The Fellowship of the Ring Trick Taking Game

• Designer: Bryan Bornmueller
• Publisher: Office Dog
• Players: 1-4
• Age: 10+
• Time: 20 minutes
• Played with preview copy provided by publisher (Game slated for Jan 2025 release, but there is a soft release this week at PaxU)

The Journey Begins! Step inside the legendary world of Middle-earth in The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game! Work together to navigate the story of this cooperative card adventure, meeting new characters and completing special quests as you journey through the first book in the beloved The Lord of the Rings series.

• EXPLORE MIDDLE-EARTH: Dive into the epic world of Middle-earth as you navigate the story of The Fellowship of the Ring with this cooperative trick-taking card game.
• COOPERATIVE GAMEPLAY: Play your cards carefully as a team to avoid peril and progress through exciting chapters from the Shire to the breaking of the Fellowship.
• NARRATIVE ADVENTURE: Follow the narrative of the beloved novel in a unique gameplay experience, meeting new characters and completing quests as you progress.
• STAINED-GLASS ARTWORK: Enjoy the visually striking cards featuring all-new stained-glass artwork that brings each character and scene from the first novel vividly to life.
• VERSATILE GAME MODES: Engage in multiple game modes that enhance replayability, allowing you to revisit the challenges and tales of Middle-earth in various ways.

The Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking Game (TFotRT-TG) is a cooperative game where the 1-4 players in your group will relive the epic story of The Fellowship of the Ring over 18 chapters.  Each chapter has its own story, rules and goals – and while it would be more thematic to play them in succession (and in order), you can play them in any order.

As some of the components in the box are sealed until you need them, I’ll try not to spoil anything here – and instead concentrate on how to play the initial chapter.  If you play the game, you’ll unlock further chapters as you play and you’ll learn all the new rules and features as you go!

To start Chapter 1, place the Chapter card on the table, then place a random deck card under it (reshuffle and re-do if it is the 1 of Rings card).  The deck cards have four basic suits (1-8 in Hills, Mountains, Forests and Shadows) as well as a Rings suit that only goes 1-5.   The four character cards are placed on the table, as as the Chapter card states, place a star token on Frodo and Bilbo – as these two characters MUST be included in the party for this Chapter.  Each Character care includes both the Goal Condition for that character as well as any special setup rules.

The remainder of the deck is shuffled and dealt out, and the player that is dealt the 1 of Rings takes Frodo and the Ring Token (Which is placed on the “cannot lead Rings” side up).  Then, going around the table, each other player chooses a character.  Someone else in the group must choose Bilbo, but it does not have to be the player next in order after Frodo.  Each character has its own specific goal, and you should look at the cards in your hand to determine which goal you think you can best accomplish. Once all the players have chosen a character, resolve any Setup actions as stated on the character cards.  

Players can only discuss information that is visible to all players – they cannot discuss or show the cards in their hands.  It is fair to remind players of things such as character goals or any other information known to all players – such as anything printed on face up cards.

In each round, players will play a trick taking game. Frodo always leads the first trick (well, at least in Chapter 1).  Frodo can play any card except for a Rings card.  Then, going clockwise around the table, each player can play a single card to the trick, and they must follow suit if possible. If they do not have the lead suit, they can play any card they like.  When all players have played, the player who played the highest card of the lead suit wins the trick. They collect all the cards, put them in a group, and place them facedown in their area.  The winner of the trick leads the next trick.

The Rings suit has a few special rules. First, no one can lead a trick with a Rings card until someone has played a Rings card to a trick (i.e. they did not have the suit lead in a trick and chose to play a Rings card).  Frodo has a marker that reminds all players whether or not they can lead a Rings card.  Additionally, the 1 of Rings (i.e. The One Ring) is a special card; whenever Frodo plays this card, he can choose to automatically win that trick, regardless of other cards played.  If Frodo does not choose to automatically win the trick, the card is simply the 1 of Rings.

Before starting, make sure that all players understand the goal of each character. The team “wins” the Chapter if they can accomplish the goals of all the Characters in the hand.  Whenever a Character has met their goal, it may be helpful to put a star token on top of the Character so everyone can see this fact.  The hand can be stopped early if it can be determined that all the goals can be met (early victory) or that it is impossible to complete at least one goal (early defeat).

If you are playing the entire campaign, play Chapter 1 until you win it. When you do win it, move onto Chapter 2, and so on.  As you move through the game, you will encounter new Characters, you will learn new rules, events, etc.  Like I said, part of the fun of this game is the discovery of the different elements of the game, so I’ll leave the rest for you to discover on your own.

All of the cards are annotated in the lower right corner to their chapter so you can reset the box back to its original state (if you want to go back and restart the game from the beginning, for instance).   Once you have completed the initial run through the Chapters, you will also unlock different modes of play.

My thoughts on the game

So, I’ll try not to spoil things here in the text nor pictures, though I do want to tell you a bit about how the game plays.  Each hand gives you a slightly different feel – to start, you’re playing a different chapter in the book, and this might mean that you get introduced to new characters or new rules get thrown in the mix.  I really love the way that each chapter forces you to use certain characters, but then gives you the freedom to choose from a pool of others (and often, you actually have a choice as there will be some characters that aren’t used).  

Being able to choose your character is one of the cool things of the game.  Everyone gets a chance to look at their hand, so you will try to choose a character with a goal that suits your hand.  Of course, you can’t discuss the details of character choice, so it sometimes makes sense for someone early in turn order to take a harder goal (for their hand) if that leaves better easier options for the rest of the group.  The story of the game progresses at a nice pace, and you do work your way through the events of the novel as you go.

The components are really well done – the art is superb and the production touches such as the foil–y finish to the box and cards is sweet.  The box itself also offers cloth bookmark strips so that you can mark your place in the deck of cards (as you only reveal a few cards with each successive chapter.

For me, I’d much rather play this than The Crew.  Some of it comes down to the addition of the theme and story of a sci-fi/fantasy series that I love.  Some of it stems from the character choice at the beginning of each chapter; I feel like this gives the team a bit more latitude to deal with a crummy hand (oftentimes a character wants to win the fewest tricks or a very low number of tricks).  Also, as with most games, tFotRTTG is newer and just have new things to explore.  Each successive chapter that we play lets me discover something new, and I love that exploration of the game.

The game won’t be out until early 2025, and if you like TT games or you are a Middle Earth fan – this is one you should definitely check out!

Thoughts from other Opinionated Gamers

Mark Jackson (1 play) – Like Dale, I find the thematic elements make the game more interesting than The Crew… and the artwork for the game helps anchor the theme solidly.

Ratings from the Opinionated Gamers

• I love it! Dale Y
• I like it. Mark Jackson, John P
• Neutral.
• Not for me…