Top 105 · #17 of 19 in Co-op
The Mind
A telepathic cooperative game in which you lay cards numbered 1 to 100 down in ascending order with no talking and no signals — you have only your read of the others and your sense of time. The rules are simple, but getting the team to feel the same moment together is what makes it so absorbing.
👨👧👦 Played with our kids
Played with children aged 7 and 5.
Rules
A cooperative game in which you lay cards numbered 1 to 100 down in ascending order with no talking and no signals. The rules fit on one page; the hard part is the team feeling together when the moment to play has come.
Read this first
This game is better if you start without knowing how it works
The official rulebook also recommends learning the rules and starting right away. You may lose a life in your first game, but the moment the team works the trick out for itself is the biggest reward this game has. The rulebook's own explanation is in the «Secret» section at the bottom of this guide — play one game before you read it.
Components
| Component | Count |
|---|---|
| Number cards | 100 (1–100, no duplicates) |
| Level cards | 12 (levels 1–12) |
| Lives | 5 |
| Throwing stars | 3 |
All the players are one team. You win together and you lose together.
Setup
| Players | Levels | Starting lives | Starting throwing stars |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1–12 | 2 | 1 |
| 3 | 1–10 | 3 | 1 |
| 4 | 1–8 | 4 | 1 |
- Lay the right number of lives and throwing stars face up on the table. Put the rest at the edge of the table — they come back later as rewards.
- Stack the level cards in ascending order so that level 1 is on top. Unused levels go back in the box.
- Shuffle the 100 number cards and deal 1 card to each player, since this is level 1. Put the rest face down at the edge of the table.
Playing — there are no turns
- 1Everyone ready to start the level places a hand palm down on the table. Once all hands are down, everyone lifts them at the same time and play begins.
- 2Play the cards in your hand onto a single pile in the middle in ascending order. The lowest card anybody still holds has to come first.
- 3There are no turns. Whoever believes they hold the lowest card simply plays it.
- 4Cards go down one at a time. Holding the 36 and the 37 you may play them back to back, but still one at a time.
- 5Once every card is down in ascending order, the team has completed the level.
What you must never do
You may not say what your cards are or show them. No discussion either, and no secret signals — no glances, hand signs, or coughs. All you have is the passing of time.
You can stop and refocus at any time
If concentration slips, anybody may say «stop» to interrupt play. Everyone puts a hand back on the table, refocuses, lifts their hands, and play goes on. You may do this as often as you like.
A mistake costs one life
- 1If someone plays a card out of order, whoever is holding a lower card halts the game immediately.
- 2Move one life to the edge of the table.
- 3Set aside every card lower than the last one played. That can be several cards from several players.
- 4Put your hands together to refocus and continue the same level. You do not start the level over.
Throwing stars — the whole team has to agree
- At any point during a level, anybody may raise a hand to suggest playing a throwing star.
- It only happens if everyone agrees.
- When it does, everybody discards the lowest card in their hand face up to one side.
- Move one throwing star to the edge of the table, refocus, and carry on.
Use it when the numbers are packed tight and a crash looks likely. Everybody sheds one low card, so the gaps between the remaining cards widen and the level gets much easier.
Rewards and the next level
- When you complete a level, put the top level card in the box.
- Shuffle all 100 cards again and deal each player as many cards as the new level number. Level 3 means 3 cards each.
- Completing levels 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, and 9 earns a reward. What you get is printed in the bottom right corner of the level card (1 life or 1 throwing star).
- Rewards come from the edge of the table. The maximum is 5 lives and 3 throwing stars.
End of the game
- Complete every level in the stack and the whole team wins.
- Lose your last life and the game ends there in defeat.
Blind mode (the official extra challenge)
If you completed every level, start again from level 1 right away — but this time the cards go on the pile face down. Keep whatever lives and throwing stars you have left. At the end of a level, turn the pile over and check the order; every mistake costs one life. Everything else is the same.
The secret — the rulebook's explanation (read it after one game)
The Mind is a game of synchronization built on your sense of time. The lower a card is, the sooner it comes out. A 5 is played almost at once, while an 80 stays in hand for a long while.
Game after game, the team's sense of time lines up and you build a feel for how long a given number should wait. What looks at first like pure luck turns into a real skill at some point.
This is not a game of counting seconds
The rulebook says so outright. Time does pass inside each player's head, but usually faster than one second per number, and it changes with the level. The secret is a feeling of «now is the moment» that the team shares.
Commonly confused rules
Q. Can I at least say «I have a low card»?
No. You may not pass on any information about your cards. Signals agreed through faces or gestures break the rule too.
Q. What if a card is played out of order and nobody notices?
A player holding a lower card has to halt the game. Only the player whose card is affected can know it happened.
Q. Does a mistake mean replaying the level from the start?
No. You lose one life, set the lower cards aside, and continue the same level.
Q. Can I play the 36 and the 37 together?
They go down one at a time. Playing them back to back is fine, but you may not put two cards down at once.
Q. Can I play a throwing star on my own?
No. You raise a hand to suggest it and every player has to agree.
Q. How many cards does a throwing star discard?
One each — the lowest card in every player's hand. The whole team sheds one card.
Q. Are the cards reshuffled every level?
Yes. All 100 cards are shuffled again and dealt out fresh for each level.
History and editions
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Designer | Wolfgang Warsch |
| Publisher | Nürnberger-Spielkarten-Verlag (NSV), 2018 |
| North American edition | Pandasaurus Games, 2018 |
| Award | Nominated for the 2018 Spiel des Jahres |
| Follow-up | Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The Mind Extreme | 2018 | An ascending pile and a descending pile at the same time |
| The Game | 2015 | A cooperative card game in the same vein, by a different designer |
In 2018 Wolfgang Warsch became widely known when three of his games — «The Mind», «Ganz schön clever», and «The Quacks of Quedlinburg» — were nominated across the Spiel des Jahres and Kennerspiel des Jahres categories in the same year.
Sources
Official NSV rulebook (The Mind, English)Official Korean rulebook — Popcorn Games, «The Mind» rulebook (published by Popcorn Games, translated by Park Jun-young)Wiki cross-check — Wikipedia: The MindWiki cross-check — Namuwiki: The MindSpiel des Jahres — official overview of the 2018 nomineesRule summaries are reference content written by us, not quotations from the official rulebook. Always check the official rulebook for exact rules. Diagrams are original schematics, not rulebook illustrations.
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Last updated 2026-10-24
💡 Master tip
The key is to turn the size of a number into seconds and set the clock in your head to it. Completing levels 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, and 9 earns a reward — one life or one throwing star, whichever the level card shows. Do not hoard throwing stars; use them!
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Digital level and life tracker
Shows the current level, the lives left, and the number of throwing stars, and flags the reward levels
Focus ambient music
Ambient sound and a timer that help the team sync their sense of time
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