The Crew (card game)

[Mike]

Last night, I got to play a card game called The Crew. It has a pretty pointless space theme, but no one cares, because the mechanics and game play are awesome.

It's a cooperative trick taking game. There's basic goals, like one person is required to take the yellow 2 or the blue 5 or whatever. But it ramps up through 50 levels, until you have rounds where at least two tricks have to be taken with 1's, or the person to the left of the highest red card has to take ALL red cards. The final ones just seem crazy impossible. Everyone knows what all the goals are and cooperate to make them happen. Communication about your cards is forbidden except for very specific rules where you can communicate some info about ONE card you hold. We got through level 5, and it was awesome.

We played it on Tabletop Simulator on Steam, where it was cheap. You can also get it on Amazon, where it is also cheap. It's just a really really good game. I love the challenge of it. I love using the standard trick-taking mechanic in novel ways. It's not just about winning or losing (or even winning/losing in moderation). It's about trying count 40 cards and take very carefully calculated risks for some very niche goals.

We saved the board after round 5, and I hope we keep coming back to it.

[Eliahad]

It's super cheap on Steam on TTS, because (other than TTS) it's free! Just be ready to have to do a small amount of work to make the TTS workshop version work for the mechanics -- they screwed up the rocket cards. I can explain how to fix it if anyone is interested in trying it.

Also...it's a really tight game that's awesome for looking at your friends and willing them to read your mind. I can't wait to try the harder tasks.