Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
Once the lives, shuriken, and cards have been dealt, all players focus. When you're ready, you place your hand on the table. Once all players have placed their hands on the table, play can commence. No communication is allowed between players. They must simply stare at each other and get in sync, to determine the right time to play a card. The game scales well between two to four players. You may start the game believing you don't stand a chance - but then you find some sort of cerebral rhythmic connection with your fellow players, and progress further than your collective wildest dream! But be warned, later rounds can get horrendously difficult. If there is a moment where someone communicates to help another player in a way that isn’t allowed, then a Bunny or life is lost. If a player places a card when another player has a lower card, the latter pauses the game and points out the error that had just occurred. A few things then take place: Whether you and your group can pull it off depends on your ability to read others, those who are familiar with the Pinochle rules already could have an advantage with their bluffing skills.
Once the team has successfully completed level 2, they receive one throwing star as a reward. One throwing star is taken from the edge of the table and is added to the current throwing stars.
Setup
If a player has made a mistake, this costs one life. The remaining rules are unchanged. How many levels can the team complete blind?
The design and mechanics of The Mind are essentially there to facilitate interesting player connection and interaction. The majority of your time will be spent reading other players’ body language, discerning information by how long they wait to play cards, and calculating when it makes most sense to take a risk or to play it safe. The genius of this design is that every group of people you play with will feel a little different. Everyone will have a slightly different playstyle; some players will be more risky or forthcoming with playing cards, others will be more timid, reserved or scared of making a mistake. It’s your job to figure out the group you’re playing with and understand when it’s best to play your cards and when it’s best to wait. You will be surprised at how the flow of your play changes after a few games and you have learned the pace of the other players in your game. Using the information around you to try and achieve this crazy goal together makes for a great deal of fun.
Key Facts
Another helpful tool are the throwing stars. You start with 1 of these, but you can earn additional ones by completing levels 2, 5, and 8. To use one, a player interrupts play and suggests the use of a throwing star. If there is agreement around the table, players each play their lowest card face up. Everybody syncs, and gameplay continues. This is exceptionally helpful: not only does it get cards out of the game, but it also can give you significant information about what your fellow players hold. Whoever wants to put down a card, simply does so. Watch out, here's where it gets interesting: the players must not disclose anything about their own cards - no sharing of information, no secret signals. So how does it actually work? I watched Eric Martin’s preview, and then I read the rules. I have to be honest: I didn’t think the central mechanic would work that well. But it does, and the first time we played it, I found it novel and fascinating. The Mind is one of those highly addictive games that you’ll want to play again and again. Reprieves come in the form of extra lives and Ninja Stars that allow players to halt a round in progress to let all players discard their lowest value card. But these bonuses are scarce and are awarded between certain rounds.
All players set aside any cards in their hands that are lower than the card that was wrongly placed. OBJECT OF THE MIND: The object of The Mind is to complete all twelve levels of the game without losing all the Life cards. NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 to 4 players MATERIALS: 100 Number Cards, 12 Level Cards, 5 Live Cards, and 3 Throwing Star Cards TYPE OF GAME: Cooperative Card Game AUDIENCE: 8+ I think The Mind would have worked without the throwing stars, but I’m glad that they decided to include them. You have a limited amount so as a team you have to figure out when to use them. The majority of my group’s wins happened because of well-timed throwing stars. It helps if, before gameplay, everybody “syncs” by putting their hands on the table and agreeing to start. This is suggested in the rules, and it is important that everybody knows exactly when gameplay is ongoing, since timing is everything in The Mind . The Mind is cooperative and played over a number of rounds depending on the number of players. In the two player game, you play over 12 rounds, but you only play 10 rounds with three players and 8 rounds with four.Winning always feels good regardless of the game, but that feeling gets elevated a bit when you beat The Mind. It’s probably because every single decision feels like a team decision, so it feels like a real team accomplishment.
Blind Mode isn’t bad, but it’s not nearly as enjoyable as the normal way of playing. The best part of the game is seeing the numbers hit the table and you lose that when playing in Blind Mode. Sarah plays the 34. Tim and Linus shout "stop". Tim has the 26 in his hand, Linus has the 30. One life is discarded. Tim places his 26 to one side, and Linus does the same with his 30. The team refocuses their concentration and the game continues. The design and mechanics of The Mind are essentially there to facilitate interesting player connection and interaction. The cards are vaguely reminiscent of The Game, also published by NSV. Photo credit to Brandon Kempf. Example: Tim, Sarah and Linus place one hand on the table - they are ready. They remove their hands from the table and the game begins. Linus places his card face up in the center of the table, it shows the number 17.Increasing the player count, increases the difficulty. The game says ages 8 plus and that is perfectly reasonable. My 9 and 12 year olds have played this together claiming they’ve managed level 10, although without witnesses and with giant smirks on their faces I’m not entirely convinced! The increasing levels of difficulty build up like a symphony of pressure and tension. The experience is unique. The game is won if the team completes the final level and it is lost if the team loses its last life. What is the Throwing Star Used for? There is a huge sense of joy when you hold off playing a card and another player plays a card that is only two or three lower than yours. On the flip side, when a player plays a card that is two or three higher than a card you own, the sense of disappointment is crushing, but in a good way. It makes you want to focus more and harmonise with your fellow players to beat the game. Why we love it: The Mind gives a fresh perspective on family card games where you aren’t actually working against each other. Everyone’s helping each other to succeed. If you’re not into super-competitive gameplay or if you’re looking to work on team-building skills then this is the card game for you. Playing The Mind Card Game – What You’ll Need Gameplay continues like this, with each level getting increasingly more difficult as the number of cards increases. If the group completes all the levels successfully, the team wins the game! The team loses the game if they lose all of the Life cards. END OF GAME
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