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The Ludarium · Teach sheet

Teach The Crew in ten minutes

3 to 5, with a 2-player variant players · About 20 minutes per session · Ages 10 and up

The goal: Complete the mission together: each player wins the tricks holding the cards on their own task cards.

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.

On your turn

  1. Commander takes a task card first, then players take one each, clockwise, until none are left.
  2. Commander leads the first trick; whoever wins a trick leads the next.
  3. Follow the suit led if you can. If you cannot, play any card.
  4. Highest card of the suit led wins, unless a rocket was played.
  5. Rockets are trumps: the highest rocket in a trick wins it.
  6. Never talk about your cards. You do not have to win a trick.
  7. Once per mission, before a trick: show one color card with your radio token.
  8. Token at top: your highest of that color. Middle: your only one. Bottom: your lowest.

Three tips for your first game

  1. No signal is a signal: if nobody speaks up, chase your tasks directly.
  2. Low task cards are easiest to win when you do not hold them.
  3. Holding only an 8 and 9 of a color? Signal the 8 as lowest.

Setup

  1. Shuffle all 40 large cards and deal them all out face down.
  2. With three players, one player gets an extra card; it stays unplayed at the end.
  3. Each player takes a radio token, green side up, and has a reminder card nearby.
  4. Place the distress signal token face down.
  5. Shuffle the 36 small task cards into a face-down pile. Keep task tokens handy.
  6. Read the mission in the logbook; turn up that many task cards.
  7. Whoever holds the 4 rocket is commander and takes the commander token.

Scoring

  • Win a trick holding your task's card: flip that task card over. It is done.
  • Anyone wins a card on someone else's task: the mission fails. Reshuffle and try again.
  • All tasks done: mission complete. Record your attempts in the logbook.
  • Used the distress signal? Add one to the attempts you record.

Game end: A mission ends the moment every task is fulfilled, or the moment it fails. Failed missions start over with a new deal and new tasks. The campaign ends when your crew completes mission 50.

Free course: theludarium.com/academy/the-crew/

Unofficial. Not affiliated with KOSMOS or Thames & Kosmos. The Crew is a trademark of Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co. KG. Rules as of the The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine rulebook and logbook, English edition (Thames & Kosmos, 2019, item 691868).

Want the rest of the 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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