“Dive into the deep sea in this co-operative trick-taking game with variable missions.”
Link: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/324856/the-crew-mission-deep-sea
Playing Time: 20
Weight: Light-to-Mid
Genre: Cooperative Trick Taking
Designer: Thomas Sing
Players: 2-5
Get this if you like trying to communicate telepathically
The first Crew (The Quest for Planet Nine) kickstarted a huge renaissance of trick-taking games a couple of years ago, and after all the wreckage settled, its sequel ended up being the best of the bunch. The Crew‘s schtick is that it’s cooperative – everyone has to work together to try to meet some arbitrary goals drawn at the start of the hand – but this is complicated by the fact that the majority of table talk is forbidden. The results are quiet, tense attempts to read each other’s minds, with occasional games of obvious and unavoidable failures mixed in with some absolutely mindblowing games where the table somehow manages to pull a rabbit out of a hat and survive. Some of my most triumphant game experiences have come from The Crew – amazing for a small box card game.
You can’t go wrong with either Crew title. The difference between the two is the goals. The Quest for Planet Nine has a very simple set of goals for players to achieve, whereas the goals offered in Mission Deep Sea are much more interesting and varied – albeit occasionally sometimes directly contradictory. Either way, even though it’s a short game, expect to want to play several back-to-back, as the learning curve in this one is a lot of fun and you won’t want to stop.
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