The Crew: Family Adventure Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Game Materials
• Game Overview
• Gameplay
• Mission Preparation (Setup)
  • Remaining Preparation
• Your Turn
  • Play a color card
  • Turn over a hammock token
• The Gameboard
• Special Cards
• Communication
• Tiger Sharks and Pirates
• Victory and Defeat
  • Let's Go!
• Mission Tokens
• Symbols in the Logbook
• Help Mechanics
• Playing with Two Players
  • Gameplay
  • Special cards
• Quick Overview

Overview

Age 8+, 3-5 players (2-player variant on page 20; see Playing with Two Players). Players can alternatively have the game explained by the free Helper App.

Game Materials

• 21 Color cards in three colors with the values 1-7
• 3 Row cards
• 1 Grid card
• 6 Special cards
• 22 Tokens: 5 Communication tokens, 6 Hammock tokens, 10 Mission tokens, 1 Grid token
• 1 Island marker
• 1 Gameboard
• 1 Logbook

Note: If you cannot easily distinguish between the colors of the cards, you can refer to these three symbols instead: pink, green, blue.

Game Overview

The Crew: Family Adventure is a cooperative, mission-based game.

Cooperative. You win together, or you lose together. Only if each of you is successful, and you help each other, will you be able to complete the missions and win the game.

Mission-based. Your journey spans 35 different missions, each with a unique win condition, which you play through consecutively as a cohesive story. You can also play the missions out of order if that is your preference. The missions can be found in the logbook.

You will probably not be able to play through this adventure all at once. Therefore, it is best to get together on several different occasions to play through all of the missions. The first few missions rarely take more than five minutes to complete. However, later on, you will need more time for each individual mission, as they get progressively harder.

The game does follow a storyline, but you can also play certain missions over and over again if they are particularly appealing to you. No two attempts will play out in exactly the same way. Feel free to play in whatever way is most fun for you.

Gameplay

To play, you will first select a mission from the logbook and then distribute the cards and other game materials. Then read the mission story text in the logbook. The logbook will also tell you exactly what you need to do to complete the mission.

During the mission, you will take turns playing the color cards. Each color card has a color and a number. When playing, it's important to remember this rule: number after number or color after color! After a green 5, for example, you can only play another green card or another 5. The cards are not placed in a stack, but in up to three rows of four cards each. That continues until you have completed or failed the mission.

The second important rule is: You cannot talk about the cards in your hand! You therefore also don't know what the other players have in their hands to play. However, to give you a hand, you can use three help mechanics: hammock tokens, communication tokens, and (most importantly) special cards. All three are available to use in every mission.

After a successful mission, note in the logbook how many attempts you needed to complete it, and then move on to the next mission. To really follow the story of the Tiger Sharks, it is recommended to complete the missions in the order they're presented.

Mission Preparation (Setup)

Follow these steps now and before each mission:

1. Place the gameboard in the middle of the table and place the grid card and the hammock and communication tokens next to it.
2. Shuffle the 21 color cards and deal them out face down to all the crew members as evenly as possible. Always deal out all cards, even if that means not everyone has an equal number of cards. Whoever has the coconut (the green 3) receives the island marker and will go first.
3. Shuffle the six special cards and give one to each crew member, face down. Put aside the remaining special cards face down. You may not look at them!
4. Each player should place one communication token in front of them with the green side facing up.

If this is your first mission, take the logbook and read the prologue and Mission 1. Then return here to finish reading the steps. Then look at the rest of the preparation instructions below.

5. Place the required row cards below the gameboard.
6. Lay out the mission tokens, when applicable.
7. Shuffle the six hammock tokens and lay out as many as the mission requires, with the hammocks facing up. Put aside the remaining hammock tokens face down.

The mission preparation for the 2-player variant is under Playing with Two Players.

Remaining Preparation

All that's left are the grid card, the mission tokens, and the hammocks.

All missions tell you exactly how many color cards you have to play in total, no more and no fewer. Mark that on the grid card with the grid token as a reminder. In Mission 1 you must play only four cards. You can see that from the symbol in the logbook. The grid token is placed on the fourth spot on the grid card.

In most missions, you will have to play specific color cards, sometimes also in a specific order or in specific positions in the three rows. The three rows from top to bottom are referred to as the white, gray, and black rows. The row cards are laid out accordingly. For Mission 1, place the row card with the white rectangles below the gameboard. You can usually use the mission tokens to mark what you need to do during the mission on the gameboard.

In Mission 1 you have to play the color cards Titania (the blue 7) and Snake (the blue 6). You can see that from the symbols in the logbook. The two card names have a white background because they must be played in the first/white row (because only four cards are played in Mission 1, only this row exists anyway). It doesn't matter in what order they're played or if they're played one right after the other. Therefore, take two white mission tokens, and place them on the gameboard on Titania and Snake.

All missions also tell you how many hammock tokens you have available. You can use the hammock tokens to take a break and end your turn immediately. A logbook symbol shows that you get 4, 5, or 6 hammock tokens depending on whether you're playing with 3, 4, or 5 players.

You always shuffle all six hammock tokens with the hammocks facing up and then take the correct number for the mission. There's a picture of a shell under one of the hammocks, but you can't know which one it's under when the mission starts!

Now you're ready! Whoever has the coconut (the green 3), and therefore the island marker, goes first. Then play continues clockwise until the full number of color cards has been played.

For Mission 1, the complete setup for four players: with three or five players, only the color card distribution and the number of hammock tokens changes.

Your Turn

Crew members take turns either playing a color card or turning over a hammock token. Otherwise, the mission fails immediately.

When it's your turn, you must either play a valid color card, or turn over a hammock token. If you can't do either, you immediately fail the mission.

Play a color card

There's one important rule for the color cards: number after number or color after color! This means, after a green five, only another five or another green card can be played. After you play a color card, place the island marker on the matching card on the gameboard. That way you can easily see that the next card has to come from either the same row or column. Then it's the next crew member's turn.

Example: The first card played was Rosso (the green 1). Then came Island (the blue 1), number after number. The crew member whose turn it is now plays Snake (the blue 6), so they can remove the white mission token from its space on the gameboard. Now only Titania (the blue 7) needs to be played for the mission to be completed.

Whoever goes first may choose a color card to play. It doesn't have to be the coconut card! The coconut card just tells you which player goes first.

Lay out the color cards below the gameboard as you play them in up to three rows of four cards, depending on the mission. The first color card played is placed at the top left, in the first position of the first row. The second card played is placed to the right of the first card, and so on. Begin the second row with the fifth card and the third row with the ninth card. The fifth card is still counted as coming directly after the fourth card and the ninth comes directly after the eighth. The same rule applies: number after number or color after color.

Positions: row 1 = positions 1-4, row 2 = positions 5-8, row 3 = positions 9-12.

Turn over a hammock token

If you can't or don't want to play a color card, you may instead take a break and lie in a hammock. To do so, turn over a hammock token. Then play immediately moves on to the next crew member.

That, of course, is only possible if there are still hammock tokens available. Depending on the mission and the number of crew members, your crew will get a different number of them to start. If all of them are turned over, you must play a card on your turn. There's no more opportunity to take a break, and if you can't play a card the mission has failed.

One of the hammock tokens has a shell on the other side. If you uncover it, you're in luck. You may then turn over one of the face-down special cards that were set aside during the mission preparation. It's available to you for the rest of the mission: place it face up next to the gameboard. On any crew member's turn, they can take it and use it without consulting with the other crew members. After that, the special card is removed from play.

Since you shuffle the hammock tokens before each mission and rarely have all of them available, the shell is not necessarily among them. So you have no guarantee of getting the additional special card!

The Gameboard

The gameboard serves as an overview. The 21 color cards are shown on it in a 7 x 3 grid, ordered by color and number. The island marker is always placed on the gameboard on top of the most recently played color card, so that you can easily see which cards you are allowed to play next, namely the cards in the same column or row on the gameboard.

Some special cards also refer to this grid. They may, for example, allow not only color cards from the same row or column, but also diagonal connections to be played.

If there are mission tokens on the gameboard, you can visualize different paths to reaching them one after the other by looking at the gameboard.

Example: In this example, you have to play several color cards in order to complete the mission. There are many possibilities for the order. One possible solution plays only according to the "number on number or color on color" rule. Another version is completed more quickly, but requires a special card.

Special Cards

There are six special cards in the game, and each crew member receives one at random at the beginning of each mission. Simply add them to your hand. Remaining special cards are put aside, face down.

You can always play a special card on your turn, but never during another crew member's turn. You then carry out the effect of the special card and remove it from the game until the end of the mission. The special cards are never placed in the three rows. Special cards are played in addition to a color card, they don't replace the color card: you must therefore always also play a color card on your turn.

Unlike color cards, you may discuss your special cards with other crew members, and sometimes it's possible to play more than one special card in the same turn.

The hammock token with the shell allows you to receive one of the set-aside special cards (never one that's already been used in the mission!). You then place it face up next to the gameboard. On any crew member's turn, they may take it and use it without consultation. It's then removed from play.

The special cards are:

1. Ask who wants to trade a card with you or choose someone to trade with. Ask your crew members one by one if they will volunteer to trade a card with you, or choose a crew member who must trade with you. You may not say which card you want to have. The others have to consider which card would help you or which card they absolutely want to get rid of. Give the crew member one of your cards in return. You should trade the cards face down and at the same time. Special cards and previously-communicated cards can be traded. You must also play a color card on this turn, but it does not have to be the card you just received in the trade.

2. Receive a color card of your choice that you can play. Name a specific color card that you can play. Whoever has the card must give it to you. You can name a previously-communicated card, but not a special card. You must then play this card. When applicable, you can also take the influence of other special cards into account for this play.

3. Play two color cards. You play two color cards on your turn instead of one. You must be able to place them one after the other in the rows. When applicable, you can also take the influence of other special cards into account for this play.

4. Play any of your color cards. You may play any color card on your turn. You can ignore the "number after number or color after color" rule.

5. Play a color card that is 1 or 2 steps diagonally away from the last color card. and

6. Play a color card that is 1 step straight and 1 step diagonally away from the last color card. These two special cards change the rules for relationships between played cards. They allow you to break the "number after number or color after color" rule. The color card you play may be either diagonal or straight+diagonal from the last-played color card. The illustrations on the special cards show the gameboard grid and examples of the possible connections between cards.

Communication

Rule of thumb: if you only know something because of the cards in your hand, you are not allowed to talk about it.

Don't forget: You may never discuss the color cards in your hand during a mission. You can't show, tell, or hint to your crew members what you have in your hand.

But there is a possibility of communication in the form of communication tokens. Every crew member receives one at the beginning of each mission and may use it once per mission (maximum one communication token use per crew member per mission). It can be used at any time, not just on your own turn.

If you wish to communicate, place one of the cards from your hand face up on the table. It can be either a color card or a special card. The card is still part of your hand. On your turn, you can play the communicated card, but you don't have to.

After you've played your face-up communicated card, flip your communication token over to the red side. That way everyone knows you can't communicate any more cards for the remainder of the mission.

Tiger Sharks and Pirates

Some missions concern Tiger Sharks or Pirates.

The Tiger Sharks are the six teens: Riku, Kiano, Maite, Lila, Stella, and Logan. Their color cards are marked with a tiger shark symbol.

The Pirates are Crash, Rosso, and Snake. Their color cards are marked with a pirate symbol.

Victory and Defeat

Remember that a mission lasts until you have played the number of cards specified in the logbook. If you have not yet played all the color cards but have already violated a mission objective, you can end the mission and try again.

A mission is only successful if you have played the specified number of cards, all mission objectives have been met, and all special rules of the mission have been observed.

A mission is always immediately lost if a crew member cannot play a valid color card or turn over a hammock token. Then simply try the mission again. All color and special cards as well as the hammock tokens are then shuffled and redistributed or laid out.

Let's Go!

You now know everything you need to get started. You have already set up Mission 1 and you will probably complete it successfully very quickly. Depending on the distribution of the cards and the number of crew members, not everyone may get a turn. But don't worry: it will be more difficult soon enough! The following sections go into more detail about the mission tokens and the symbols in the logbook, but you don't need them for the first few missions.

Mission Tokens

You can use the mission tokens in many missions to mark your objectives on the gameboard. This will make the mission much easier to keep track of.

• White, gray, or black tokens: If you have to play specific color cards in a specific row, you can use these tokens. If a color card needs to be played in the first row, use a white token. For the second row, use a gray token, and for the third row, use a black token. For example, if the toolbox (pink 4) needs to be played in the gray row, mark it on the gameboard with a gray token.
• X-token: Use this token to mark color cards that you are not allowed to play. If, for example, the mission disallows you to play the lifeboat (green 5), place this token on its spot on the gameboard.
• Number tokens: If you must play specific color cards in a specific order, place these tokens on the gameboard. If, for example, you need to play Riku (pink 2), Maite (green 2) and Stella (blue 3) in exactly that order, you can place the number tokens on the respective cards. The tokens only tell you what order they need to be played in (1 before 2 before 3). They do not need to be played as the first, second, and third cards of the mission, nor do they have to be played directly one after another.
• Neutral tokens: The reverse side of all of the mission tokens is identical. You can use it to mark, for example, color cards that need to be played at some point during the mission, but in no particular order or position. You can also use it for anything else you want to keep track of.

If you no longer need a token, e.g., because the marked color card has already been played, it's best to remove it from the gameboard.

Symbols in the Logbook

The logbook shows how many color cards you must play. Mark this on the grid card with the grid token. In Mission 25, you have to play nine color cards, three in each row. You can use the reverse side of the grid card and the row card for this.

Symbols showing card names (e.g. Crash, Speedboat, Titania, Lila, Island, Plane Wreck, Island Monster, Lifeboat) always indicate a specific card, which you must either:

• play in the white, gray, black, or any row,
• play in a specific order (1, 2, 3),
• or not play at all.

Mark these with the mission tokens.

Some missions have special requirements for specific rows. They will be written in corresponding white, gray, or black boxes. Symbols in these boxes include:

• Every number must be larger than the previous one.
• Every number must be smaller than or the same as the previous one.
• Titania must be in position 4.

If the numbers must increase or decrease, the beginning of the gray row directly follows the end of the white row. The same goes for the gray and black rows. Don't forget: The color cards in the 4th and 5th positions are neighbors, as are the color cards in the 8th and 9th positions!

Red text indicates additional special requirements to complete the mission.

Help Mechanics

Communication tokens, hammock tokens, and special cards are extremely helpful. Some examples:

• Stella (blue 3) must be played, and you have that card in your hand. It's not your turn, but you can show your crew members that you have her right now by using a communication token.
• Snake (blue 6) must be played and the island marker is already on blue. You can only play Rosso (green 1), but that would move you further away from Snake. Turn over a hammock token. Maybe your next crew member has Snake in their hand.
• Logan (blue 4) must be played. You have that card in your hand and it's your turn. However, the island marker is on the lifeboat (green 5), so there's no direct path to Logan. Luckily, your special card allows you to use diagonal connections on the gameboard, so you can play Logan as your color card.

Playing with Two Players

Even if there are only two of you, you can still join the Tiger Sharks in the South Seas. You will just play as if you had another crew member with you. For clarity in this example, the two players are called Jon and Molly. The imaginary third crew member is called Ghost. Follow these special rules for the mission:

1. First, choose whether Jon or Molly will have the first turn by flipping the hammock token with the shell (hammock is heads, shell is tails).
2. Place the gameboard in the middle of the table with the grid card and mission tokens next to it.
3. Shuffle the 21 color cards and 6 special cards, and deal out 7 color cards and 1 special card for Ghost. Two of Ghost's color cards should be placed face down and the rest of their cards should be face up. Ghost should "sit" at the table so that Jon and Molly are each next to one of the face-down cards.
4. Jon and Molly are each dealt 7 color cards, 1 special card, and 1 communication token. The remaining special cards are placed to the side, face down.
5. Place the necessary row cards below the gameboard.
6. Place the mission tokens as needed.
7. Shuffle the 6 hammock tokens and place as many as are required for a 3-player mission, with the hammocks facing up. Place remaining hammock tokens to the side without looking at the reverse side.
8. At any time, Jon and Molly may look at the face-down card in front of Ghost that is closest to them. Therefore, each of them will know one of Ghost's face-down color cards.

Gameplay

All of the rules of a three-player game apply. You each take a turn until the required number of color cards have been played. Ghost also takes turns. Whoever has the first turn controls Ghost for the whole mission and decides what happens on their turn: Playing a face-up color card, turning over and playing a face-down color card, or turning over a hammock token and skipping a turn. Of course, the special card can also be used. If Ghost gets an additional special card by finding a shell under their hammock token, it can also be used.

Whoever controls Ghost knows what one of the face-down color cards is, and can play it without complication. The other face-down color card can be played as well, but it runs the risk of not being playable. The mission would then be lost. Pay close attention to the course of play, and you may be able to figure out what the face-down color card is.

Special cards

If special cards affect Ghost, the crew member who is controlling Ghost makes decisions for them. For example, let's say Jon is controlling Ghost. If Molly plays the trade card and Jon doesn't want to trade, she must trade with Ghost. Jon would then choose which card Ghost gives up. The card that Ghost gets will be placed face up in place of the traded card. Of course, Molly can also choose from the beginning to trade with Ghost.

If Ghost uses this card, Jon or Molly can choose to trade with them. Jon can also pick someone to trade with Ghost, because he is controlling them.

Quick Overview

On your turn: Play a color card, or turn over a hammock token.

• Always: number after number or color after color. Exceptions are only possible when certain special cards are played.
• Turning over a hammock ends your turn immediately and play moves to your next crew member. If you find the shell, the crew gets an additional special card that can be played once.

Communication: Communication is available once per crew member per mission, and can be used at any time. It can be used for color cards or for special cards. Cards that are communicated still count as part of your hand.

Special cards: Special cards can only be played during your turn, and they do not replace the playing of color cards. It is sometimes possible to play more than one special card per turn if the shell was found.

Don't forget

• Whoever has the coconut (the green 3) goes first.
• The coconut does not have to be played first.
• Positions 4 and 5 are neighbors, and so are positions 8 and 9.
• Always place the island marker on the gameboard on the last color card that was played.