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Thames & Kosmos
Published
Read Time
7 min read
Amazon player rating
4.8
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The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine Review — Cooperative Trick-Taking
Amazon player rating
4.8(5,547)
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine turns classic trick-taking into a cooperative, 50-mission space campaign — and it won the Kennerspiel des Jahres doing it. This review synthesizes the Amazon listing, BoardGameGeek community data, and published coverage; it is not based on hands-on play. Here's who will love it and who should look elsewhere.
Players
2–5
Best at 4 (580 votes)
Playtime
20 min
Complexity
2/5
1,009 votes
BGG rating
7.8/10
49,112 raters
BGG rank
#96
#13 Family Game
Age
10+
community poll (60)
Source-grounded review: synthesized from the listing, community data, and published coverage — we don't claim hands-on play, and every rating shown is attributed. How we review →
Tap to enlargeIn This Review
- What Works & What Doesn't
- What The Crew Is
- How It Plays
- Complexity and Teachability
- Player Count
- Replayability
- Reception
- Honest Limitations
- Verdict
What Works & What Doesn't
What Works
- Genuinely fresh cooperative twist on classic trick-taking (listing; BGG mechanisms)
- 50-mission campaign with difficulty that ramps as you progress (listing)
- Fast and table-friendly: 5-10 minute missions (listing), ~1 minute setup (boardgamereview.co.uk)
- No necessary in-game text, so it plays across languages (BGG language-dependence poll)
- Strong reception: Kennerspiel des Jahres winner (listing), 7.8/10 from 49k+ BGG voters, 4.8/5 Amazon readers' aggregate
What Doesn't
- Mission difficulty can swing — one reviewer found some missions feel impossible while others fall on the first try (per impactus.org)
- Tension can run low for some tastes — one reviewer called it a good filler but not a great one, citing lack of tension (per coopboardgames.com)
- Narrow player-count sweet spot — BGG's community poll votes 4 players as best, so other counts may deliver a lesser experience
What The Crew Is
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a cooperative trick-taking card game from designer Thomas Sing, published by Thames & Kosmos (Kosmos). It won the Kennerspiel des Jahres, and the listing pitches it as "a new twist on classic trick-taking card games" where the table wins or loses together.
The Crew's cooperative card play and communication challenges in action
The premise is a search for a mysterious planet at the edge of the solar system — the Thames & Kosmos store page describes a scientific community abuzz over signs of the planet but unable to prove it exists. HobbyTown's listing frames the 50 missions as the crew working to "unravel the mysteries of Planet Nine."
“takes deep concentration, determination, individual initiative while focusing on dynamic team play, and patience with your fellow crew.”
This review is a synthesis of the Amazon listing, BoardGameGeek community data, the publisher's store page, and published reviews. No official rulebook was retrieved and no hands-on play informs it; where rules-level detail matters, we say so.
How It Plays
The skeleton is familiar trick-taking: the listing confirms the game "uses common card game mechanics like tricks and following suit." The twist is that the crew plays cooperatively toward mission-specific goals rather than for individual trick counts.
The Crew's cards, tokens, and game components displayed
The signature mechanic is restricted communication. BGG lists Communication Limits and Hand Management among the game's mechanisms, and one reviewer's favorite element is what they call the "radio communication mechanic" — a constrained way for players to signal information about their hands mid-mission (per coopboardgames.com).
The campaign structure is the other pillar. The listing describes 50 missions spanning the solar system, each taking about 5-10 minutes, with difficulty increasing as the game progresses. What's Eric Playing?
Logged 43 plays and reports roughly 10 minutes per mission.
Because no rulebook was available, we can't detail the exact setup steps, task-assignment procedure, or per-mission success conditions beyond what coverage and the listing state. Published reviews consistently describe mission objectives dealt at the start of each hand, but buyers wanting the full procedure should consult the included rulebook.
Complexity and Teachability
BGG's community puts the complexity weight at 2.0/5 from over 1,000 votes — light-to-medium territory, consistent with a game built on trick-taking basics most card players already know. The listing explicitly positions the rising difficulty curve as making it "a good choice for players of all skill levels."
First sessions should be short: BGG lists a 20-minute playtime, and boardgamereview.co.uk measures setup and teardown at about one minute. The same review lists the playing time at 15 minutes, so an opening mission or two fits comfortably inside half an hour.
Language is not a barrier. BGG's language-dependence poll reports "no necessary in-game text," which also explains the ten editions and printings BGG catalogs across languages.
Player Count
The Amazon title lists 3-5 players; boardgamereview.co.uk lists 2-5. We present both numbers with attribution rather than adjudicating between them.
BGG's player-count poll, with 580 votes, marks 4 players as the sweet spot. Groups that always play at other counts should weigh that community signal.
Coopboardgames.com's coverage suggests the game is "well suited to couples and small groups who want something with depth but no long setup," so lower counts are clearly viable in practice even if the poll favors four.
Replayability
The listing's replay case rests on the 50-mission campaign with escalating difficulty, plus "endless replay" framing in the title. The logbook-style campaign structure encourages returning across multiple evenings, per coopboardgames.com.
The ecosystem extends beyond the base box. BGG lists official reimplementations including The Crew: Mission Deep Sea and The Crew: Journey to the Ends of the Earth, plus expansions such as The Crew: Flight to the ISS and The Crew: The Deimos Adventure; Thames & Kosmos even sells a two-pack bundle pairing the original with Mission Deep Sea.
Reception
The BGG community rates The Crew 7.8/10 across more than 49,000 voters, ranking it #96 overall and #13 among Family Games. Amazon readers' aggregate sits at 4.8/5 from over 5,500 ratings.
Reviewers highlight the demand it places on the table. Per impactus.org, it "takes deep concentration, determination, individual initiative while focusing on dynamic team play, and patience with your fellow crew."
Honest Limitations
Difficulty can swing between missions. The impactus.org reviewer found that "some missions seem impossible and you can complete on the first try, and others" resist repeated attempts — a variance worth knowing about before a campaign night.
Tension may run lower than some groups want. A second reviewer at coopboardgames.com called it "a good filler game, but not a great one," praising the radio communication mechanic while citing "the lack of tension" as what keeps it from being a hit; that is one outlet's take, not a consensus, and the 7.8 BGG community rating suggests most voters disagree.
The player-count sweet spot is narrow. BGG's poll favoring 4 players implies the 3- and 5-player experiences may be a step behind, though no source documents exactly why.
Verdict
The Crew is an easy recommendation for groups who already enjoy trick-taking and want a cooperative, campaign-flavored twist in a fast, portable package — couples, families with kids 10+, and card-game groups filling 20 minutes. Players who need high-tension, knife-edge decisions every hand, or who rarely seat four, should read the limitations above first.
The Crew's complete game component set and card deck
Questions & answers, grounded in our sources
How many players does The Crew support, and what's the best count?
The Amazon listing title says 3-5 players, while boardgamereview.co.uk lists 2-5 — we present both rather than picking one. BGG's community player-count poll, with 580 votes, rates the game as best at 4 players.
How long does a game of The Crew take?
The listing states each of the 50 missions takes 5-10 minutes, and BGG lists a 20-minute overall playtime. Boardgamereview.co.uk measured setup and teardown at about one minute, so a session of one or two missions fits easily in half an hour.
Is The Crew good for kids and families?
The box recommends ages 10+, and BGG's community age poll (60 votes) agrees at 10+. BGG's language-dependence poll also reports no necessary in-game text, and the listing says difficulty increases gradually, making it accessible to different skill levels.
Is The Crew replayable?
Yes — the listing describes 50 different missions across the solar system with increasing difficulty, and coopboardgames.com notes the logbook-style campaign format encourages returning across multiple evenings. BGG additionally lists official spin-offs and expansions for groups that exhaust the base campaign.
Should I buy The Crew or The Crew: Mission Deep Sea?
BGG lists The Crew: Mission Deep Sea as an official reimplementation, and Thames & Kosmos sells a two-pack bundle pairing both games, positioning them as companion purchases. Our retrieved sources don't include a head-to-head comparison of gameplay differences, so we can't recommend one over the other from documented evidence.
Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- 1
BoardGameGeek
- 2
store.thamesandkosmos.com
- 3
boardgamereview.co.uk
- 4
- 5
coopboardgames.com
- 6
coopboardgames.com
- 7
- 8
whatsericplaying.com