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Author Topic: The Mind  (Read 4029 times)

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Kuildeous

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The Mind
« on: June 20, 2018, 10:08:52 am »
+2

I had read about The Mind, and it intrigued me. I finally got to play a few games at Origins. It doesn't feel like it'd be a game that would work, but it does. I wouldn't expect to get hours of enjoyment out of it at a time, but it's a fun time-killer.

The premise is that you have a deck of cards numbered 1 to 100. At level 1, each player is given a card. The players indicate they are ready by placing their hand on the table. That's the only communication. Now you have to play the cards in ascending order without talking to your teammates.

Some cards are easy to play. If you have a 1-9 in your hand, you should probably play that immediately so that nobody else plays a higher card. But if you have one of those moments where the lowest card in someone's hand is a 48, expect a grueling contest of wills as people try to figure out if they have the lowest card since nobody jumped in first. It reminds me of the logic puzzle of men wearing black and white hats, and the person in front can figure out what his hat color is if the men behind him don't immediately say anything.

Each subsequent level gives you more cards, which is perhaps a bit easier than level 1 because you're likely to see a better distribution of cards, but you still have to contend with the fact that four players at level 5 are trying to lay down 20 cards in numerical order.

There's another element that I haven't seen much of, but I believe that when you gain a "shuriken" after a level, you may spend that shuriken later to have everyone discard their lowest card. So if you reach that 48 scenario, then you may be able to ease things a bit.

It's a goofy game, and it's not exceptionally deep, but it can make you feel like it is.
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crj

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2018, 12:21:44 pm »
+2

Has anyone tried playing it with (other) musicians?

My assumption is that each round degenerates into counting 120bpm minims for 100 seconds. Or, if you're impatient and hardcore, 120bpm semiquavers for 25 seconds.

I know that even without any kind of reference, my absolute sense of time is accurate to within 3%. So consecutive cards would have to be spaced by about 30 for there to be any risk of collision. My feeling is that would happen rarely enough you could just spend a shuriken when it did.
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Kuildeous

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2018, 12:26:15 pm »
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I wondered about an unspoken rule of counting. I feel like maybe that's kinda cheating, but how can you stop yourself without intentionally shooting yourself in the foot?

But it would assume that everyone else is counting too, and that can backfire. 

No idea if musicians would just naturally fall into that without any discussion ahead of time.
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Watno

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2018, 01:07:16 pm »
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I was really surprised I enjoyed it as well.

Btw, I was totally counting.
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gkrieg13

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2018, 01:36:12 pm »
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I think you are allowed to do anything non-verbal as long as you haven't told anyone what it means.  That means that when one person has the 99 and one has the 100, walking out of the room with the 100 should be a valid play, showing that you would never play it except for last. 

I actually enjoy playing the mind more with people who think the signals they are making are under being understood, when you have no idea what they are trying to tell you by putting their card out further on the table
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GendoIkari

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2018, 07:27:24 pm »
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So yeah, I just played this, and I loved it. I do think that if you play too often, especially with the same people, it will get less fun over time, and perhaps just degenerate into an exercise in counting. I've heard from somewhere else that Jazz musicians are really good at the game. But when playing with a new group of people for each game; and avoiding specifically counting exact things in your head, it really is fun.
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Cuzz

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #6 on: September 26, 2018, 10:31:03 am »
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I like this game a lot. It doesn't quite seem like it should work, but it really does. The concept is so simple it's kind of amazing no one had thought of it before.
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infangthief

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2022, 11:21:58 am »
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This game is good enough to justify a 3-year necro here!

My wife and I have played this quite a lot. 2 player seems a lot easier than multi-player, especially if it is the same two players. But it's a such a great game for introducing to others, gamers and non-gamers alike, and every group is different.

Here's an interesting variant (2-player only, sorry!) which gives everything a crazy twist:
Each round, after dealing the cards, each player arranges their hand in order, then swaps it with the other player.
Now, you don't look at your new hand of cards. You hold them facing the other player and play like that.
You have no idea what the next card you are going to play is, but you can see the next card that they are going to play.

I don't think this variant would work with more than 2 players, because everyone would end up looking at the player with the lowest card each time.
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jakav

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2022, 08:25:57 pm »
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Well, who wants to play? (I probably won't but I would like to watch)
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Galzria

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2022, 11:10:05 pm »
0

I’ll play - haven’t read the thread, but this is the game that Tom Scott had on his channel, yes?
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Quote from: Voltgloss
Derphammering is when quickhammers go derp.

Faust has also been incredibly stubborn this game. In other news, it's hot in the summer, and water falls from the sky when it rains.


Mafia Record:
TOWN Wins: M3, M5, M6, M11, M17, M28, M32, M105, M108, M114, M118, M120, M122, DM1, DoM1, OZ2, RM45, RM47, RM48, RM49, RM55
TOWN Losses: M4, M7, M8, M9, M13, M14, M18, M31, M110, M111, M113, M117, M125, RM3, RM4, RM54
SCUM Wins: M2, M19, M23, M100, DM3, RM1, RM2, RM48, RM50
SCUM Losses: M15 (SK), M102 (Tr), OZ1, RM55

Total Wins: 30
Total Losses: 20

Galzria

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #10 on: January 29, 2022, 11:11:00 pm »
0

I’ll play - haven’t read the thread, but this is the game that Tom Scott had on his channel, yes?

Oh, no, it’s not. But we should play that too. I’ll play this too though.
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Quote from: Voltgloss
Derphammering is when quickhammers go derp.

Faust has also been incredibly stubborn this game. In other news, it's hot in the summer, and water falls from the sky when it rains.


Mafia Record:
TOWN Wins: M3, M5, M6, M11, M17, M28, M32, M105, M108, M114, M118, M120, M122, DM1, DoM1, OZ2, RM45, RM47, RM48, RM49, RM55
TOWN Losses: M4, M7, M8, M9, M13, M14, M18, M31, M110, M111, M113, M117, M125, RM3, RM4, RM54
SCUM Wins: M2, M19, M23, M100, DM3, RM1, RM2, RM48, RM50
SCUM Losses: M15 (SK), M102 (Tr), OZ1, RM55

Total Wins: 30
Total Losses: 20

scolapasta

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #11 on: January 29, 2022, 11:28:30 pm »
+1

I'd be willing to try - feels like online would be especially hard, since you woudn't know if delays were just due to people being offline.
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infangthief

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #12 on: January 30, 2022, 12:17:51 pm »
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I think forum Mind would only work if it was blitz, like rounds of drunk mafia.

I've played it on a chat platform with each person randomly generating their own numbers - you can end up with multiple people having the same number, in which case we just rule that it does not matter what order they go. That works, and the slowness of some people's internet connections adds to the hilarity.

If it's a traditional forum game style then I think the "counting" mentioned in earlier posts would completely break it. It's just a question of how "dedicated" people are to making it work, which makes it not fun. "Count" at a rate of 1 number per day anyone?
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anordinaryman

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #13 on: February 02, 2022, 11:14:45 pm »
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My girlfriend and I discovered a technique to win the final most difficult rounds. The rules are if you play a card out of order, you lose a life, and then everyone discards cards lower than that mis-played card.

Which opens this up for exploitation. For the last two rounds we had three lives, and I played the highest card in my hand, losing a life, and discarding all the rest of my cards, then only my girlfriend had cards left (or maybe none) to win the round without any chance of losing another life.

This depends on you making sure you have enough lives left over for the final rounds, but it works.

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infangthief

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #14 on: February 03, 2022, 05:31:44 am »
+1

How about a "hidden traitor" mechanism?

One player is the traitor, playing against the team and trying to sabotage the whole thing without being caught.
Each player can, once per game, accuse someone of being the traitor. If they're wrong then the team loses a life. If they're right then the team wins.
Probably increase the number of starting lives.
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infangthief

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #15 on: February 03, 2022, 06:00:14 am »
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Another thought we've often had on this game is at what point would the levels start getting easier again (if you ignore the game ending at level 12/10/8)?

Eg in the extreme, a 4 player game would become trivial at level 25. Level 24 would be fairly easy also.

2 players, we tried going beyond level 12 once and did another 3 or 4 levels without losing a life. But how would we have done if we'd just leapt in at level 16 without the acclimatisation of previous levels?
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Mic Qsenoch

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #16 on: February 05, 2022, 12:21:42 pm »
+2

My girlfriend and I discovered a technique to win the final most difficult rounds. The rules are if you play a card out of order, you lose a life, and then everyone discards cards lower than that mis-played card.

Which opens this up for exploitation. For the last two rounds we had three lives, and I played the highest card in my hand, losing a life, and discarding all the rest of my cards, then only my girlfriend had cards left (or maybe none) to win the round without any chance of losing another life.

This depends on you making sure you have enough lives left over for the final rounds, but it works.

This is against the rules, you are only allowed to play your lowest card. (At least the rules here: https://www.ultraboardgames.com/the-mind/game-rules.php)
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crj

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Re: The Mind
« Reply #17 on: February 05, 2022, 02:48:48 pm »
0

Another thought we've often had on this game is at what point would the levels start getting easier again?
I've known ensemble musicians to do very well at the game simply by playing in strict ♩=120 tempo. Each round takes precisely 50 seconds, no mistakes.
But that's against the spirit of the game and not much fun once they've shown off the stunt once to their friends.

The game currently maxes out at a third of the deck. And I suspect that was chosen because if you go much higher you force players into a boring, precise rhythm.
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