The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game

^{review by K}

For fans of: The Lord of the Rings Adventure Book Game, Sail, The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, The Fox in the Forest Duet, or The Lord of the Rings in general.

The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is a story-based cooperative game, following the adventures of Frodo Baggins in the first book of The Lord of the Rings series by the same name, and even introduces characters that might not have seen screentime for the theatrical versions of the book series.

In The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game, there are 5 suits - hill, mountain, forest, shadow, and ring. There are 8 cards of each suit, with the exception of the rings, which only have 5. Whoever is dealt the 1 of rings (the One Ring - get it?) leads the game. There are a variety of characters for players to choose from, including Gandalf, Merry, Pippin, Sam, and more! Each character has their own unique ability and requirement to win the round. For example, Pippin’s ability is to “Exchange with Frodo, Sam, or Merry,” meaning Pippin trades a card with one of those characters in the game. Pippin’s winning condition is to “Win the fewest tricks (or tie for the fewest tricks),” meaning that if Pippin wins more than any other player, the round is considered a loss and must be reset to try again.

There are 18 different chapters for players to play throughout the game, and while they can technically be played in any order, it is recommended that the chapters are played in sequential order. The first chapter of the game is meant to be very easy as an introduction to how the game works, but new challenges are tacked on in each chapter of the game.

The great thing about the chapters is that you don’t need to feel pressured to complete the entirety of the game in one sitting, you can put it away and pick up where you left off during the previous game session, or even play a couple chapters in between other games during game night. I really love the art-style of the box and cards, and the box size is quite small for such an interesting and full game. I expect to be pulling this one out often for game night!

The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is available now from our webstore.