Top 23 · #5 of 19 in Co-op
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
A card game that grafts cooperation onto classic trick-taking, where you clear the tasks you have been given one by one without talking. You work out what your teammates hold from your own cards alone, and you also have to solve tasks that must be done in a set order.
Rules
The trick rules are the same as in “The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine,” but tasks changed from “win this card” to a condition, such as “I will not win a single trick.” Every task card carries a difficulty number, and you draw tasks to match the total the mission asks for.
What is the same as the original
The trick rules (follow suit, trumps, no obligation to win), the communication rules (reveal one color card and set the token to show highest / only / lowest), the distress signal, and the rule that whoever holds the 4 of trumps opens the first trick are the same as in “The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine.” This guide covers only what changed.
| Original | Name in Deep Sea |
|---|---|
| Rocket cards | Submarine cards |
| Radio communication tokens | Sonar tokens |
| Commander | Captain |
The card set is the same too: 36 color cards (4 colors × 1–9) + 4 submarine cards (1–4) = 40 cards.
Change ① Tasks are conditions
There are 96 task cards. Instead of “win this card,” they state a condition such as “I will not win any tricks” or “I will win the first two tricks.”
When a task counts as complete has changed
In the original it was “the moment you won that card.” In Deep Sea a task is complete the moment its conditions are met and can no longer fail, and you turn the card face down then. “I win no tricks” is not settled until the mission ends.
Change ② You draw tasks to a difficulty total
- 1The back of each task card shows three degrees of difficulty, for 3, 4, and 5 players. Read only the number for your player count.
- 2Check the overall degree of difficulty the mission asks for.
- 3Draw task cards one at a time, adding up their difficulty.
- 4Keep drawing until the sum matches exactly. Discard any card that would overshoot and keep drawing until a fitting one comes up.
Rulebook example
The mission has an overall difficulty of 5, and you have already drawn difficulty 2 and 1 (a total of 3). If the next card is difficulty 3, the total would be 6, which overshoots, so you do not use it and look for a difficulty 2 card. If you draw a difficulty 1, the total is 4, so you draw one more difficulty 1.
The rulebook suggests not shuffling used task cards back into the deck.
Change ③ Task distribution now allows passing
You may pass only when there are fewer task cards than crew members
With 4 players and only 3 task cards, you may skip taking a task on your turn. The captain may pass too. But once everyone has had one turn, all the tasks must be assigned. If there are as many task cards as crew members, or more, passing is not allowed.
If there are more task cards than crew members, you go around again starting from the captain. In other words the captain ends up taking what is left, which offsets the advantage of choosing first.
Change ④ After a failure you may choose your tasks
- The moment even one task becomes impossible, you lose at once. You shuffle and deal the cards again.
- At that point you may choose whether to try the same tasks again or discard the task cards and draw new ones. In the original you always got new ones.
- Depending on the combination, a layout can be impossible from the start. The rulebook covers this under “Feasibility.” When that happens you mix only the most recently revealed task card back into the deck and replace it with a different task of the same difficulty. If enough tasks are displayed that both could go to a single crew member, the layout is doable and you may not replace anything.
Rules people get wrong
Q. Do I need The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine to play Deep Sea?
No. It is a standalone game. All the cards and tokens are included.
Q. What if I only buy one of them?
Deep Sea is more varied because its tasks are conditions, and it has 96 task cards. But reading and judging those conditions is extra work, so the original is easier as a first cooperative trick-taking game.
Q. When is “I will not win any tricks” complete?
Not until the mission ends, because a task is complete only once its condition can no longer fail.
Q. What if the difficulty total does not match exactly?
Keep drawing until a fitting card comes up. Cards that overshoot are not used.
Q. Can I pass at any time?
Only when there are fewer task cards than crew members. And once the round is over, every task must be assigned.
Q. Can I use a submarine card to communicate?
No. As with rockets in the original, trump cards cannot be used for communication.
History and editions
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Designer | Thomas Sing |
| Published | Kosmos, 2021 |
| Award | Kennerspiel des Jahres 2021 — the German Game of the Year award for connoisseur games |
| Predecessor | “The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine,” 2019 — it won the same award in 2020 |
The series won the connoisseur award two years running. These two games essentially created the cooperative trick-taking genre.
Sources
Official Kosmos rulebook (The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, English)Wiki cross-check — Wikipedia: The Crew (card game)Rule summaries are reference content written by us, not quotations from the official rulebook. Always check the official rulebook for exact rules. Diagrams are original schematics, not rulebook illustrations.
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Last updated 2026-09-14
💡 Master tip
The teamwork is the core: deciding who takes which task and how to arrange the order of tricks, using card information alone. Save the communication token and use it at the single most decisive moment for the biggest effect.
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