Game: Blink

Thread: Re: Playing with my 5-year-old son

Karlsen — 2008-10-20T06:49:44+00:00

An excellent handicap method I found when playing with Daughter the Younger was to limit my hand to two cards. It is surprising how much that will slow you down.

Thread: Re: Playing with my 5-year-old son

ZackStack — 2008-10-20T01:34:49+00:00

I am very fond of Blink for no particular reason other than I always have fun playing (and I'm good at it!), but it never occurs to me to bring it out as a kids game... Now I'll definitely be bringing it along to the next family gathering (and I'm now really looking forward to my infant daughter getting old enough to learn about shapes!)

Thread: Playing with my 5-year-old son

Tatsu — 2008-10-20T00:33:50+00:00

I pulled out another game to teach my son. I'm pretty sure I got this about 3 years ago from my sister and the only reason I held onto it, was because I remember playing Speed and having fun with that (though I'm not great at it). I explained how the game is played to my son and slowly we went through a first game. At first he'd only match the colors and miss the shapes or numbers, but he started catching on to that. He seemed to get it, so I gave him 20 cards to my 40 and we played. I went fairly easy on him, often "cleaning" the piles to make it easier for him to clearly see the stacks. We also played with our three cards face up and we'd call out what we play (green, green, four, stars, etc). Well, that didn't last long. Pretty quickly he caught on and started whipping through his pile. He's pretty good about seeing numbers, symbols, or colors, though you can tell when he fixates on something. And if you beat him to a pile and it switches on him, he has a hard time letting go of whatever he "thought" the card was - if he was planning to do stars, but I switch the shape, he gets a little stuck. However, in staying with the 20-40 card split, I can play as fast as I can go and we split games pretty evenly. I'm sure it won't be much longer until he gives me the handicap!

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Bernd13 — 2008-09-27T19:13:56+00:00

German Version from Adlung-Spiele - Boxfront (plainscan)

Thread: Re: It’s fast. It’s furious. Its fun.

unixrevolution — 2008-07-31T18:24:00+00:00

wrkeech wrote:
Games played in real-time (no turns - all players go simultaneously) have always held a special place in my heart. Then again, so do shiny quarters and those little plastic toothpicks shaped like swords...

Toothpick swords are undeniably awesome. And so are real-time games. Great review!

quozl wrote:
And if you really want to haze a zillion things going on at once, try out Fightball.

I have Fightball, but have yet to try it.

Thread: Re: It’s fast. It’s furious. Its fun.

quozl — 2008-07-31T18:07:57+00:00

And if you really want to haze a zillion things going on at once, try out Fightball.

Thread: It’s fast. It’s furious. Its fun.

wrkeech — 2008-07-31T16:11:49+00:00

Games played in real-time (no turns - all players go simultaneously) have always held a special place in my heart. Then again, so do shiny quarters and those little plastic toothpicks shaped like swords, but that’s another story. These types of games get the gamer blood pumping and are generally light and quick enough to get everyone up and running with very little effort.

Blink is such a game. Two players, 60 cards and a lot of “knuckle bashing”.

The deck is split evenly between the two players and placed face down as a draw deck. Three cards are drawn into each player’s hand (your hand may be less than 3 if you wish but never more) then the next card in each draw deck is flipped face up to form two discard piles. This is where the fun begins.

The object of the game is to get rid of all of your cards before the other player does. You do this by playing the cards in your hand on a previously played card in either of the two discard piles, drawing new cards as you go. The rules for playing a card are simple. Just match one of the following criteria; shape, color or number. As I said before, the pace is really quick on this one. The two stacks will change as fast as you or your opponent can flip a card, so don’t do anything foolish like blink, sneeze or think too hard. First person out of cards is the victor.

This game is like a potato chip. One just isn’t enough. The games usually last less than 2 minutes so you’ll find yourself reshuffling the deck more out of muscle memory response than conscious thought. It’s that addicting.

If you find this type of game fun to play… and you will, you may also want to try some other real-time games such as Perpetual Commotion, Pit, Brawl, Wig Out, or Speed (Blinks European brother).

Will
www.gotdice.com

Thread: Re: A Three Game Session with my Five Year Old

Scruffdog — 2008-07-09T07:18:17+00:00

Thanks, your session report prompted me to get a copy to play with my 4 year old son.

Thread: A Three Game Session with my Five Year Old

beauka — 2008-05-25T20:50:58+00:00

Blink is a must have game if you have kids of any age. You can play straight up by the standard rules, or you can create new games based around memory, matching, pattern recognition, and much more. This session is about three games played of regular speed Blink with my five year old son.

My older son has been playing fun (ie, not based on speed) games of Blink since he was a toddler. He’d also played a few of the regular sessions of the game.

One afternoon we had time alone together and were revisiting some of our neglected games from the past when we decided to break this one out. I shuffled the cards and cut them to a discreet 65/35 split or so, handing him his smaller deck before he could see that I clearly had more than him.

After a false start and a few stalls, we ended with a close game of him winning by a few cards. I can’t tell if I held back or not, certainly not intentionally, but I started the game wanting him to win, so I may have unconsciously played a bit slow. However, on the second game I split the deck roughly 50/50, with no preference to either side and let him choose which one he wanted.

On this second game it was still quite close, with me winning by a few cards. I won this second game by about the same amount that he had won the first game, and I was clearly trying my best. Apparently he picked up well on the first game even though he had been a shoe-in for that game. We decided to play one more deciding game, since we had an extra minute or two to spare.

In the third game I shuffled and split the cards roughly 60/40, maybe 55/45. One pile certainly seemed smaller than the other; and being offered the choice, my son obviously took the smaller deck. In our fastest and most decisive game of the three, he annihilated me by at least six or seven cards. If you take into consideration that this was about the same as the differences between our two decks, that means that it would have been an extremely close game if the decks had been perfectly even.

Ready to move on to another game, we chalked up a 2-1 win for my son and continued having a great afternoon playing games just between father and son.

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ackmondual — 2008-03-25T15:41:23+00:00

Hi-res scan of back of blister pack packaging

Thread: Re: So Boring! But What Does My Opinion Count For?

Toothpick the Ferret — 2008-01-06T00:31:35+00:00

It does have some thinking aspects to it, but I think I'd agree that it's not tactical, as that doesn't feel right. It certainly isn't strategic.

As to the thinking and decisions... when playing against other fast players, you've got to make lightning quick decisions on whether to draw to get back to 3 or to continue to play if you have matches in your hand. Sometimes you delay playing a match on the board because you're at two and you can't play one after the other because they don't have a match. So you can take a risk, draw the 3rd card, and hope you can play all 3 together.

Also, as you look at the 3 in your hand, determining a play order when they match up (which happens quite a bit) can gain you seconds. It's nothing on the level of "do I do a pincer movement here" or "do I attack with this unit or that unit," but there is some contemplation (albeit quickly) that should go on.

Thread: Best 2 out of three...

crystallr — 2007-12-05T23:42:00+00:00

At the beginning of a game marathon, my husband and I played Blink. (If you want to see all the games we played you can visit: http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/26858) We always play best of three. I usually win, so I was pretty confident entering into this game. The first round, I won with my husband still having a full hand of cards. I was sure I'd get it with the next round. 2-0 here I come.

We started the next round, and I quickly got ahead of him. I picked up my last 3 cards and he at least 10 left. I placed two of mind down and painfully watched as he placed all the rest of his cards and I still could not place my last card! The agony. It was now 1-1 and I had to win - after all this is the game I WIN at!

The next round started and he was 1/3 the way done before I picked up the next handful of cards. So much for winning this one. I came back though and only had 5 cards left when he went out. I guess that was my luck since I had just won at a game he is the usual winner at. Maybe next time.

Thread: Re: Speed-y review with a 5-year-old and internal monologue

Doc_Adam — 2007-11-07T11:32:44+00:00

Absolutely Hilarious. Thanks for that.

AB

Thread: Speed-y review with a 5-year-old and internal monologue

filwi — 2007-11-07T09:26:06+00:00

Ok, it's like this. Here're your cards and here's mine, right? So we grab three cards each and see, they've got three things on them. No, not like that. Three things on each card, like color or amount or shape. So now we'll turn over the top card from our stacks, no, not like, you've got to turn it outwards, like so.

See, there's the star, and here's a star in my hand so I get to put it down here. And it's yellow so I can put this yellow house on top of it. And there are two houses so I can put my two purple flags on them. Now you, no, not… but you can put it here, because it's two, right. OK?

Ok, now we do this as fast as we can. That's right, you just grab cards and pu… hey, wait, cheater, shit i]ok, yellow, yellow, blue, crap, two there, grab cards, ok, star there, blue, grab, red, grab…[/i

That's 'cause we didn't start at the same time, you cheated, dear. i]damned brat, I'm the gamer in this house, ok, shuffle, shuffle, shuffle[/i. Ok, those are your cards and these are mine. Yes, you can pick up your three cards now and I'll do the same. i]Ok, sort them up. I can start with a black, then turn to house here and a three. Beat that kid.[/i Wait dear, I'm not quite ready. Ok, so we take our cards and we'll turn them outwards, ready, steady and go.

i]Black, black, shit, no black, ok, house, three, five, five, house, house, sta..., no, black, black, red, yellow, tree, tr... what the[/i Yes, very nice dear, you win again. Sure, we'll play another. Ok, now you shuffle. No, I'm not done yet. No, I'll star it, wait, ok. Ready, steady, steady, steady, i]take this, brat[/i wait for it, steadyGO.

i]Blue, blue, house, house, three, tree, black, yellow, yellow, one, one, what the...[/i

Very good dear, congratulations. Yes, that was fun, no, no, I'm tired, no, I've got to, you know, work and things. No I won't play if I get the smaller pile.

----
Personal rating of Speed/Blink at time of writing: 7 / 10

Pros:
Quick
Fun
Filler
A game my wife will play

Cons:
Stressful
Not a thinking man's game
Kids always win

Thread: Re: So Boring! But What Does My Opinion Count For?

r0xjo0 — 2007-07-09T03:46:17+00:00

This game isn't strategic, I will freely admit, but that doesn't hold it back. This is the king of all fillers. Does not matter how much time you have, you will always be able to get in a quick game. Fast and frenzied. I always have a good time playing it, but only in small doses.

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gray0013 — 2007-07-02T12:44:44+00:00

Thread: Re: So Boring! But What Does My Opinion Count For?

smithhemb — 2007-06-24T17:44:43+00:00

Same skill level isn't necessary -- just handicap the game by dividing the deck unevenly.

Thread: Re: So Boring! But What Does My Opinion Count For?

snoozefest — 2007-06-24T15:33:59+00:00

dagny21 wrote:
...
Variations
It is possible to play this game with 3 players, but this is lame and the game plays even faster than it does with 2 players only.
...

~There is very little strategy involved in playing this game, which means that adults are unlikely to find much enjoyment in it. No strategy = no challenge = boring.
...

Final Thoughts
This might be a fun game for perhaps 2 children of around the same age to play, but it's boring for adults to play together, and problematic for players of differing abilities. My son enjoys it, so I'll continue to borrow it occasionally for him, but I'm glad I don't have to pay for it.

I understand that the game is not to your taste, but I think you are completely off the mark here. This is not a game meant to be played for several hours, nor a game of strategy and tactics. It's certainly not something you'd spend your game session playing. It's just a simple game of fast-reaction and pattern recognition. And it IS fun - and not just for kids. It works well as a quick little activity while you're waiting for people to decide on a game, or come back from getting drinks, or whatever (although I will agree that it is best played by people of similar skill levels). Even the 3-player variant works reasonably well, although the 2-player game is better.

Thread: Re: So Boring! But What Does My Opinion Count For?

LurkingMeeple — 2007-06-24T04:52:18+00:00

dagny21 wrote:
There is very little strategy involved in playing this game, which means that adults are unlikely to find much enjoyment in it. No strategy = no challenge = boring.

I respect that you don't like Blink, but it doesn't pretend to be a strategy game. (The word "tactics" doesn't seem right, either.) Blink feels more like air hockey than chess. It's not deep, but it doesn't lack a challenge.

Dexterity games -- speed-based ones in particular -- are a divisive lot, but they are enjoyed by many adults. You may want to avoid other real-time games.

Thread: Re: So Boring! But What Does My Opinion Count For?

swandive78 — 2007-06-24T03:44:38+00:00

You're right about this being a non-strategic game; it's totally a tactical, pattern-recognition and reaction-time game. It will never be satisfying in the same way as a lot of other games that satisfy other parts of a gamer's personality. In the end, it's largely a matter of taste, but I appreciated your comments, which I think will help people decide if this might be a good game for them.

Thread: So Boring! But What Does My Opinion Count For?

dagny21 — 2007-06-23T23:40:03+00:00

I work at a book/toy store and am fortunately able to borrow quite a few demo games from them. Which means I get to try a lot of games out without risking money on them. The game Blink is one I've been curious about for a long time, and indeed heard positive things about, so when I saw the demo I snatched it up.

What You Get
~A deck of 60 cards in 6 different symbols (stars, moons, clouds, raindrops, triangles, lightning bolts), representing numbers 1,2,3,4, and 5, and 6 colors (red, blue, yellow, green, brown, and gray).
~A set of rules.
~Instructions on becoming an "Officially Rated Player."

How To Play
Blink is a two player game. Begin by shuffling and dealing all of the cards equally, face down, to both players. Each player then takes the top card from his stack and places it face down in the middle of the playing surface within reach of both players. Next, each player draws the top 3 cards from his stack into his hand and holds them so that he can see them, but his opponent cannot. Finally, each player flips over one of the two cards in the center of the playing surface.

Play now begins. Players simultaneously try to play their cards as quickly as they can onto the upturned cards. In order to play a card, the card must match the top one on the upturned card by color, shape, or number. Players do not take turns, but they may only play one card at a time. As they are playing they continue to draw cards from the top of their pile into their hand, having no more than 3 cards in their hand at any one time. The first player to play all of the cards in both his hand and draw pile wins the game.

Age Range
The age range on the box says for 7 to adult. Really, this game can be played by much younger children. The important thing here is not so much age as a matching of skills between opponents. This is one of those games where the older kid will pretty much always win. Since I buy games mainly to play with my child, it's not real fun for me to have a game where I basically decide who wins by either playing my best, or deliberately playing dumb. Out of the Box does offer a solution to this. They suggest handicapping the game by dealing more cards to the advanced players and fewer cards to the younger players. But this idea doesn't fly with my kid.

Variations
It is possible to play this game with 3 players, but this is lame and the game plays even faster than it does with 2 players only.

What We Like
~It is educational. At the preschool level, this game is effective at teaching colors, counting, sorting, and pattern recognition. At the early elementary level, it helps children hone early math skills and to use them fast.

~It's quick to play when you only have a couple of minutes and need something to do.

~In spite of my own reservations, my 6 year old enjoys it quite a bit.

~Good as a dexterity game for young children.

What We Don't Like

~There is very little strategy involved in playing this game, which means that adults are unlikely to find much enjoyment in it. No strategy = no challenge = boring.

~Should not be played by people of different skill levels.

~The game is so short (30 seconds to 2 minutes maximum) that a great deal more time is spent in shuffling, dealing, and setting up than is spent on playing the actual game.

Final Thoughts
This might be a fun game for perhaps 2 children of around the same age to play, but it's boring for adults to play together, and problematic for players of differing abilities. My son enjoys it, so I'll continue to borrow it occasionally for him, but I'm glad I don't have to pay for it.

Thread: Speed - Sessão em Português - Campeonato

tiagoaob — 2007-06-11T17:11:38+00:00

Depois demos início ao campeonato de Speed, com dez participantes e eliminação simples. Chaves montadas, cada disputa era uma melhor de três entre os dois participantes, com o vencedor de duas partidas prosseguindo dentro da chave.
Primeira Fase
Ian 2 vs Luiz 0
Lucas 2 vs Glauco 0
Nirvana 2 vs Monica 0
Andrea 2 vs Leo 0

Nirvana 2 vs Sumaré 1
Ian 2 vs Tiago 0

Semi-finais
Nirvana 2 vs Andrea 0
Ian 2 vs Lucas 0

Finais
Nirvana 2 vs Ian 0

E assim foi o primeiro campeonato brasileiro de Speed, que durou, aproximadamente 40 minutos, utilizando apenas um conjunto de jogo.

Thread: Re: A quick, quick, quick, quick game....what it's already o

LurkingMeeple — 2007-05-20T19:41:52+00:00

nitromob wrote:
card sleeves would be very helpful....mine are wearing a bit already

The game goes so quickly that most people won't have time to take advantage of cards marked from wear. And Blink is pretty cheap at $5.

If you like the anxiety of Blink, try the three player game.

Thread: A quick, quick, quick, quick game....what it's already over!

nitromob — 2007-05-20T17:14:50+00:00

Initial Thoughts
When I first saw this game in a thrift store it didn't catch my attention at all, and now I had to end up getting the game later in a game package on tanga. I'm usually not into ultra fast fillers, esp 2 player fillers but it sold me on the package along with some other games. There is not a lot at all to the game, and it's just a shame what you may pass on in the thrift store, or game store.

Components
There is 60 cards of pretty decent quality(even though card sleeves would be very helpful....mine are wearing a bit already). Also comes with a 2 page front and back manual that is of good quality. The game is very easy to learn and this manual is perfect for being of hard stock, and being colorful and having a few pictures to help out as well. Overall it gets a
8/10

Game Play
The set up is very simple. All you do is split the deck into two piles of 30 cards each. You then take the top of each and put them into the middle of the playing surface. These will be where you play the cards. You then take 3 cards as your hand(it stays this size throughout the game), and then when the players are ready the game begins. The game is all about finding patterns in the cards and figuring out where the cards go. Each card has a symbol, a color, and a number of symbols. The next card you play can match any of these(or more than one as well), and as you play cards you keep bringing your hand up to 3 cards and try to play them as fast as possible. It is quite fast, and quite a hoot. A fast playing game that has some substance but not a lot. It gets an
8/10 because I will never refuse a game.

Final Thoughts
This is one of those games that is found everywhere very cheap and is one of those games to add onto a game order that makes a very fun filler. It isn't very deep, but gets an adrenaline rush, and is just fun for a diversion. I would rather play about 15 games of this than watch a TV show, but don't like to watch TV period. It is a fun game to play with your buddies or a significant other, as it's easy to teach anyone. I must say that it's a great game for kids as well because of the simple rules. All it requires is dexterity, luck, and a quick eye, even though some people would try to cheat by putting down many cards as much(just don't play with these people)! Just play the game and find it for cheap, because it's well worth the 2-5 minute playing time it usually takes. All in all it gets a
8/10

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ZiggyZambo — 2007-03-31T16:30:03+00:00

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FLo711 — 2007-03-15T08:42:31+00:00

Speed cards in a game

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FLo711 — 2007-03-15T08:34:44+00:00

Front of speed box

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FLo711 — 2007-03-15T08:34:00+00:00

Back of speed box

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tonyfung1205 — 2007-02-27T20:21:11+00:00

Blister Tin Can edition - all content

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tonyfung1205 — 2007-02-27T20:19:58+00:00

Box art (Back - Tin Can)

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tonyfung1205 — 2007-02-27T20:18:39+00:00

Blister Pack Packing

Thread: Re: A Quick Kid-Centric Review

simonh — 2007-02-14T18:38:28+00:00

Great Review.

My 7-year old daughter likes playing this too. We divide the cards into 3 equal piles then I take two piles and she takes one. Getting rid of all the cards is pretty evenly matched when I have twice as many.

A fun game that lasts no more than 5 minutes.

Thread: A Quick Kid-Centric Review

wabner — 2007-02-14T16:18:25+00:00

You see a lot of these types of games all over the place. You wander into a bookstore or a KB Toys or even a Go Gamer and these $5.99 card games are all over the place -- many are fodder and really not worth the time -- Blink is the exception, not so much because it'a great card game for adults, but Blink can be used as a wonderful recognition and quick thinking learning tool for a pre-schooler or early grade school student.

Blink is a lightning fast two-player card game (hence the name) that helps kids to think fast while identifying numbers, shapes, colors, and designs. Each player has a small deck of cards with various shapes and designs on them. There are two target cards set face-up on the table. The players must play a card on one of the targets that match the number of designs, the type of design (a star, tree, circle, etc.) or the color of the design. Players slap these cards down as fast as possible; this is not a turn-based card game -- it's more of a free for all. The winner of the game is the first one to run out of cards. There's no reading involved so it's an ideal game to exercise the brain of a pre-schooler.

A few notes:

When my daughter was in Pre-K I took this game, along with a few others, to "game day". This was a day in which kids brought in games for everyone to play. Blink was an enormous hit. However, at that age a lot of kids' development skills vary a great deal and while one five year old might be quick on the draw in recognizing the patterns and colors, another five year old might stare blankly, getting flustered while their opponent plays card after card.

If your child gets easily flustered when under "pressure" (and Blink can do that due to its frantic nature) you need to go slowly at first, allowing them a chance to see the game more clearly and then speed things up gradually. This helps kids enjoy the game much more -- as they slowly identify what they need to do.

One caveat: You need to pay attention that the kids are playing properly because it's easy for them to just start slapping cards down without paying attention to whether it is a correct play or not. The other player is so focused on his/her own cards that policing the game becomes the parent's job.

The teachers at Pre-K Game Day asked me about Blink and said they were going to go out and buy several copies due to its educational value. As one teacher told me, "This is a game that really helps kids think. It helps work the brain."

I can't think of a better recommendation than that.

Thread: Blink! - A Light Review

Neil Thomson — 2007-01-03T07:45:37+00:00

All of my reviews aim to offer a brief overview that allows people to get a good feel for what the game may offer them. I feel that other reviews can be sought if detailed game mechanics is what you are after.

As this is a game based on educational principles I am also able to draw on my experience as a primary school teacher (Australia) when reviewing them. I hope you find this insight useful.

Blink can be played in as little as 30 seconds and not many games will go longer than one minute let alone two. Surely a game of this timeframe can’t be any good…..care to eat those words?! This is a great little game that lends heavily from a premise or two used by Uno and then adds one or two other elements to the mix. The game consists of 60 cards, which are divided into two equal piles- one pile for each player.

The top card of each deck is then turned over to form a discard pile and both players draw three cards. The aim of the game is to be the first player to exhaust your deck and all cards in your hand by playing them to the table. As soon as a card is played to the table a card should be picked up from the draw pile to replace it, thus enabling players to exhaust their decks.

Each card can have 1 of 6 colours and is made from 1 of 6 different symbols. Finally each card will have a certain number of those symbols ranging from 1 to 5. As soon as the game starts, players can put a card down if it matches the colour, shape or number of symbols of either of the two cards on the discard piles.

The final edge to Blink is that players are not restricted to individual turns. All play is simultaneous as players rush like mad to get that next card down before their opponent, draw replacement cards and exhaust their deck.

The Final Word

I honestly can’t remember seeing or playing a game simpler than Blink (I don’t regard 52 card pickup as a game) and yet it is great fun to play. As your hands move at light speed you can’t help but get a little jittery as your opponent gets their card down just a split second before you, forcing you to re-think which card will go next and for this reason the game is aptly named.

People of any age can enjoy this game and it can be learnt in less than a minute. I ran a ‘Mind Games’ session for Year 12 students at lunchtime and within 15 minutes they were furiously whacking cards down and attempting to beat their best times. Later that day my Year 3 students played it and had just as much fun.

The concept of not limiting players to individual turns is a BIG winner with students, as they love the ability to get in there and race a friend. Blink is also a great resource for helping children visually recognise number patterns quickly and can aid mental retention of those visual images.

This understanding can then aid children in their ability to use dice that use dots rather than numerals, which in turn opens up further understandings. Blink is a great game for the library shelf at home and can easily be played after dinner and before bed as a treat.

As a classroom resource it is ideal for use during maths sessions as multiple plays are possible and a class time-record can be set-up to spur the students on. The game encourages students to have a third person ‘time’ games and offers a series of titles for achieving particular times. Blink is definitely a winner!

One word of warning though is that the cards are not the thickest I have seen. As kids are in a mad rush to get their cards down they can take an awful beating. Thankfully it is a cheap game so replacing it isn't too big a fiscal problem.

Thread: Re: By the time you read this, you could have played twice!

4and20blackbirds — 2006-12-04T19:12:06+00:00

I just bought this yesterday and played a few games with my wife. A very fun game--we had a blast! The only problem I have with it is that, being color-blind, I have to take a moment to confirm that I'm putting red on red and not on brown or green, or vice versa. If I could redesign it, I'd add black and orange in place of brown and green. Thanks for the recommendation of Set--I'm going to put it on my wish list.

Thread: By the time you read this, you could have played twice!

swandive78 — 2006-11-06T18:19:57+00:00

Let me start off by telling you that I like puzzles, I like card games, I like two-player or three-player games, and I like new things (especially games).

Let me now tell you that my wife would not call herself a gamer, does not like competitive games (she can't see why you would want to beat someone you like), is not usually fond of new things for the sake of new things (frugal and thrifty), but does like puzzles (especially pattern-recognition), and is much happier with two-player games than multi-player games (it's easier to keep one person happy).

That makes it difficult to pick a game that will please her.

Blink is one of those games that pleases her, and me as well.

She was discussing my interest in games with a friend, and gaming with children, and had mentioned that she likes Set because anyone can play, and children can play with adults and do well. She does well because she is excellent at pattern-recognition. Her friend told her she should try Blink.

She told me, and to be honest, I thought, "Oh, a kid's game. What fun."
However, I saw it at the store, noticed it was by Out-of-the-Box, noticed it was inexpensive, and noticed it was packaged in a tin. Three points in its favor. Plus, my wife was vaguely interested. Anything to interest her in her own games is a good buy. So I bought it and took it home.

Let me tell you about the components. Blink comes in a bright red two-part tin with the word "BLiNK" exploding on the top of the tin. When you take the lid off, you see sixty cards with the exploding logo on the backs, and a variety of symbols on the fronts. Each card has a combination of six colors, six shapes, and one to five symbols; for example: one green triangle, or four red stars, or five grey crescents. Simple, but easily distinguishable from one another. They kind of look like ESP test cards. The cards feel a little thin (which will contribute to a shorter life than I'll be happy with for this frantically-fingered game, but they will be inexpensive to replace), and a little slick, which makes for frequent fumbles, including inadvertantly drawing more than one card at a time, which influences game play. All in all, I'd say the design of the components was better than the card manufacturing, but that all components were satisfactory for the price.

This is a real-time game, rather than an I-go, you-go type of game.

To set up the game, two cards are dealt face-down to the center of the playing area, and the other fifty-eight cards are split evenly to each player as personal draw piles. Each player then draws three cards from his draw pile as a playing hand, which will be replenished as each card is played.

The two cards in the center of the playing area are flipped, and the game is on. Each player is trying to get rid of his entire draw pile before the other player can do so. You do this by matching one of the cards in your hand to one of the cards in the center of the table. To play a card, your card has to match one of the topmost cards in the center piles in symbol shape, color, or number (or more than one of those categories). You can draw again from your draw pile, or continue playing until your cards are gone and then draw, but you can only have a maximum of three cards in your hand at any one time.

Sounds simple, doesn't it? It is, except for the fact that your opponent is doing the exact same thing at the exact same time. It becomes a frantic race to play and draw. You find yourself freezing as you strain to check your cards against the two play stacks, waiting for your opponent to play a card you can play on, racing your opponent to play on the same card, and fumbling and slipping in an attempt to quickly restock your hand from the draw pile. My wife said she would rather have played with her whole draw pile in her hand, but the three-card hand is the key to throttling this game to manageable proportions.
It's a very clever design.

There are also rules for a three-player game, where each player plays to one play stack in front of each of the other two players. Interesting, and I'm sure it changes the dynamic a bit, and must make it more frantic, and even faster-plauying

It plays quickly, and I can't imagine just playing once and then stopping. Blink begs for "one more game."

It is not as difficult, deep, or headache-provoking as Set (which I highly recommend if this game sounds even vaguely interesting to you), but it uses a lot of the same pattern-recognition circuits in your brain, as well as your manual dexterity and reflexes.

Out of the Box calls this "The World's Fastest Game." Blink doesn't beat out Rock, Paper, Scissors or Tic-Tac-Toe for speed, but it isn't far behind. By the time you have read this review, you could have played Blink twice...or more. It almost takes more time to deal the cards than to actually play a hand.

By the time I finished writing this, I don't even want to think about how many times I could have played Blink. I don't have that many fingers and toes.

Thread: Blink and Multiple Intelligences

sdonohue — 2006-11-03T06:35:02+00:00

Blink is a real-time card game where players try to work though their individual decks as quickly as possible.

Components
60 cards in a metal tin

Game Play
Game play is simple. Each player gets half the deck and draws 3 cards. They then turn over the top card of their deck to form one of two center piles. There are no turns in the game and players can now play as quickly as they can.
Each card has a number of colored symbols (like 5 red stars). Players may play a card from their hand onto either center pile if the card they play is the same color, shows the same symbol, or shows the same number of symbols. Once a card is played another is drawn from the deck. Play continues as fast as possible until one player has played all his cards and is decared the winner. Playing time is very fast, typically less than 3 minutes and almost certainly less than 5.

Intelligences
This review is part of a series of reviews I’m doing as I evaluate games my wife may use in her classroom or that I’m using with my Boy Scouts. Apart from the normal review, I try to identify the kinds of intelligence that the game will use. For an explanation of multiple intelligences, see: my blog post at: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/786097

Logical-Mathematical
Being able to quickly count the number of symbols is helpful.

Spatial
Because the symbols are always arranged in the same pattern, spatial thinkers can recognize the shape formed by that many symbols without bothering to count.

Bodily Kinesthetic
The game has no turns and is played as quickly as possible. This gives those with superior hand-eye coordination an advantage.

Naturalist
Naturalists do well at this game which is really all about grouping and recognizing sets of objects based on one of three criteria.

Age Appropriateness
There is nothing inappropriate in the game. Moving quickly can be hard for younger players. You may need to deliberately slow down in order to help them. You can easily adjust the balance of the game by giving one player a larger section of cards. It can also be adjusted by removing one or more shapes or colors or by removing all cards with certain numbers of symbols to make it easier to play.

Overall
This is a very good game for teaching numbers, colors, and shapes. It involves pattern recognition and sets as well, so it works well for children in Kindergarten and First grade.

Thread: "BLiNK"

flagday1960 — 2005-11-26T07:41:06+00:00

Have played "BLINK" w/10yo girl. Quite fun, as you can "hustle" younger opponents -- allow to succeed -- then sock it to 'em, HA! Seriously, w/ adult/child match-ups, adult can pull punches or feign frustration(at being 1sec. too slow - dang!) to tailor game's pace. Price = great value.

flagday1960

Thread: Re: available at target!!

Yollege — 2005-11-18T23:54:05+00:00

Just picked mine up today too, looks like fun.

I give Target credit for branching out int he games a bit, they carry quite a few non traditional games like Apples to Apples, and I saw Blokus there last week too...

Several other games escape my thought at the moment, but the card games are where they seem to be improving the most...

Thread: Re: available at target!!

peacmyer — 2005-11-13T06:38:19+00:00

Yup. That's where I got mine! Very pleased to see it....

Thread: available at target!!

rlddrummer — 2005-11-13T01:43:21+00:00

I saw this in a local target in the toy section it comes in a metal tin. i think it was called the travel edition but i looked like it had the same amount of cards.. it was only $6!!! if you don't have it nows the time to grab a copy.

Thread: Playing at work

snoozefest — 2005-08-29T08:36:25+00:00

Up late at night, with a few minutes free. Taught 2 non-gamers (J and J) Blink. J grew up paying card games with the family, used to love Monopoly (but it's way too long for her now) and Spades. J is father to a few kids, but probably doesn't play games with them much.

J, the traditional gamer girl, caught on pretty quickly - she'd played Speed/Spit before. J, on the other hand, didn't. We played 3 or 4 rounds; I was always first, followed by J, then J in last place. They refused any kind of handicapping, although I did snag a few extra cards myself a couple of times.

Fun game, great late at night when you don't really want to think.

OK, off to bed now (4:30am!).

Thread: Down with the King!

snoozefest — 2005-08-26T22:17:37+00:00

Brief rules:
- cards have various symbols in different colors and different number per card
- divide deck btwn 2 players
- 3-card hand size
- each player flips 1 card over, and players race to play off card
- legal plays must match top card in number or type of symbols, or color
- first player to discard all cards wins

I generally do very well at this game - in fact, I win almost every time. In fact, I even won the little Out of the Box tournament at a con last year, where I won a gift certificate or something . Anyway, we decided to play a quick game before watching some DVDs (Cold Feet - a British dramedy). Well, I played unusually poorly ... or M played especially well. We argued about legal plays, we bent a card a bit, I got confused at times, and M ended up winning. She won by about half a second ... or a quarter of a second ... or an maybe even an eighth! But anyway, she won.

-----

This is a fun, fast, fast game. A single game is over in minutes. We should have played a few more games, as recommended. But now that M had beaten me, she refused to play any more! Ah well, I'll get her next time!

Thread: Definition of Hands

jgravitt — 2005-07-26T02:55:13+00:00

I think I may be reading "hand" differently than a lot of people. I think hand mean three cards in your hand like a hand of poker. I don't read that as hand like the one with five fingers. If you guys are playing one-handed and grabbing cards and playing them with one-hand, I can see why this is such a dexterity game. Who knows? Maybe that's the way Blink/Speed is supposed to be played.

Thread: Session Report

altivolus — 2005-01-21T02:55:52+00:00

Players: Tim, Matt, and Vlad

It's a 2 player game, but it goes so fast, why not add a 3rd and use 3 piles instead?

We played about 5 quick games to get us pumped up. All were fun by all, even the losers. I think the only downside to this silly game is that it actually takes longer to shuffle and deal out the cards than it does to play.

Still, it was a good start to pump us up for some Power Grid.

Final Tally:

Tim: 4 games
Matt: 0 games
Vlad: 1 game

Thread: User Review

maksum — 2004-09-13T18:45:12+00:00

My Rating: 7/10

Very easy to pick up and learn. A great "quick-play" game, which you can play for 30 seconds (one round) or as long as you'd like (for example, 2 out of 3, or first to 10 wins).

If you've ever played "speed" with face cards, then you'll understand the general concept. However, each card has 1 of 5 symbols, one of 5 colors, and one of 5 counts (number of symbols on the card.) You can place a card from your hand to one of the piles if it matches the top card in any one of these attributes.

The game plays very fast as the likelyhood of one of the cards in either your hand or your opponents will be playable. If one of yours isn't, it's highly likely that that will change when your opponent lays a card down.

The fun comes from the fast real-time (although somewhat chaotic) gameplay and from the "switching of gears" you must do in your brain often to be an effective player. You may be slamming down several cards based on color, then come to a sudden stand-still. Switch your mind from thinking of color to symbols and you're ready to go again. This happens several times during a single round, and it gets to be quite a blast.

It's really a 2-player game, but they thought of a great way to play with 3 players as well, which works well. Those are explained in the instructions. Basically there are 3 piles to deposit cards and you can play on either one of the piles in front of your opponents, but not your own. The instructions claim to have a 4-player mode, but just goes on to suggest you do a tournament... so it's really not a 4-player mode if you ask me.

To be critical, I wonder if the game is just a bit too fast. You are entirely too busy keeping track of your own hand that you simply can't keep track of your opponents. I would say it would be VERY easy to just randomly throw down 10 or more cards in a round, whether they match or not, and not have your opponent notice at all.

The game comes in a nice, sturdy box. It's larger than it really needs to be, but not excessively so. The quality of the cards seems only so-so. It could just be the deck that I got, but the color isn't really that consistent from card to card. There are 2 or 3 different shades of grey for example. It is very noticeable when just thumbing through the cards, but does not really affect gameplay.

Finally, if I were to change one thing about the game I would add more cards. There are several "possible" cards that are missing. For example, the grey star cards may have one with 1 symbol, one with 3, and one with 5, but those with 2 and 4 are missing from the deck. Yes, it would make for a larger deck and longer game, but it's so darn quick, I wouldn't mind if it were just a bit longer. Plus having all those cards could lead to more variants and uses with the deck than playing by the straight rules, I'm sure.

All in all, it's a great little game. A bit chaotic and maybe a bit too fast, but really fun to try and think effectively and minimize your down-time. I have run into the situation more than once when me and my opponent are down to the wire, each with the same number of cards, and the loser was just one card away from playing. Always fun when games are close like that.

I give this game 7 out of 10

Thread: Quick Comments

MisterCranky — 2002-09-10T16:42:40+00:00

Also for the record, playing Blink (for people like myself who dislike the pace of SET) can be QUITE a blast. This game has repeatedly defended my gaming honor against my wife, who is great at SET, but horrible at this "SET on crack" variation....

Thread: General Comment

BoardGameGeek — 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

This game could easily be played with 3 or 4 players. It's better to add a second deck when playing with 3 or 4 but not
absolutely necessary. With 3 player increase the stacks in the center of the table to 3 and with 4 just use 3 also.