Rules of The Mind

The Mind Rule

Goal of the Game

Placement of cards in ascending order

The Mind is a collaborative game where all the players work together as a team with the aim of defeating all the levels of the game.
The goal of The Mind is to succeed in placing the cards in ascending order from 1 to 100. 

In each level, every player receives a number of cards equal to the level they’re in (one card in level 1, two cards in level 2, etc).
Without revealing their hands to each other, the players must try to place the cards in ascending order from 1 to 100.

The game is designed to be played with 2, 3, or 4 players, but it still can be played with more.

Setup

Before the start of the game, the level, life, and throwing star cards are given to the team. The number of cards they receive depends on how many players there are:

  • 2 players: Levels 1 to 12, two lives, and one throwing star.
  • 3 players: Levels 1 to 10, three lives, and one throwing star.
  • 4 players: Levels 1 to 8, four lives, and one throwing star.

As you can see, the team will always start the game with one throwing star.
The rest of the life and throwing star cards are put aside as a supply.

Start of the Game

At the start of the game:

  • The cards are shuffled and each player is dealt one card (remember, the number of cards each player receives each round is equivalent to the level they’re in. Because the game starts in level 1 each player receives one card). The rest of the cards are set aside in a stack.
  • The players look at their cards.
  • Each player who’s ready to play places one hand, palm down on the table. Once everyone has placed a hand on the table, they take a moment to concentrate and then remove their hands to begin playing.

Gameplay

During the course of the game:

  • Each player places a card in the center of the table if they think no other player has a lower card.
    • Players place their cards whenever they want. In other words, there is no order of play.
    • Every player must always place the lowest card in their hand. For example, if a player has a 62, 88, 41, and 54, they must place the 41 first.
  • 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:
    • The team loses one life (one life card is taken away).

Only one life is lost regardless of how many other players had lower cards or how many lower cards they had.

  • All players set aside any cards in their hands that are lower than the card that was wrongly placed.
  • The game then continues as long as the team still has at least one life remaining.

The team earns more lives and throwing stars when certain levels are completed.

Levels and Their Rewards

When a level is completed, the team receives either a throwing star or a life depending on what is written on that level’s card. Here’s each level and its reward:


Level
Reward
1Nothing.
21 throwing star.
31 life.
4Nothing.
51 throwing star.
61 life.
7Nothing.
81 throwing star.
91 life.
10, 11, and 12Nothing.

End of the Game

The Mind ends in either a win or a loss.
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?

When all the players agree to use it, the throwing star allows each player to get rid of their lowest card by placing it face up in front of them on the table. Once a throwing star has been used, it is returned to the supply stack.

Variations

Here are some rule variations:

  1. To simplify the game and play it with children, play in sets of 10’s: In level 1, only the cards from 1 to 10 are shuffled and dealt, and the team is required to place them in ascending order. In level 2, the cards from 11 to 20 are used. In level 3, the cards 21 to 30 are used, and so on. The game continues like this until the team runs out of lives or wins by completing the final level which will be the set from 91 to 100.
  2. Play in blind mode by placing the cards face down. This makes the game very difficult.
  3. Play in descending order: From 100 to 1.
  4. Play around the “50” card: The team tries to place the cards closest to 50 first, whether the card to be placed is higher or lower than 50.
  5. There is a version called The Mind Extreme in which the game is played in both ascending and descending order at the same time. It requires much more concentration.🙂
  6. Play without throwing stars to make the game more difficult.