The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine Review

Intro

The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine takes the familiar concept of trick-taking games like Hearts or Spades and flips it on its head by making everyone work together instead of competing. This cooperative card game sends 2-5 players on a space mission through 50 progressively challenging scenarios, each lasting about 20 minutes. With an impressive 7.77/10 rating online and a pile of awards including the prestigious Kennerspiel des Jahres, it's clearly struck a chord with players. The complexity sits comfortably in beginner-friendly territory, though the communication restrictions add surprising depth that keeps experienced gamers engaged.

How It Plays

At its core, The Crew uses standard trick-taking mechanics. Players follow suit when possible, and the highest card of the leading suit wins the trick. The twist? Everyone's working toward shared objectives, but you can barely talk about your cards.

Each mission presents specific goals like "Player A must win the trick containing the 7 of hearts" or "Player B needs to win exactly two tricks." Before play begins, you get one chance to communicate by placing a token on one of your cards to signal whether it's your highest, lowest, or only card of that color. That's it for table talk.

The campaign structure brilliantly escalates the challenge. Early missions might ask one player to win a specific trick. Later ones demand precise timing, like ensuring certain tricks happen in order, or that multiple players achieve different goals simultaneously. Each mission builds on previous concepts, creating a satisfying learning curve that never feels overwhelming.

Success requires reading your teammates' plays, making educated guesses about their hands, and sometimes sacrificing optimal moves for the greater good. When a mission fails, you simply reset and try again with the same objectives but fresh cards.

Highlights

The communication restriction transforms a simple card game into genuine teamwork. Without the ability to say "I have the ace of spades," every play becomes a form of sign language. You'll find yourself agonizing over whether to play that medium-value card or hold it back, knowing your choice sends a message to the table.

The mission variety keeps things fresh throughout the campaign. Some focus on card management, others on timing, and the trickiest ones combine multiple objectives that seem impossible until that magical moment when everything clicks. The "aha!" feeling when your team perfectly executes a complex mission rivals any puzzle game.

Accessibility deserves major praise here. The rules explanation takes five minutes, and within two missions, everyone understands the flow. Yet the game scales beautifully from family gatherings to serious gaming groups. The difficulty curve never spikes harshly, instead building understanding gradually.

The portability factor can't be overstated. This fits in a jacket pocket and sets up in seconds. No massive board, no fiddly components, just cards and a few tokens. Perfect for travel, lunch breaks, or when you want something meatier than traditional card games without the complexity overhead.

Criticisms

The communication limits that make The Crew special can also frustrate certain players. If you're someone who loves discussing strategy or tends to be more verbal during games, the enforced silence might feel stifling rather than challenging. Some missions can drag when one player repeatedly makes moves that seem random to the rest of the table, leading to multiple failures before everyone gets on the same wavelength.

Replayability concerns emerge once you've completed the campaign. While you can revisit favorite missions or try them with different player counts, the magic diminishes when everyone knows the solutions. The sequel, Mission Deep Sea, addresses this somewhat, but the original campaign feels like a one-time journey rather than an evergreen experience.

Player count significantly affects the experience, though not always predictably. Two-player games can feel mechanical since you have perfect information about most cards. Five-player games create chaos where individual agency gets lost in the complexity. The sweet spot sits at three or four players, but this limitation might disappoint groups outside that range.

Conclusion

The Crew appeals to an unusually broad audience because it bridges casual and serious gaming so elegantly. Families will love the cooperative nature and gradual difficulty increase, while hobby gamers appreciate the tight design and innovative use of communication restrictions. If you enjoy puzzle-solving, teamwork, or just want something different from typical competitive card games, this delivers in spades.

Skip it if you prefer games with high replayability, love lengthy strategic discussions, or find communication limits more annoying than intriguing. But for everyone else, The Crew offers one of the most satisfying cooperative experiences in modern board gaming, packaged in an incredibly accessible format that respects both your time and shelf space.