The Fellowship Of The Ring Trick-Taking Game Review - Tricksy

When I first heard about the impending release of The Fellowship Of The Ring Trick-Taking Game I can't lie -- I was excited. As a huge fan of the world of Tolkien and a huge fan of trick-taking games, I was ready for a fun beer-and-pretzels style card game. What I got instead from this game, designed by Bryan Bornmueller and published by Office Dog Games (one of Asmodee's in-house creative studios), was even more than I could have hoped for!

What Is The Fellowship Of The Ring Trick-Taking Game?

In The Fellowship Of The Ring Trick-Taking Game, players dive into the world of Lord of the Rings as they take on the role of characters from Fellowship, following along with the story through a series of thematic chapters.

Fellowship Trick-Taking Game Stats:

• 1 - 4 Players
• Est. Game Time: 20 min per chapter
• Game Genre: Cooperative Trick-Taking
• Complexity: Low (but ramping up as chapters progress)

How Do I Play The Fellowship Of The Ring Trick-Taking Game?

To play the game, your table will begin by taking the relevant chapter card, and any associated character cards, and setting them out. Most chapters will include additional cards and have special, specific requirements needed for either setup, or to win the chapter. From there, the core gameplay revolves around this being a cooperative trick-taking game.

If you're unfamiliar with trick-taking games, or just not used to hearing the terms, think classic playing card parlor games like Hearts or Bridge. Each player will have a hand of cards dealt randomly to them, and each card will have a suit (Hill, Mountain, Forest, Shadow, and Ring) and a value (from 1 - 8 for everything except Ring cards, which are 1 - 5).

Each chapter, the player controlling Frodo as the ring-bearer will lead the trick by playing a card from their hand. From there, each player in clockwise order has to play a card in that same suit if they can. If they don't have the matching suit, then they can play any other card. There's more to it than that, but I'll play the role of Gandalf here and spare you the crucial details. Essentially, your goal as a group, because this is co-op, is to complete the goals of each character, and any special requirements from the game itself.

This isn't as easy as it sounds, as each character wants different things! Frodo, for instance, wins by having in his score pile a set amount of Ring cards based on player count. Sam wants to have in his pile of cards he's won a very specific numbered Hill card (because he's always thinking of home). Pippin, always the trouble-maker, wants to win the fewest tricks out of anyone in the chapter. And so on and so on...

As you complete a chapter, you'll move onto the next chapter, which may have you saying goodbye to certain cards (Fatty Bolger's only around for a moment, as is Tom Bombadil) and could introduce new characters. And that's at the center of what's so special about this game.

Reaching Storytelling Heights

As I mentioned above, the way that gameplay mechanics mirror and mimic the core of the story is so inventive, it's clear that designer Bornmueller isn't just a huge fan of LOTR, but a close-reader of the text as well! Each chapter, you deal out cards randomly to each player, and the player who is given the 1 of Rings has to play as Frodo, mirroring Frodo's inability to escape his destiny as the ring-bearer.

Another great example of this storytelling shining through the gameplay comes in the chapter where the characters meet Tom Bombadil. Not only are all of the Forest suit of cards removed to become a sort of enemy deck (as Old Man Willow attempts to snatch up the hobbits), but Bombadil himself plays with a bunch of extra cards, showing his rule/world-breaking power.

There are dozens upon dozens of other examples like this as you progress through the 18 chapters of the game, but all of this is to say that it's the perfect use of gameplay mechanics as storytelling. If you're super-familiar with the story of Fellowship, you'll get a real kick out seeing the characters and plot points you love brought to life via game rules. 

Growing Difficulty, Growing Dread

The first few chapters of Fellowship Trick-Taking take it easy on the players. For me and my playgroup, we were even worried that the game might focus so much of great storytelling that the challenge would be too light. But if the difficulty of our heroes' journey increases as Fellowship progresses, so too does the difficulty in this game! And by the time we met up with Old Man Willow, and the barrow wights we were often failing our chapters.

But the beauty of this game is that failing a chapter isn't that big of a deal at all, you simply re-set up the chapter, re-shuffle and deal out the cards, and try again! And when I'm finally able to best a particularly tricky chapter, well that feels better than a float down the Anduin.

Incredible Components

Finally, I think it's particularly worth mentioning the quality of the components in the game. The tokens (used to designate when its okay to lead with Ring Cards, and show which characters have completed their objectives) are gorgeously decorated wood, the box itself holds the game in three distinct parts, and comes with three ribbons that are a super-effective way of "saving your progress," and the artwork is stunning! Designed to look sort of like Stained Glass, each card's artwork is rendered in bright, beautiful colors.

The Fellowship Of The Ring Trick-Taking Game - Final Thoughts

This is, by far, one of the best experiences I've had playing a trick-taking game. And to really make a big, bold statement, I think this might be one of the best experiences I've had playing a Lord of the Rings game! And I'm a huge fan of the Fantasy Flight card game, the Lord of the Rings RPG, and the Games Workshop-produced Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game.

If you're a die-hard fan of Lord of the Rings, you should already be playing this game! If you're a die-hard fan of trick-taking games, this may be as close to perfect as we've yet seen. Either way, other than a quick uptick in difficulty that may catch some players off-guard, this is just about as close to perfect as they come.

Fly, you fools, and grab a copy of this! It's only MSRP'ed at $25 from the Asmodee website, and you'll get many, many hours of enjoyment and a fun challenge out of this one.

The copy of The Fellowship Of The Ring Trick-Taking Game used in the creation of this review was provided by Asmodee USA.