Blink Solitaire (2009)

copyright (C) 2009 by Jonathan B. Thompson

Blink Solitaire uses a single deck of Blink! cards, and is effectively a hybrid between Blink!, Dominoes, and Solitaire for rules. As a very long version of the game, a player may choose to use multiple decks, which will also require a very large table space.

Because Blink! cards are less than twice as long as they are wide, cards cannot be placed like dominoes are: instead, cards are placed in such a way that the narrow end of one card can only touch the middle of the long side of another card, where in all cases, each pair of touching cards must have a minimum of one thing in common, whether it is shape, color, or number of items on the front of the cards. As such, it is possible to have four cards touching a single card.

Starting the game:

The player shuffles a standard Blink! deck facing face down on the table (they may use more than one, if desired) and then they place the first card anywhere they wish on a table of a size sufficiently large to hold all cards when laid out (approximately 6 square feet should be more than enough: the size of the table can vary to change the level of difficulty).

Game Play:

The player draws one card at a time from the top of the deck and must place the card next to at least one card that is already on the table, as long as the placement fulfills the requirements on all sides that it has existing cards touching it where it matches in one, two, or three separate ways.

If a player draws a card, and they cannot place it because there are no cards already on the table where they can legally place it where there is also space, they lose the game. There is no moving of cards that have already been placed, and sliding the field of cards to make room at an edge is also forbidden. The player only has one chance to place each card, because they cannot go through a deck more than once, with the hardest rules: to adjust the difficulty level, a player may hold a limited number of cards they have not played in their hand at one time, suggested limit of 3. If all cards that are held are not able to be played before the draw deck runs out, or a new card is drawn that cannot be played while the other cards also cannot be played, the game is lost.

Scoring:

Scoring is done in this manner:

1. Starting with any card, count the number of ways that that card matches with all of the adjoining cards that are currently on the table, and double the score for that card.
2. Remove that counted card, and then return to step 1 until all cards have been counted.
3. Factor in a set time: set a time limit for 100% score counted, and a bonus score multiplier greater than 1 for beating that time, and a score multiplier less than 1 for the time percentage exceeded, where the total time where it equals a zero multiplier is twice the 100% score time.