Game overview:

In The Crooked Crown, everyone starts with a hand of 5 cards, and for one player this includes the Crooked Crown card. Over 8 rounds, players use cards to spy, steal, decrease and increase each other’s hands. The player who has the Crooked Crown at the end of the 8th round is the winner and is the new Goblin King!

👥 3 to 6 players
⌛ 20 minutes
🧠 8 years and up

Each round, players get one turn to play one card – but they can play as many of that card type as they like! For example, you can play 2 spy cards to spy look at the hands of 2 players. You can also choose how many other players to target, e.g. if you play 3 steal cards, you can choose to steal 3 cards from the same player or 1 or more cards from different players (to 3 cards in total).

Our first impressions:

Crooked Crown is reminiscent of classic card games like Old Maid and Chase the Ace (both of which I have fond memories of playing with my grandma), with the different card actions giving it a bit of extra spice. This definitely works as a light, accessible family game (especially with non-gamers).

We played games with 3 and 4 players, and it worked much better at the 4-player count. This game relies on some bluffing and deduction around the location of the Crooked Crown card, and with 3 players it was much easier for everyone to figure out where the crown was (using spy cards) and follow where it went. At 4 players we felt there was more bluffing and banter; we can really see this game shining at the higher player counts!

This definitely works as a light, accessible family game (especially with non-gamers).

The production and art design feel high quality. The player board, crown token (to track rounds), and unique player standees (to track hand size) are a nice touch and elevate the game from being ‘just a card game’. The removable insert in the card section of the box to make space for sleeves was a nice touch.

We had a fun time with The Crooked Crown! It is simple but it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome on the table, like some other ‘filler’ card games can (looking at you StarFluxx!). If you have a higher player count it’s definitely worth checking out.

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This game was kindly loaned by Outset Media Games / Cheatwell Games via the UK Board Game Review Circle. All opinions are ours and our reviews are always honest.