in which each player contributes one card to the pile in the middle. The player who plays the highest card of the leading suit (or trump suit) wins that trick, takes the cards, and opens the next trick.
Who Goes First in The Crew?
The Commander, AKA the player with the highest card of the trump suit, goes first in The Crew. Subsequently, whoever wins the previous trick opens the next trick.
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