The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a cooperative trick-taking game for 3-5 players (with a 2-player adaptation included in the rule book). The age on the box indicates 10+. Maci is 9, and we had to play through a few rounds for her to get the idea, especially since trick-taking card games are new to our family. The box gives a 20 minute play time. Our family has finished a mission in as little as five minutes, or taken as long as 15 for a single mission. The missions do become progressively more difficult as they progress. Your group can choose to play as few or as many missions as they wish in a single setting.
Basic Gameplay
The crew, or players, work their way through 50 different “missions” which they either win together or lose together.
All the playing cards are distributed amongst the players. Then, the crew reads the setting and rules for the given mission. Each mission has one or more goals/tasks set for it in order for the team to be successful. The tasks increase in complexity as the game progresses, slowly introducing players to the various rules and components the game has to offer.
There are four regular suits of cards: pink, blue, green, and yellow as well as rocket cards. We appreciate that the designers included a different symbol for each suit for those who may struggle with visual color discrimination.
At the beginning of the mission, after all tasks have been distributed, the commander begins the first trick. Going clockwise, each player then must play a card of the same suit, if they can, and the largest number played within the suit wins the trick. If a player CANNOT play a card within the suit, they may play a card of a different suit. When the alternate card played is a color, they will not win the trick. If the card was a rocket card, the largest rocket played automatically wins the trick.
The goal in each mission is to follow the rules or complete the tasks given. This is well explained in the rule book, and although the rules do become more complicated, they are introduced slowly throughout the missions, which we appreciate.
The Dad Review
Day 1 Bad Decision
Frustrating madness, that’s how this game started out. I don’t think we’ve ever played a trick style game or a game like this, before. After a long day of quarantine and work, this is not the game we should have played. But, we continued on, and just like teaching Maci how to ride a bike, and throw and catch a ball, it was a struggle. However, after playing a few rounds, the frustration started to dwindle and we began to understand the game.
Although our understanding improved, it was still frustrating and that’s mostly because I had a plan on how to win my trick and Ang had a plan, but it was not the same plan. So, we won the trick but it didn’t feel like a win. I don’t know if this is just how trick-taking games work. I’m assuming no, because of all the positive hype this game is getting. I don’t think people would hype up a game if they had that same feeling.
Day 2 Much Better
Now that we all got some rest, we tried this game again and it’s addictive. I’m enjoying it. Some of the tricks are more fun than others, but I like that you have levels you can try to complete. Personally, I want to beat all 50 of them and feel I could do that multiple times. This brings a lot of replay ability to the table. We have at least 3 groups of friends that will enjoy playing this game as well, which will be great as soon as we’re off quarantine and are allowed to play with our friends in person again.
I think this game will hit the table quite a bit as a team-building filler. Or, we may play it all night to try to see how many levels we can complete. However, just don’t play if people are tired and cranky. Really, that should always be a rule when playing a game, especially a cooperative game.
In closing, this game is affordable and well worth adding to the collection. If you’re in Vegas I do recommend the Gaming Goat, if not hopefully your gaming store is adapting to the times and able to provide you with service, otherwise it’s a decent price on Amazon.
For a family game, I rank The Crew a 9/10.
The Mom Review
I really enjoy playing The Crew. The missions go quickly, so it is great for people with short attention spans. I also really like that the rules change from one mission to the next. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t change in a way that makes it over-complicated to learn or teach. The rules change just enough to keep things interesting. Also, they do not introduce too many new elements into any single mission, which I thoroughly appreciate!
I definitely think that when playing this game with young or inexperienced players for the first time, it would be helpful to play a couple of rounds without trying to take any kind of score. Toss out a task card or two to achieve, but just get a feel for the game and how it works without stressing about trying to beat the mission quickly. Then, once you get the hang of it, start keeping track and go from there.
During each mission, players can use communication to share a card with the other players. The token can be placed in a way that shows if the card is that player’s highest, lowest, or only card of the given suit. Rocket cards can never be “communicated”. I appreciate this ability to share a little piece of important information with the other members of the crew.
The rulebook is easy to understand. I would also recommend that whoever the rule-master is in your house reads the main body text through once, then goes back and reads the sidebar reminders. Once you read those two things, it’s pretty easy to lead others through the game.
Setup is very easy. The dealer shuffles and distributes player cards. Then, you lay out the task cards and pass out tokens. Your Crew is then ready to play.
Overall, I give the Crew a 9/10.
The Kid Review
I love The Crew. One reason is I love cooperating with my family. Also, I love the tasks and sometimes trying to have the biggest number or the smallest number. I also love doing the tasks and trying to win the round with my family. It’s cool having a task in front of me to win. I have a tip for you: when you get to mission number 5, if you’re the captain you cannot choose to be sick because you will have the number 4 rocket ship. So you will never complete every trick if you’re sick and you’re the captain. That mission took a minute for us to figure out, but the game was not very hard to learn, and I like that too!
In conclusion, I will rate this game 10/10.
Overall Impressions of The Crew
As a family, we really like playing The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, and I am sure it will continue to be a part of our regular rotation. We like to play a short game every night before bed, and I am sure that The Crew will be a regular contender for a bedtime game!
- Overall Family Rating: 9.5/10
- Setup: Easy
- Learning the Rules: Easy