The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game
A cooperative card puzzle in which every character needs the right tricks to carry the story forward.
The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is a 2025 standalone cooperative card game from Office Dog Games, designed by Bryan Bornmueller. In each chapter, players receive hidden hands and take characters with public goals. They must make the right person win, lose or collect particular cards by playing a series of tricks. All selected goals must work together for the group to advance. It follows Tolkien’s first book across 18 chapters, but a chapter can be played on its own; chronological play gives the story its intended progression.
The publisher lists 1–4 players, ages 10+ and 20+ minutes. Treat that duration as a guide to a session, not a promise that all 18 chapters fit into one sitting. The compact box contains 144 cards, five tokens and a rulebook. The familiar stained-glass presentation supports a genuinely different choice from a map-based Tolkien board game: the main activity here is reading a hand, following suit and coordinating goals without revealing private cards.
The decision that drives each trick
The highest card in the led suit normally wins, but the group may need a different player to take that trick for a character goal. The five Rings cards complicate timing: Rings cannot normally be led until the suit has been played off suit, and the 1 of Rings may choose to win any trick when legally played. That power can solve a goal or accidentally deprive a teammate of one. You can discuss visible objectives, but not your hidden hand.
What is in the box?
Office Dog lists 144 cards, one Ring token, four Star tokens and a rulebook. The opening 37-card main deck has Hills, Mountains, Forests and Shadows numbered 1–8, plus Rings numbered 1–5. Later cards introduce characters, chapters, Threats, gifts and events. The game’s sections are arranged for story discovery; there is no required app or earlier game box.
The Chapter 1 rules walkthrough teaches the deal, character selection, card exchange and the One Ring. The chapter guide explains how later short and long chapters change the goal without revealing a solution to every scene.
The game at a glance
Everyone has an individual character goal; the table wins or loses the chapter together.
Four numbered 1–8, while Rings has 1–5 and a special rule for leading it.
Its holder starts as Frodo in Chapter 1 and may choose to win a trick when the card is legally played.
Threat cards, gifts, events and new characters change later chapter puzzles.
What happens in the opening chapter?
Deal one lost card faceup, then the remaining cards to the players. In Chapter 1, the player holding the 1 of Rings becomes Frodo, and Bilbo is also a required character. Everyone resolves any printed setup action, such as a permitted one-for-one exchange, before Frodo leads. A leader plays one card, each other player follows suit if possible, and the highest card of that suit takes the trick unless the legally played 1 of Rings is used to claim it. All selected character goals must be satisfied. The rulebook limits discussion to public information, so the table must infer from played cards rather than instructing someone to reveal a hand.
Fellowship or The Two Towers?
Fellowship is the first story sequence, Chapters 1–18, centered on the Rings suit and the 1 of Rings. The Two Towers: Trick-Taking Game is a separate 2026 box that starts its own rules and story at Chapter 19. Its first part emphasizes the White and Black Towers and dangerous Orc cards, and its later part brings Rings back with Weariness. If you want the narrative from its beginning, start here; if the sequel’s particular characters or mechanisms appeal more, Office Dog says it stands alone. Owning both is optional, though the sequel’s replay mode allows some first-box characters.
Who will enjoy it?
Choose it if you like cooperative deduction through card play, variable character goals and a small box that can be played chapter by chapter. New trick-taking players can learn with the first chapter, then face extra events gradually. Two-player play adds a partly open third hand; solo uses four visible hands and a draw deck. Both are real rulebook modes, with more card management than a conventional three- or four-player deal. See the player-count guide before buying specifically for solo or a pair.
Be aware that cooperation has a speech limit: you can discuss public goals, played cards and rule effects, but cannot describe your hand or character preferences that expose it. If your group prefers an open discussion around a Middle-earth map, Fate of the Fellowship is a separate, larger cooperative game. These titles share an IP, not a rules system.
Read the supporting guides
Upcoming Tolkien tabletop release
The Lord of the Rings: The King’s Gambit is an upcoming 2027 competitive battle game and a very different option from the cooperative trick-taking series.
Publisher sources and scope
- Office Dog product page: release, player count, duration, components and chapters
- Office Dog English rulebook (PDF): setup, cards and official modes
- Office Dog comparison with the standalone sequel
Product and rules checked October 4, 2026. Tactical statements are editorial reasoning from the rules, not a claim of firsthand testing. Check the chapter cards in your copy for exceptions; no live price or stock claim is made.