# The Mind — play in order, without a word

- From: The Mind, a card game by Wolfgang Warsch
- Players: 2–4 players
- Time: 10 min
- Made by: Wolfgang Warsch, 2018
- This version: Homemade cards; levels 1 to 4 only, without the published rewards and throwing stars

Made with boardgameBuilder 0.14.4. To design from it, open boardgameBuilder and choose Open game: its blocks go on the canvas, and the feelings are left for you to pick.

Everyone holds numbered cards and the team must play them all onto one pile in rising order. There are no turns, and nobody may speak or signal. You play when you sense it is time.

## What it shows a designer

With speech removed, the only channel left is timing. Players build a shared rhythm, which shows how a rule that takes something away can make a new kind of play.

## What you need

- 100 paper cards numbered 1 to 100
- coins or paper bits for lives

## How to play

1. **Set up.** Shuffle the 100 cards. The team has as many lives as there are players.
2. **Deal a level.** In level 1, deal one card to each player; in level 2, two cards each; and so on. Look at your own cards only.
3. **Play in silence.** Anyone may play their lowest card onto the pile at any moment. No talking and no signals. The pile has to rise: every card higher than the one before.
4. **Mistakes.** If someone plays a card while another player still holds a lower one, the team loses a life. Everyone shows and discards their cards lower than the one played, and the level goes on.
5. **End.** Clear level 4 and the team wins. Lose the last life and the team loses.

## After playing, talk about

- How did you decide when to play a 40?
- Did the group find a shared sense of time? When did it break?
- What happened when someone hesitated?

## Where the rules are written down

- https://themind.gg/rules.pdf

## Its blocks

- Core mechanic: playing in silence
- Victory condition: shared objective
- Player interaction: fully cooperative
- Chance or skill: attunement
- Information visibility: hidden hands
- Timing: no turns

## Saved state

boardgameBuilder reads this part back when the file is opened.

```json
{"mechanics": {"core-mechanic": ["playing-in-silence"], "victory-condition": "shared-objective", "player-interaction": "fully-cooperative", "chance-skill": "attunement", "information": "hidden-hands", "timing": ["no-turns"]}, "chosenFeelings": [], "previousMechanics": {}, "previousFeelings": [], "turnNumber": 0, "locked": false, "turnHistory": [], "answers": {}, "tests": {}}
```