The Ludarium Academy · Full course · Free

The Right Trick

An unofficial The Crew course

Learn The Crew, teach it in five minutes, then read every signal, count the rockets, plan your task order, and fly all 50 missions without a word about your cards.

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The Crew at the start of a four-player mission: each player's hand of ten cards with a green radio token in front, the commander token by the player holding the 4 rocket, task cards face up in the middle with a task token, the face-down task deck, the distress signal token, and a key to the 40-card deck of four colors from 1 to 9 plus rockets 1 to 4.Free printable teach sheetSetup, a turn, scoring, and three tips on one page.

Four levels, 13 lessons

Start with lesson one

  1. Level 0 · Learn to play

    Recruit

    After this level: Deal, teach, and fly your first missions of The Crew, signals and tasks included, without opening the rulebook.

    1. 01How to Play The Crew
    2. 02How to Teach The Crew in Five Minutes

  2. Level 1 · Beginner

    Navigator

    After this level: Skip the first-mission slips, send a signal that says more than one card, and pick tasks your hand can actually win.

    1. 03The Crew Beginner Mistakes: Your First Three Sessions
    2. 04The Crew Communication Strategy: Make One Signal Count
    3. 05Choosing Tasks in The Crew: Pick What Your Hand Can Win

  3. Level 2 · Intermediate

    Pilot

    After this level: Spend your rockets on purpose, count what is left in each color, play task tokens in order, and read the signals nobody sends.

    1. 06The Crew Rockets Strategy: Spend Your Trumps on Purpose
    2. 07Card Counting in The Crew: Track Every Color
    3. 08The Crew Task Tokens: Numbers, Arrows, and Last
    4. 09Reading the Table in The Crew: The Signals Nobody Sends

  4. Level 3 · Expert

    Explorer

    After this level: Fly the campaign at any player count, decide when to call for help, take on Mission Deep Sea, and find more crews to fly with.

    1. 10The Crew at 2, 3, 4, and 5 Players: What Changes
    2. 11The Crew Campaign: 50 Missions and the Distress Signal
    3. 12The Crew: Mission Deep Sea and Other Editions
    4. 13Where to Play The Crew and Find More Crewmates

Every lesson is free to read here, any time. Sign up and they also arrive by email, one at a time, so the course keeps you learning between game nights.

Who it is for

  • Hosts who want a short co-op that makes a whole table pull together.
  • Card players who know trick-taking and want a new reason to love it.
  • Crews stuck on a mission who want a plan instead of another reshuffle.
  • Anyone who has lost a mission because a teammate won the wrong card.
Players
3 to 5, with a 2-player variant
Play time
About 20 minutes per session
Ages
Ages 10 and up
Rules as of
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine rulebook and logbook, English edition (Thames & Kosmos, 2019, item 691868)

Questions

Can you talk during The Crew?

You can talk, but never about the cards in your hand. You may not show, say, or hint at what you hold. Your only way to share card information is your one radio communication per mission attempt.

How does communication work in The Crew?

Once per mission attempt, before a trick and never during one, you place one color card face up in front of you. Your radio token goes on top if it is your highest card of that color, in the middle if it is your only one, and at the bottom if it is your lowest. Rocket cards can never be communicated.

Who is the commander in The Crew?

Whoever holds the 4 rocket. The commander takes the first task card, leads the first trick, and handles any special rule the mission sets. A new commander is found on every attempt, after the deal.

Can you play The Crew with two players?

Yes, with the variant in the rulebook. A third crew member called JARVIS is made from a double row of 14 cards, and the commander picks JARVIS's tasks and plays its face-up cards without discussion.

What is the distress signal in The Crew?

An optional help before the first trick. Everyone passes one card to a neighbor, all in the same direction, and rockets can never be passed. It stays on for every attempt of that mission and adds one to the attempts you record in the logbook.

What is the difference between The Crew and The Crew: Mission Deep Sea?

Both use the same trick-taking and communication rules. The Quest for Planet Nine gives you 50 missions built from cards to win in a set order. Mission Deep Sea uses new task cards with difficulty ratings, so tasks can ask for things like winning a set number of tricks.

Teach sheet · PDF · Rules as described in the The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine rulebook and logbook, English edition (Thames & Kosmos, 2019, item 691868); official rules.

Unofficial. Not affiliated with KOSMOS or Thames & Kosmos. The Crew is a trademark of Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co. KG.