
- BGG rank
- BGG #45
- BGG rating
- 8.0
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
- 2–5 players
- 20 min
- Complexity 2.1/5
- 2021

Rules assistance for Cucumber
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Cucumber is a board game released in 1970 for 3–7 players and 30 minutes per game. Its main mechanics are Trick-taking.
From Dave Parlett's The Penguin Book of Card Games: Called Gurka in Swedish and Ogórek in Polish, this Baltic gambling game may be played for either money or for a simple point-score. Each player is dealt six cards, ranking upwards 23456789TJQKA. The aim is to avoid taking the last trick. Each trick is led by the winner of the previous trick (the first trick is led by the player to the dealer's left). Each in turn must then play a card equal to or higher in rank than the previous card played. If they cannot, they then must play their lowest card. Whoever plays the highest card, or the last played if equally high, wins the trick. Whoever wins the last trick scores penalty points equal to the face value of the card they won the trick with (as does anyone who played a card of the same rank), counting Ace 14, King 13, Queen 12, and Jack 11. A player reaching 30 points is a "cucumber" and drops out of the game.
Cucumber supports 3–7 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Cucumber is 30 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
Cucumber has a complexity rating of 1.2 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Cucumber belongs to these categories: Card Game. Its main mechanics are Trick-taking. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The catalogue lists Cucumber as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.