The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking game has you cooperatively play through the epic story.

Assuming one of you doesn’t mess up.

A co-operative card game that plays out over eighteen chapters that lead players through the events of the novel The Fellowship of the Ring.

The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game Overview

Quick Rules Summary

I’ll just spoil the first scenario, nothing else.

A mission card is placed face up, showing which characters are available. In this case it’s Frodo, Gandalf, Bilbo and Pippen.

A deck of cards is shuffled and dealt to each player. The player that has the One Ring takes Frodo. Players draft the rest of the characters.

Some characters have a setup icon with a pre-game action, such as exchanging cards with another character.

Players play tricks using standard trick taking rules.

How do you win?

For the first scenario, the players each need to complete their characters goals.

Frodo – Win 2+ ring cards in tricks.

Bilbo – Win 3+ tricks.

Gandalf – Win 1+ trick.

Pippen – Win the fewest tricks.

Progress to the next scenario and continue until you complete the final scenario of the game.

Main Mechanisms

Trick-taking obviously!

USP

Co-op trick-taking games with missions and/or games set in the LOTR universe are not unique.

Theme

The theme works. You start in the Shire and progress from there. The characters used in each scenario match the story.

It works really well.

Setup

Get out the scenario card and characters, shuffle the deck. That’s about it. You just have to do it for each mission.

Components & Artwork

Everything is fine, with linen finished cards.

I don’t like the style of the art but it fts the LOTR theme.

Ease of Teaching

The game is very easy to teach. if players know how to play trick-taking games the game barely requires any teach at all.

Similar Games

Obviously, The Crew is a big one. It’s pretty much the same game. One version set in space, one underwater and one for families.

The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game Review

Positives

A fun co-op experience.

Having the game change round to round makes for a fun challenge and keeps the game fresh.

It’s a familiar theme.

Negatives

With these games, you need to play with the same group consistently or you find yourself playing the first 5-6 missions over and over.

As with any game where it’s on me to not let everyone down, It’s stressful!

Summary

A fun game I would like to play until the end, but not sure I’ll ever find the time.

Jesta ThaRogue