Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Low interaction
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Form teams of two players each (max of 5 teams). Each team meets privately to come up with a non vocal signal to indicate when either teammate collects 4 of the same Crab Card.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Set Collection
Gather related items that become more valuable when scored together.
Simultaneous Action Selection
Choose actions secretly or concurrently before revealing them together.
Hand Management
Time and sequence a limited hand of cards to preserve future options.
Team-Based Game
Players compete in fixed teams and coordinate toward a shared team result.
Take That
Direct negative effects at selected opponents.
Read the full game description
Form teams of two players each (max of 5 teams). Each team meets privately to come up with a non vocal signal to indicate when either teammate collects 4 of the same Crab Card. Each player will get a hand of 4 cards. One side plays at a time. On a side’s turn, all players on that side can simultaneously swap any card from their hand with a card from the middle of the table (The Ocean). When you have 4 of the same Crab Card, you can't say anything out loud. Instead, when you’re ready, give your secret signal to your teammate. When they notice, they will point at you and shout, 'YOU’VE GOT CRABS!' If they’re right, your team gets a point. If they’re wrong, your team loses a point. However if a player on another team suspects you’re passing a signal, they can point and shout, 'YOU’VE GOT CRABS!' If they are correct, they steal one of your points. If they are incorrect, steal a Crab Token from the accusing player. The game is over when the last Crab Token has been taken from the Crab Pot. At that point, all teams should count up their combined Crab Tokens. The team with the most Crab Tokens wins. The game is a reimplementation of the classic card game Kemps, but with a different card distribution and breaking up the card swap phase by team.