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The Mind
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This 2018 Spiel des Jahres Nominee by Wolfgang Warsch is a cooperative card game that is so brilliant in its simplicity – the players are dealt a card, numbered 1-100, from the deck and have to simply lay them onto the table in the correct numerical order. The big kicker is that no one is allowed to speak or indicate the number of the card they have in hand. You must simply stare at each other and then lay your card down when you feel the time is right.
Once you have completed the first round, in round two you are dealt two cards each, in round three you’ll have three cards, and so on. If anyone places a card out of order then the game will stop briefly and the team will lose a life.
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.
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.
The Mind is pocket-sized so there is no excuse to go anywhere without it!
Player Count: 2-4
Play Time: 15 Minutes
Age: 8+
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Comes with a free level 13 promo card, while stocks last.
The Mind transcends gaming and can be referred to as a shared experience or experiment in mind reading. This 2018 Spiel des Jahres Nominee by Wolfgang Warsch is a cooperative card game that is so brilliant in its simplicity - the players are dealt a card, numbered 1-100, from the deck and have to simply lay them onto the table in the correct numerical order. The big kicker is that no one is allowed to speak or indicate the number of the card they have in hand. You must simply stare at each other and then lay your card down when you feel the time is right.
Once you have completed the first round, in round two you are dealt two cards each, in round three you'll have three cards, and so on. If anyone places a card out of order then the game will stop briefly and the team will lose a life.
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.
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.
The Mind is pocket-sized so there is no excuse to go anywhere without it. A game can forge a connection between players or a true frustration, but either way, it is a really unique and rewarding experience every time you play.
Player Count: 2-4
Time: 15 Minutes
Age: 8+
The Mind is a card game for 2-4 players by designer Wolfgang Warsch and was nominated for the Spiel des Jahres award in 2018. In The Mind, players have a hand of cards that they need to collectively lay in the centre of the table in ascending order.
Seems simple, but the catch is that players cannot communicate with each other in any way. No twitches, no secret signals, no communication. Players must focus and synchronise their thinking to determine the right time to play a card. As the game progress and advances to higher levels, players become more harmonised and the right time becomes easier to determine. At least, that’s the way the game is described.
This may sound a bit weird and like pseudoscience, but strangely it works. Some of the time. The Mind is a quick-playing game. It is fun, tense, easy to play, and hard to master.
The Mind Overview
The game consists of a deck of cards numbered one to 100 and is played over several rounds. At the start of each level, players are dealt cards equal to the level, i.e. three cards each for level three.
At the start of the game, players receive lives equal to the number of players and a single shuriken. At any time during the game, a player can raise their hand to suggest a shuriken is played. If all players agree to play a shuriken every player discards their lowest card and play resumes.
Gameplay
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.
There is no turn order or starting player in The Mind. Any player in any order can play one of their cards. If no other players have a lower card, play continues until all players have no cards left. If a player did have a card lower than the one played, then a life is lost and all players discard any cards lower than the one played.
Once all cards have been played, the level is complete. All the cards are shuffled and the next level is attempted. On completion of levels two, three, five, six, eight and nine a reward is received, either another life or another shuriken.
Harmonised Thinking Or Number Guessing?
The Mind was nominated for the 2018 Spiel des Jahres award, alongside Azul and Luxor, and I can see why. It offers a single deck of cards that can be taken anywhere and played anywhere. The rules are straightforward and the addition of the shuriken and lives are a nice touch to help you through the levels.
This is very much a light filler game. For the moments when you have 30 minutes to spare at the end of a game night or are hanging out with friends. My first game of The Mind was played on a coach trip on the way to Wales. I have played this in a bar and a hotel room. Minimal space is required and the box is small enough that it can be easily transported. I have even been asked by my non-gaming work colleagues to have a game during our lunch break, as they were intrigued by the game.
People might think the lack of communication in the game will make it dry and boring, but I disagree. When you have a hand of high cards, you desperately want someone else to play a lower card. You find yourself silently screaming your numbers at the other players. I found myself getting pulled into the belief that you can synchronise and harmonise with your fellow players. Whether this happens, or you believe in this or not, will be up to you to decide. But, either way, The Mind makes for a fun and quick card game that builds tension as you increase the levels.
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.
The Mind is a compelling, almost addictive game that keeps dragging you back for more. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the game when I received it, but I was presently surprised. I have yet to beat the game (level 10 with two players is my best) but I am determined to do so and can’t wait to play again.
Editors note: This blog was originally published on June 6th, 2018. Updated on October 26th, 2021 to improve the information available.
So let’s do a social experiment, you and a selection of friends/co-workers/secret enemies/random strangers are going to count to 100. Pretty easy right. Except you’re going to do it using playing cards, but also with no communication, and then also several rounds of increasing difficulty. It may sound difficult but trust me though, you’ll be alright once we find out how to play The Mind.
Set Up
This is nice and easy. The 100 card deck of numbered cards is shuffled and placed face down. Take one throwing star and a number of lives equal to the number of players for your team, the rest are kept to one side for now. Then select a number of Level cards determined by player count:2 players- 12 Levels
3 players- 10 Levels
4 players – 8 Levels
Stack these in descending numerical order, so Level 1 should be the top card. Now you’re ready to play.
Teamwork
The Mind takes place over several Levels, where you all play as one team to complete the Level together. Each Level starts by shuffling together all the 100 number cards to recreate the original deck before dealing each player a hand of cards equal to the Level. So for example on Level 1 everyone has one card, Level 2 everyone has two cards and so on. You cannot communicate your card numbers or any other information about your hand to anyone else, they remain secret to you at all times unless played or discarded.After dealing you all order your hands of cards from lowest to highest, easy enough on Level 1, its time to Focus – place one of your hands on the table palm down to indicate you’re ready to begin. Once all players are Focused and ready you immediately start playing The Mind!
The goal for each Level is for everyone to place all their cards onto the table in ascending order. The first person to play a card places it in the middle where everyone can reach, further cards are played on top of this to create a stack of played cards. There is no fixed turn order so you can play a card at any point, the one rule is that you must always play the lowest card in your hand. You also play your cards one at a time, even if you had the numbers 56 and 57 in hand you would have to play the 56 first, then you can play the 57. Hopefully you all manage to do this correctly and in the right order and finish the Level. However, this won’t always be the case.
Mistakes – If someone plays a card on the table and you have a lower value card in your hand then immediately pause the game. All players discard any cards in their hands that are lower than the value of the card just played, then lose one life, regardless of how many cards were discarded. Any cards discarded are kept face-up in front of you. If there are still lives remaining then everyone will Focus and continue with the Level, or Finish the Level if all hands are now empty. However, if your team just lost your last life then the endeavour has failed and its Game Over.
Finishing a Level – Once all player’s hands are empty you Finish the current Level. If the Level card shows a bonus card in the bottom corner, either a life or a throwing star, then you receive one of these from the supply to add to your team’s stash. [Note that the cards are limited, so you can only have a maximum of 5 lives and 3 throwing stars.] Now discard the Level card into the box, if it was the last one then Congratulations you’ve just won The Mind! Otherwise continue with the next Level by setting up as described earlier.
Throwing Stars – These are helpful tools with a one time use. When a Throwing Star is used the game will pause, then all players will discard the lowest card in their hand and the Throwing Star is returned to the supply. Following this, if there are still cards remaining to be played then all players Focus and resume the level. There is no limit to the number of Throwing Stars that can be used on any Level.
Throwing Stars are a team item though, so everyone must be in agreement to use one. If you want to use a Throwing Star then hold you hand in the air. If all players hold up their hands then pause gameplay while carrying out the Throwing Star action.
Sound Too Easy?
If you want to try this game at a more difficult setting then play it on Blind Mode! It is recommended to move onto this immediately after winning a game of The Mind, but there is no reason why you can’t play it like this from the start for a completely different experience.
In Blind Mode most of the gameplay remains identical to the regular game, the one key difference is that when playing cards from your hand to the central stack they are all played face-down. The cards remain face-down until the end of the round when they have all been played, at which point they are revealed. Now every mistake revealed will cost the team a life, so see how many Levels you can complete like this.
I have found the simplest way to do this is to take the stack and flip the whole thing upside-down, then start placing the cards off the top into a line. At any point if the card on top you want to place is not the highest, then find the earliest played card higher than it and slide the card underneath. Do this with every card that meats this criteria, so one card could have several cards slid underneath. Once the whole stack has been revealed then lose lives equal to the number of individual cards that have other cards slid underneath them (regardless of how many cards are under themn). If the team still has lives remaining then it’s on to the next Level!
Concentration
One rule of advice is that you should always be concentrating during a game of The Mind. If you feel like you are losing concentration during a Level then say STOP to pause the game immediately. Then re-Focus and once all players are Focused the game will resume.
That’s it, have fun playing and attempting to complete all levels of The Mind.
Zatu Score
You might like
- Quick gameplay.
- Easy to learn and teach.
- Portable.
- Minimal table space.
Might not like
- Might be on the light side for some.
- Might be considered a luck game.
- No real strategy or multiple paths to victory.