Image credit to the author
There are a lot of options when it comes to tabletop games if you’re a fan of The Lord of the Rings; from miniatures games to board games, Living Card Games to standalone card games, there’s an option for just about all fans of the saga. Is there room for another, given how many different tastes, genres, and skill levels are already catered for? Let’s find out, as we check out the rather unwieldily-titled The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game (we’ll shorten that a bit for the rest of the article).
Getting Started With The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game
Given that it’s just a standalone title, all you need to play The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is the game itself; there’s nothing extra to buy, no other components you need to worry about and, in a neat touch for this type of game, you actually don’t even need any other players if you just want to get started on your own.
That’s right, The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game supports solo play, and while it’s not as enjoyable as the two-, three-, or four-player variants, it’s great to have that option. Setting up the game will depend on the number of players involved, and what chapter of the campaign you’re currently attempting, but for your very first game, you’ll start at Chapter 1, read out the first chapter’s flavor text (shown above), then turn over the card and follow its rules for setup (remembering to deal one card from the deck as the “lost card”). You’ll find all of the characters you need for that chapter and deal each player their hand from the cards left in the deck.
Finally, players choose their characters. The player who was dealt The One Ring (that is, the Ring card which is numbered with a 1) must take the Frodo card, and the wooden Ring token (remembering to have it on its black and white, Cannot Lead with Rings side), then each other player, starting with the player to the left of Frodo, chooses their character from the remaining selection. Note that any characters with a star token must be chosen for that chapter; in Chapter 1, that’s Frodo and Bilbo.
Some characters have a setup action too (marked with a hammer icon), and these must be carried out before play begins.
How to Play The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game
A fully cooperative game, The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is exactly what its title describes: a trick-taking game, set in the richly detailed world of JRR Tolkien’s famous fantasy saga – specifically, playing through the story of the book The Fellowship of the Ring. Players must complete their character’s goal, and every player’s goal must be completed in order to win a round and proceed to the next chapter.
For example, in the image above, you an see that Pippin must win the fewest tricks in a round in order to complete his goal. Bilbo must win three or more tricks, and Gandalf needs to win at least one trick to accomplish his goal.
Rounds consist of tricks being played, with the lead player first playing a card from their hand, and other players following the suit if they can. For example, the lead player may play an 8 of Mountains, and each other player must play a Mountain card, unless they don’t have one. If they don’t have one, they may play a card of any other suit (though regardless of the number, it won’t win the suit). The player who played the highest card in the lead suit wins; in this example, as the suits are numbered 1-8, the player who played the 8 of Mountains would win, take the cards in the trick, and place them face down in front of themselves, then lead the next trick.
There’s also the Rings suit; the 1 of Rings (which, as we’ve established, Frodo will have in the first chapter) is a trump card, and the Frodo player can choose whether or not to use it to win a suit, regardless of the value or suit of any other cards played. The Rings are numbered 1-5, so there are fewer of them, and it’s worth noting that the 2-5 of Rings are not able to be used as trump cards; they win or lose tricks in the same way as any other cards.
There’s a further wrinkle with Rings cards; remember the wooden token that Frodo took at setup? That’s on its black and white side to start, and that means that a trick cannot be led with a Rings card until a Rings card has been used in a trick.
As a Ring can only be used if a player doesn’t have a card in the specific suit that’s already been played, it can sometimes be challenging to get the Rings in play, and to complete Frodo’s goal (which is to win at least four of the five Rings cards with three players, or two or more Rings cards in a four-player game).
Finally, note that communication between players is highly restricted during play and even while setting up; this is unusual for a cooperative game and the rules here can often be broken unthinkingly, especially when playing for the first few times.
Is The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game Fun to Play?
Though it starts slowly, feeling somewhat thin and abstract at first, The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game absolutely shines the more you progress through its 18 chapter campaign. Part of the joy of progressing through the campaign is discovering all of these new elements which really shake up, deepen, and strengthen the (admittedly quite basic) trick-taking mechanics of the game, so we won’t reveal any of them here. Suffice to say that we’d strongly advise players to put the rulebook down as soon as the basic gameplay is understood, and not to go any further than the Chapter 1 overview until the time comes to do so.
What we can say, however, is that different characters weave into and out of the narrative, extra mechanics and more complex goals are added, and the game becomes much more satisfying, not to mention feeling more thematic, as a result.
It’s also beautifully presented; the production value on this game, considering its small box and the fact that it’s “just” a trick-taking game, are incredibly impressive. From the rainbow foil covering the box, to the cleverly compartmentalized contents, which hide currently undiscovered elements of the game (and feature famous Lord of the Rings quotes), and the velvet bookmarks which allow you to easily remove cards and save your position in the campaign, it’s clear that an awful lot of care went into the design of the game, from top to bottom.
That’s without even mentioning its overall aesthetic, which gives the game’s illustrations a stained glass look, which avoids the almost overly familiar, painted style of Lord of the Rings art which is so often utilized to bring Tolkien’s stories to life. It’s also refreshing that the campaign clearly takes its structure from very closely following the original book’s narrative, rather than that of the Peter Jackson movie. That’s evident from the events covered in each chapter, as well as the characters featured, several of which won’t be recognizable if the only way you know The Fellowship of the Ring is from the movie adaptation (which made understandable and, for the most part, necessary sacrifices in adapting the source material).
The two-player version of the game does an admirable job of amending the experience for fewer players, with a puzzle-like element of a pyramid of cards which can be revealed to add to tricks as play progresses, and it’s good to have this option, but it’s not as satisfying to play as the standard three- or four-player version of the game. The rules and diagram for setting up this mode can be seen on the two reference cards above.
The solo variant, in which one player takes control of four characters with limited hands and a draw deck, is less successful and much less satisfying than the two-player version, let alone the standard variant of the game. However, it does work; it’s playable, and it’s great to see that the designers did include this as an option for lone players.
With the campaign of The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game taking players through the events of the first book in JRR Tolkien’s series (though once completed, it’s also possible to play a sort of endless mode, which doesn’t require the chapters or linear progression of the campaign), we wouldn’t be surprised to see follow-up games for The Two Towers and Return of the King; a return to Tolkien’s world via the primary mechanic of trick-taking would be very welcome indeed.
The Card Gamer Verdict
The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is initially underwhelming, feeling more like an abstract puzzle to be solved, rather than a highly thematic adventure across Middle-Earth. However, after layers of new mechanics and characters are added over the course of the campaign’s first chapters, it soon becomes much more involving, despite the basic nature of the central trick-taking mechanic.
Though the game doesn’t feel like a must-play during its initial stages, the game captures your attention immediately, thanks to some of the very best presentation we’ve seen for a small box game; it has a wonderful stained-glass style aesthetic, and clever, practical design inside the beautifully shiny, holographic box.
With numerous gameplay options including solo and two player variants, as well as an endless mode, The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game packs a lot of value into its self-contained box, and we’d be more than happy to continue the Fellowship’s adventures in trick-taking adaptations of more of Tolkien’s work.
If you’re interested in more standalone card games, we’ve got plenty of other reviews right here.
