The Mind

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The Mind
Game data
author Wolfgang Warsch
graphic Oliver Freudenreich
publishing company Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag
Publishing year 2018
Art Card game
Teammates 2 to 4
Duration about 15 minutes
Age from 8 years

Awards

The Mind is a cooperative card game by Wolfgang Warsch that was published by Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag in 2018 . The game was nominated for Game of the Year 2018 as one of three games.

Theme and equipment

The game is similar to The Game by Steffen Benndorf and, like this one, is based on a classic solitaire . It is played as a cooperative card game by two to four players. In the game, players try to lay out cards from their hand in ascending order of numbers over several levels and get rid of all cards in the hand. Unlike other cooperative games, players are not allowed to communicate with each other; so they are not allowed to speak or give each other signs.

The game consists of 100 number cards with the number values ​​1 to 100, 12 level cards, 5 life cards and 3 throwing star cards.

Style of play

To prepare for the game, depending on the number of players, life cards and throwing star cards are laid out openly next to each other on the table, the remaining lives and throwing stars are set aside. Also depending on the number of players, level cards are sorted with the first level up and placed in a pile in the middle of the table. Two players play levels 1 to 12 with two lives and a throwing star, three players play levels 1 to 10 with three lives and also a throwing star, and four players play levels 1 to 8 with four lives and a throwing star. The 100 number cards are shuffled and each player receives one card as a face-down card for level 1; the remaining cards are set aside.

Once all the players are ready, place their palm on the table. After that, they are no longer allowed to talk to each other or give each other signs. In any order of play, you now place individual cards from your hand face up on the table, whereby the card display must be in ascending order. The lowest card must be placed first, the higher ones follow. If a player has two consecutive cards, he may play them individually, but never together. If the players manage to discard all cards in ascending order in the correct order without communication, they have passed the current level. After the first level, the following levels are played. In each new level all 100 cards are shuffled and each player receives one more card than in the previous level. Analogously to the first level, the players play their cards in ascending order.

After each level 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9, the team receives an additional throwing star or an additional life according to the level cards as a reward. The team can have a maximum of 5 lives and 3 throwing stars. Whenever a player plays a number card in the wrong order, the game is interrupted by the player who has a lower card in hand than the one currently being played. As a result of the mistake, the team loses one of its lives and must surrender the corresponding card. All cards in hand that are lower than the last played are then set aside and the current level continues. During a level, each player can suggest using a throwing star at any time by indicating this with a raised hand. If all players agree, the throwing star is used, all players put their lowest hand card face up and then continue the game.

The game is won if the team manages to successfully complete all of the stacked levels. As soon as the team gives up its last life, it has lost.

Blind mode

As an additional variant for advanced players, it is suggested to continue playing the game blindly after completing the last level. The team starts again at level 1 with all remaining lives and throwing stars, but must now discard the cards face down. If a mistake is noticed at the end of the level, it costs a life.

The Sound Experiment

In The Mind: The Sound Experiment , which was published in 2019, to normal playing a music CD with two tracks is included. The game itself is unchanged, the music is played as accompanying music and also contains a gong as a timer.

Expenses and reception

The card game The Mind was developed by Wolfgang Warsch and published in January 2018 as a new release for the Nuremberg Toy Fair at Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag in a German and a multilingual version. The card and game design comes from the game illustrator Oliver Freudenreich . In the same year a French version was published by Oya, an English version by Pandasaurus Games and a Dutch version by White Goblin Games .

In the year of its appearance, The Mind was nominated for Game of the Year 2018 as one of three games alongside the board games Azul and Luxor . The nomination and the game mechanism were commented on with the following words:

“Amazing! Fascinating! Brilliant! Wolfgang Warsch synchronizes the game world. Emotional moments enrich the increasing fusion of spirit and matter. An amazing experience that every player should have. "

- Jury Game of the Year 2018

With regard to the frequent comparisons of The Mind with The Game , which was published by the same publisher, Wolfgang Warsch emphasized in an interview with brettspielbox.de that he only got to know The Game after he had already placed The Mind with the NSV, and that it accordingly had no influence on the development of The Mind .

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Official rules of the game for The Mind
  2. ↑ Versions of The Mind in the BoardGameGeek database; accessed on May 18, 2018.
  3. ↑ a b The Mind on the website of the Spiel des Jahres eV; accessed on May 18, 2018.
  4. ↑ Brettspielbox Interview - Wolfgang Warsch on brettspielbox.de, March 1, 2018; accessed on May 25, 2018.

Web links