Review – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Trick-Taking Game

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Trick-Taking Game (Towers hereafter) is a cooperative card game for 1-4 players covering the events of the 2nd book in J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic trilogy Lord of the Rings. The game takes place over the course of 18 rounds called Chapters, and while it is a continuation of The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick Taking Game, it can be played as a standalone title if you don’t have it. During the game, players will be trying to win hands of cards called Tricks, wherein they must play a card from their hand that matches suit if they can. As the Chapters progress, players will work through the story and unlock new heroes, cards, mechanics, and challenges. So is it worth the climb up a deep dark staircase, or should you have stayed back in the Shire, my precious? Read on for the review!

Review

Cooperative trick-taking games aren’t brand new (see The Crew), but Towers manages to weave the narrative from The Two Towers into its gameplay: each chapter opens with a small excerpt from the book, which then informs players what heroes will or might participate, and what they will be doing. This is a really fun way to do it instead of having random goals like in The Crew, which is still a great game itself. Unlike that game however, there is no way to let your teammates know what cards you have in hand, outside of the use of the Tower tokens (oftentimes the player dealt the White or Black Tower card is given the token as well, reminding everyone who has those cards). 

Each Chapter will have different heroes involved, and may even have you set up differently with new or different cards in the common deck (so some attention must be paid each time). Players must (usually) make sure everyone achieves their hero’s goal or everyone fails, which can be particularly disheartening when you get down to the last few cards and realize you might not win. On the plus side, a new round is just a shuffle and re-deal away, and each Chapter only takes about 15-20 minutes. 

Tricks are won by the highest-played card matching the leading suit, and when you start the game there are cards ranked 1-8 of Hill, Mountain, Forest, and Shadow. There are also 3 Orc cards, and 1 card each of the White Tower and Black Tower. Cards can be played out of suit if you don’t have the matching suit in hand, and Orc cards cannot lead a trick (or you lose). The White and Black tower cards are Trick-winners, unless they’re played in the same trick, then they cancel each other out. As you play, new Chapters will add, remove, and alter some of the cards; sometimes temporarily, and sometimes permanently. 

Players who are mostly familiar with the story from the movies might notice a few new heroes, and that the story doesn’t hop around as much. The first half of Towers is devoted to the non-Hobbit heroes, and Merry and Pippin, whereas the 2nd half is Sam, Frodo, and Smegol’s (Gollum) part of the trip. The changes in rules and cards in each Chapter are interesting enough to keep players captivated, without being so difficult that it’s hard to understand. Also, anyone needing clarity on a specific Chapter can just reference the rulebook, which spells it out plainly. The game also includes rules for 2 players and solo play, if you can’t muster a Fellowship to help you with your gaming. 

The art in the game is striking, and reminded me of the stained-glass inspired opening to the original Beauty and the Beast cartoon. The way the gameplay and narrative are tied together really made it easy to get hooked in and want to keep playing just one more Chapter. Anyone with passing knowledge will probably enjoy Towers, while the die-hards will be able to get psyched about playing as Erkenbrand or Beechbone. An easily recommended game for fans of LotR and cooperative card games. 

A review copy was provided by the publisher.