The Crew alla scoperta del pianeta nove
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The FroGames Review
You need to take the trick with the red 9. Your partner must avoid the green one. And you can only say one thing to each other before total radio silence sets in.
WHAT IT IS
A space journey where silence is part of the mission
Thomas Sing takes the classic trick-taking genre and turns it upside down: no competition, one team against 50 space missions. The illustrations by Marco Armbruster bring astronauts and planets to cards that hide asymmetric tasks. It won the Kennerspiel des Jahres 2020, an award that recognizes accessible yet non-trivial games.
At the table, you take tricks as in a traditional card game, but each player has a secret goal to meet: take a specific card, win a trick with a certain suit, avoid the green suit entirely. Communication is virtually non-existent, regulated by limited tokens. A game lasts 20 minutes, but the campaign unfolds over dozens of evenings.
What they say abroad
"The Crew takes the familiar trick-taking genre and transforms it into something genuinely innovative."
The Crew takes the familiar trick-taking genre and transforms it into something genuinely innovative.
— Shut Up & Sit Down
This is a game that grows with you. The first missions are a gentle tutorial, the last ones make you sweat every single card played.
— FroGames
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine
FrogScore · FroGames editorial rating · based on the rulebook, international reviews, and gaming sessionsWhat's in the box
Mission components
40 Space cards
Four colored suits, values 1-9, plus four rocket wildcards. They are used to take tricks like in a traditional game, but here every card can be an objective.
36 Task cards
Asymmetric objectives: "Take the pink 9", "Win at least two green tricks", "Avoid the blue suit entirely". They are dealt at the start of the mission and create the cooperative puzzle.
Communication tokens
Five disks to signal ONE card in your hand: the highest, the lowest, the only one of that suit. Once you do it, radio silence until the next mission.
50-mission booklet
The campaign: each page describes how many tasks to deal, which special rules to apply, and which part of the story continues. Increasing difficulty, never a leap in the dark.
Come si gioca
Video dimostrativo di gameplay.
🎲How to playThe rules in four steps▼
How to play
The flow of each mission
Four phases for every mission. The tension rises in the last one.
The commander (whoever has the 4 rocket or won the last trick) distributes the task cards according to the mission logbook. Everyone secretly reads what they must do.
Each player may play ONE token on one of their own cards to indicate if it is the highest, lowest, or only one of that suit that they hold. After this phase, absolute silence.
The commander starts by playing a card. Everyone follows suit (or plays a rocket). Whoever plays the highest card wins the trick, places it in front of them with any completed tasks, and leads the next trick.
Once all cards have been played, check: did every player complete their tasks? If yes, the mission is complete; move on to the next one. If no, repeat the same mission until you beat it.
⏱️Your first gameThe play-by-play account▼
A game in five moments
What happens at the table
Not the rules. The experience.
The commander chooses
Whoever won the last trick (or has the 4 of rockets in the first mission) becomes commander and distributes the tasks. You read your card: you need to take the green 7. You look at your cards: you have the green 2 and 5. You're already sweating.
Silent communication
Everyone can play ONE token to reveal a card: you place the disk on the green 5, "my highest of this suit." The others understand. Or at least you hope so. Then the token stays there until the end of the mission: no more words.
The first tricks
The commander leads. Someone plays a rocket and takes the trick: good or bad? It depends on their tasks. You follow suit, waiting for green to come out. A teammate plays a very high green 8 and wins. Smile or panic? You can't ask.
The squeeze tightens
Three tricks left. Green isn't coming out. You still have the declared 5; someone must have understood. Then a teammate leads green: you play the 5, another puts down the 9. He wins, but his task was to avoid green. You lost. True, bitter silence.
Immediate retry
You replay the same mission. This time you communicate differently: he shows the green 9 as "the highest," you understand that he needs to get rid of it soon. The strategy shifts, the last trick falls perfectly. All green tasks complete. Cheers, hands raised, next mission.
🐸Good to knowThree honest things, from friends▼
Good to know
Three things to consider
You must know trick-taking
If you've never played Bridge, Spades, or traditional trick-taking games, the first few games will be confusing. The Crew doesn't teach trick-taking; it uses it as a language that is taken for granted. Bring at least one player to the table who knows how to follow suit and determine who wins the trick.
At 2 players you need the dummy deck
The two-player mode uses a third "simulated" player with special rules: it works, but loses some of the magic. The real interaction—the glances and the tokens—truly emerges with 3 players or more. The ideal number is 4.
The difficulty really ramps up
The first 10 missions are a tutorial. From 20 onwards, the game demands serious combinatorial reasoning: who has which cards, in what order to play them, how to force tricks. If the group can't handle the frustration of failing the same mission 3-4 times, you'll get stuck halfway through the campaign.
🏆Victory and defeatWhat the finale rewards▼
How it ends
Team victory or defeat
The Crew is binary: you either complete all tasks, or you fail and try again.
Victory
- Finished all tricks and every player respected their tasks (cards to take in tricks, tricks to win, suits to avoid)
- If tasks had a numerical order (tokens 1, 2, 3), you completed them in the correct sequence
- Move on to the next mission in the logbook and the difficulty increases
Defeat
- Even if just one player fails to complete their task (took a card they should have avoided, didn't win the required trick, etc.)
- The order of the numbered tasks was violated (you completed task 3 before task 1)
- Restart the same mission from the beginning: new card deal, new communication, new strategy
The Crew doesn't sell individual games. It sells a 50-evening campaign that starts easy and ends with puzzles that make you question your logical abilities. And the patience of your friends.
💬Frequently asked questionsQuick answers before the cart▼
Frequently asked questions
FAQ about The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine
What mechanics does The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine use?
Cooperative trick-taking with communication limits (tokens to reveal a card), hand management, and progressive scenarios with increasing difficulty. It is not a deckbuilder: the deck is fixed; only the random distribution and assigned tasks change.
How long does a single mission take?
A mission takes 15-20 minutes in total (task distribution, communication, tricks). If you fail and play again immediately, the retry lasts 10 minutes because you already know what to avoid. A typical evening covers 3-5 missions, even with repeats.
Can it be played well with 2?
Technically yes, with a dummy deck simulating a third player. But it loses interaction and becomes more of a two-brain logic puzzle than a true cooperative game. The experience intended by the author is 3-5 players; the ideal is 4.
Are the 50 missions enough, or do I need to buy more?
The 50 missions of the base game cover dozens of hours if played in order (many will require multiple retries). There are expansions (The Crew: Mission Deep Sea is standalone, you don't need the base) and free mini-expansions, but the base game is enough for months of play.
Is it available in Italian?
Yes, this is the Giochi Uniti Italian edition with fully translated cards, rulebook, and mission logbook. The cards use universal symbols (numbers and colors), so the language only affects the logbook.
The people behind the game
Who invented it, who illustrated it, who publishes it — and what else they've done.
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a cooperative trick-taking game for 2-5 players, duration 20 minutes, age 10+. Designed by Thomas Sing and published by Giochi Uniti in Italy, it won the Kennerspiel des Jahres 2020. The game uses communication limit mechanics (tokens to reveal cards) and asymmetric tasks distributed over 50 progressive missions. Each game lasts a handful of minutes, but the campaign develops over dozens of evenings with increasing difficulty. Suitable for family game nights and gateway play, it requires basic knowledge of trick-taking. Available on FroGames.it with immediate shipping.
The Crew alla scoperta del pianeta nove
Frequently Asked Questions
The answers you're looking for, no beating around the bush.
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