The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine Review: Silent Trick Taking With Real Tension

The game was gifted by Kosmos Games; this did not affect the review.

The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine gets a lot of tension from what players can’t say. Thomas Sing’s cooperative trick taker asks a team to win particular cards in particular ways, while keeping table talk to a minimum. The result is a compact puzzle that can leave everyone pleased with a success and still wondering how the team pulled it off.

Released in 2019, the game earned a raft of awards, including the Kennerspiel des Jahres, Golden Geek Best Cooperative Game and Meeples Choice. After playing at two and three players, I can see why it caught on. The basic rules are approachable, but each round gives the group a new coordination problem to solve. A little bad luck can sour a task, yet the changing objectives keep the game lively.

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A familiar card play with a new job

The game supports two to five players, is recommended for ages 10 and up, and takes about 15 minutes to play. Players each choose a card from their hand for a trick, then compare the cards to see who takes it. The cards come in coloured suits, and rockets act as trump: they can beat cards from the other suits.

That familiar structure becomes a team exercise. Instead of simply trying to win tricks, players have to make sure particular people collect particular cards. A small task deck assigns the cards that matter, and the logbook sets the conditions for each level. Some tasks ask the team to win target cards in a set order; others add a restriction, such as requiring one player to avoid winning any tricks.

Players can’t freely discuss their hands or plan aloud. Each player gets one chance per round to communicate using a token, placing it to indicate something about a card. That limit makes every clue matter. A task that looks straightforward at first can become a tight puzzle once the team has to infer what others can play and what they’re trying to achieve.

The logbook carries the story of the crew’s journey towards Planet Nine, with a short passage for each level. It also tracks how many attempts the team needed and provides room to record results for five teams. The sequence builds through 50 levels, introducing fresh demands as the group progresses.

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Silence creates its own kind of table talk

The appeal is in trying to read the situation without being able to talk it through. My wife would sometimes say, “Well we won that one but I have no idea how,” which gets at the game’s strange, satisfying rhythm. The team shares a goal, but each player has only an incomplete view of the plan.

That silence doesn’t make the table feel distant. It makes each card play feel more pointed. Players watch what has already been played, consider what their teammates might hold, and decide whether to use a valuable card now or keep it for a later trick. Compared with The Mind, The Crew has more tactical detail to work through, while keeping the same appeal of trying to coordinate with limited information.

There’s a catch: the deal can make a task feel harder than its level suggests. If the wrong cards are taken early, the team may have little room to recover. That randomness can make an early level more aggravating than a later one, especially when a plan is blocked before the players have had much chance to shape it.

The two-player option uses a third hand called JARVIS. The captain controls this robotic player, whose hand is dealt without rockets; half of its cards are visible at the start. It works well as a way to keep the team structure intact with two people. In my plays, the game felt easier at two than at three, though both counts were enjoyable. I haven’t played it across every player count, so that experience is limited to those two setups.

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Small box, thoughtful details

The components are compact and well made. The captain’s standee has a space helmet, complete with a reflection of cards in its visor. The coloured cards also line up into scenes when arranged by suit, a decorative touch that doesn’t affect play but gives the set a bit of personality.

The rulebook can make the game seem more complicated than it is. Once the basic trick taking rules are clear, it’s often easier to begin and check the book when a symbol needs explaining. A break between sessions may mean refreshing your memory, though the logbook helps the team return to its place in the journey. Setup and pack away each take about one minute, which suits a game that’s easy to bring to a holiday table.

A journey worth returning to

The Crew packs a lot of replay into a small box, and its scenario sequence gives groups a reason to keep going. The short story passages help frame each task, while the changing card goals keep the central puzzle from feeling repetitive. Extra rounds are available online, according to the review’s source, offering more tasks for teams that finish the logbook.

My read is that this is a particularly good game for a partner or a small group who enjoy working through a shared problem without needing constant conversation. It’s easy to imagine taking it on a trip, but the game doesn’t need a scenic setting to work: the tension comes from the hands, the task and the clues players manage to share.

The review’s listed overall score is 3.9. Its strengths are replayability, a distinctive cooperative experience, portability and plenty to do in the box. The main drawbacks are a rulebook that can look more forbidding than the game itself and the occasional task where luck gets in the way. With a 15-minute playing time, it’s an inviting game to bring back to the table when the group wants another quiet puzzle.

At a glance

Players: 2 to 5
Recommended age: 10+
Playing time: 15 minutes
Setup and pack away: 1 minute
Designer: Thomas Sing
Publisher: Kosmos
RRP: £12.99

If The Crew is already on your shelf, or you’re looking for another compact group game, the source also suggests The Mind, The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, No Thanks! and My City.

Where to find it

The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine from Out Of Town Games
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine from Amazon

The reviewer says they received a gifted copy from Kosmos Games and that it did not affect the review. The site may earn commission from purchases through affiliate links. Its disclosure details are available at the disclosure policy; it also identifies Amazon Associates and Board Game Prices as affiliate relationships.