The Crew | Rahdo's & Shea's Final Thoughts

A video outlining gameplay for the boardgame The Crew.

Shea's Channel:

Part I: Gameplay Runthrough

Part II: Final Thoughts

[Olvenskol]

So interesting to see people treat trick-taking as a new thing to learn. At my age, virtually all card games I grew up involved trick-taking!

[vespera]

Shea! His RTFM videos are the best. Some of my favorite game play tutorials for heavy games. Excellent wit mixed in with rules makes it easier to pick up and learn.

[felizitash]

We love Love LOVE this game. Since I got this game in January it hit the table EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. we came together to play board games. Our group consists of players of varied experience levels and everybody likes it. For me, it's the only game that got a 10 on the BGG page, I love it that much. Last weekend we arranged to meet this game online on the BSW side (because of Covid) and played the first 20(!) missions in a row. (Unbelievably it took us a lot of tries to get some of the earlier missions done, because we either kept doing mistakes or the missions were just very bad in combination with our hands.) In our physical game we are now in the low 30s missions - and we can't wait to play on, even though we know it will be tougher and tougher as we continue.
I've heard a lot of player say that it's a hard contender for SdJ. First I thought it would be to hard for first time trick-takers. But after I heard from a few none-experienced trick-takers, I stand corrected and so I'm routing hard for The Crew to win.

[staticklingon]

Finishing the first mission is an amazing tip. I was fully expecting to win on the first trick and move along but that's brilliant advice.

[jacobsteele]

Just ordered. Everyone seems to love this one.

[Nayr]

I got to try this game at PAX South, and it was great fun. I only got to play it at the 3p to 5p counts, but it was interesting to hear opinions on the 2p game.

Also, really awesome to see Shea Parker from RTFM! His videos are just phenomenal in terms of teaching and breaking down very complex games, and I can't recommend them enough. What a duo to see in one video. :)

[anactualcloud]

The problem with 3 players and the communication is that when one player indicates that they have only one of a particular suit, right away the other two players know precisely where all of the cards of that suit are.

So we include Jarvis when playing with 3.

Downside of Jarvis, for me at least, is that there is so much responsibility on the captain (actually this even more of an issue with 2 players). So we’ve been trying out having the control of Jarvis change after each trick (we use a pawn to keep track).

Played with all player counts from 2 to 5. 4 definitely seems the best fit, but enjoy all player counts.

It is definitely hardest with 5.

[richardsaunders]

I am more excited about this game now! It arrives Wednesday for me!

[andrethannhauser]

I almost bought it at SPIEL '19 and somehow didnt but then few weeks later got it on an event in my home town.
I agree with you both that the game is great with two players and I find it strange how it's only so indirectly presented on the box.
The jarvis system is great and the way its cards are layed out reminds me of playing officers' skat or farmers' skat or whatever the official name for the 2players-skat-game is called. ;-)

I have even played it a lot with my mother in law and as she regularily plays classic trick taking games in a club, we were quite a good team.
Her only problem was to get into that coop thinking.
You really need to turn your brain 180° when you choose your tasks or when you try to make somebody else win a trick. ;-)

Hope to see that game again when it's time for the "Spiel des Jahres" because while it's a trick taking game, it's an innovative one.

[craigsomerton]

I have played this a LOT at all player counts and IMO, 4-player is definitely the most fun and challenging. 3-players is a lot easier because you have extra cards in your hand to manipulate the outcome. 5-player is significantly harder because you have far fewer cards. 2-player was surprisingly good - I really didn't expect it to work as well as it did. Co-op and trick-taking rank amongst my two favourite mechanisms, so this game definitely had me excited, but when I played it, I was blown away - it is truly phenomenal and is almost guaranteed to win the SdJ this year.

[Cujo]

Ordered this one today. $15 on amazon.

[bernan]

Would the story work decently if, after you win one story, you roll a d6 or d8 and move up that many stories?

This could make each foray a bit different as far as story pathway.

[AlexNguyen]

LoL I feel you @radho we're all in my family also new to trick taking

[hermitthefrog]

Great work on the insta-heal of your hand

[jonofpdx]

Deeply disagree on 7 Wonders, but for this game the dummy player works pretty well. It's a different game. Maybe a little easier. But also feels very cooperative.

[wolflarson]

Shay has some Ryan Gosling in those eyes.

[moocowp]

Looks pretty nice! I'm just wondering though, this looks like a game you could play with a standard deck of cards though (just taking out the picture cards). Is that fair to say? Or is there something I'm missing?

[Sebastian-rtqf]

Can't wait till this one (English version) hits retail in Europe. Not to much into German.
Lockdown does have me wait to play it with 3 or more players, but when it does it might be the new card game to play over a few beers in the pub ;-)

[coyotemoon]

What were the minor nitpicks? I didn't catch them from the video and it's a bit long to rewatch.

[luckilukey]

As a big fan of trick taking games, I'm really looking forward to playing this with my family.

FYI: If you haven't played it, Claim is an absolutely fantastic 2 player only trick taking game.