The Crew Rockets Strategy: Spend Your Trumps on Purpose

There are only four rockets, numbered 1 to 4, among 40 cards. Each one beats every color card in the deck. That makes them the most flexible tool you have, and the easiest to misuse. A rocket played at the wrong moment can win a trick that holds a teammate’s task card, and the mission is over.

This lesson is about the numbers behind rockets and how to plan with them.

The odds you hold a rocket

These figures come from the real deck: 4 rockets in 40 cards, dealt out completely. They are the odds for one hand before anyone looks at their cards. (Whoever turns out to hold the 4 rocket is the commander, so the commander always has at least one.)

Each figure is one minus the chance that all your cards come from the 36 color cards. At four players, that is the number of 10-card hands with no rocket divided by all 10-card hands, about 0.30.

The takeaway: at four players, most hands have a rocket, but almost a third do not. You cannot count on any one teammate to trump for you.

What a rocket can do

• Win a task card in a color you are out of. This is the main job. If the yellow 5 is your task and you have no yellow, you can trump the yellow trick where it falls.
• Take the lead. Winning a trick lets you lead the next. A rocket can grab the lead at a key moment, so you can lead the color your crew needs.
• Act as a high card in a rocket trick. If someone leads a rocket, everyone with one must follow, and the highest rocket wins.

When a rocket can hurt you

You must follow the color led. You may only trump when you are out of it. So a rocket can only enter a color trick when your hand forces it, or when you have planned to be out of that color.

The danger comes when you run out of a color without meaning to. Suddenly you are allowed to trump, but sometimes you are forced to, because your only other cards are rockets. If your hand is all rockets near the end, you will win tricks you do not want, and one might hold a teammate’s task card.

Plan your void

A void is a color you hold none of. Voids are how rockets become task wins.

1. Look at your short colors at the start. If you hold one or two cards in a color, you can empty it in a trick or two.
2. Match the void to the task. If your task is in that short color, play your cards there early, while others still have the color. Once you are out, wait for the trick where your task card appears, and trump it.
3. Signal the void when it helps. A signal of “only” in a color says you are about to be out of it. Your teammates can then plan to lead that color when your task card is ready to fall.

Lead rockets to clear them

Sometimes rockets get in the way. If your crew has finished the tasks that needed trumping, a stray rocket can win the wrong card later. Leading a rocket forces everyone who holds one to play one. That pulls rockets out of the game safely, in a trick with no color cards, so it cannot hold a task card.

The commander holds the 4 rocket. Leading it wins the trick for sure, takes every other rocket a player is forced to play, and hands the commander the next lead. That can be a strong opening when the commander’s task needs a particular color led.

Which rocket wins

Rocket order matters only when rockets meet. The 4 beats everything. The 1 beats every color card but loses to any other rocket. If you hold the 1 and a teammate holds a higher rocket, either of you can trump a color trick, but only the higher rocket wins if both go in. Remember who holds the 4: the commander, always.

Rockets and tasks: a quick checklist

Before the first trick, if you hold rockets, ask:

• Which task could my rocket win, and which color must I empty to use it?
• Could my rocket be forced into a trick holding a teammate’s task card?
• Should I lead it early to get it out of the way?

Our guide to cooperative games and teamwork explains why this kind of shared planning makes The Crew such a strong team game.