Mind Up! Is a unique drafting, tableau building, card game where you try to play a card of the right number in order to collect cards of the right colour.
Read on to find out why we think this game will be a big hit with traditional card game fans as well as hobby gamers looking to fill a card game night or gaps in a regular game night.
Disclosure: Thanks to Pandasaurus for hooking us up with a review copy of this mind bending card game. Links below may be affiliate links, using those costs you nothing extra but helps us offset the cost of hosting cost for this blog. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
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What you get with Mind Up!
Mind Up! Was designed by Maxime Rambourg and features art by Christine Alcouffe. It was originally published in 2023 by French publisher Catch Up Games. It was localized here in North America by Pandasaurus Games a year later.
This clever card game plays three to six players with games taking well under half an hour, with the main time factor being the player count. It’s listed as for ages eight and up but we could see some younger kids being able to play as well, as there’s no reading required.
The Mind Up! deck consists of cards numbered one to sixty coming in five different colours, each colour also has an associated symbol to help tell them apart. The game also includes a set of scoring cards and some optional bonus cards that are used only in the advanced game. Overall, the cards are of excellent quality and the iconography is very clear. I wish more card games had cards this easy to read from across the table.
The game comes in a nice small box with a set of fold out, two-sided instructions. The instructions are simple and well presented. This is one of those games where it’s not a terrible idea to just crack it open on game night, read the rules out loud (or summarize them) and get playing.
We originally shared our thoughts on Mind Up! on Episode 257 of The Tabletop Bellhop Gaming Podcast, Quick Card Games and more, and have continued to enjoy and play it since then. Check out that episode to hear Sean and Deanna’s thoughts on the game.
Collecting Coloured Card Sets in Mind Up!
Mind Up! is played over three rounds of card drafting where you will score points based on the number of cards you have collected in sets of the same colour, with each player being able to collect up to five sets. The value of the sets is based on the order your cards are collected in and is randomized each round.
Set up is simple, shuffle the deck and deal each player 7 cards, then flip up a number of cards equal to the player count and arrange them in ascending order in the center of the play area.
Next you determine the scoring pattern for the game by having one player shuffle their scoring cards and deal them out left to right in front of them. Every other player finds their matching scoring cards and places them out in the same order. It’s important that all players have their scoring cards in the exact same order.
Gameplay in Mind Up! is simultaneous. Each turn everyone selects one card from their hand and places it face down on the table in front of them. Once everyone has selected a card, they are all revealed silmultaneously. Then then revealed cards are sorted into numeric order and placed under the set of cards in the center of the table.
At this point, everyone collects the card that is above the card they just played and the collected card gets added to your tableau. The first time a card in a new colour is drafted it must be placed onto the leftmost scoring card. When a colour of card is drafted that matches an already collected colour it gets placed into the same stack as any other cards of that colour.
The cards that were just played stay on the table and become the cards players are drafting on the next turn. Play continues like this, with players playing one card each face down, revealing and sorting them and then collecting cards from the table based on the numerical order of the cards played.
What’s happening here is you are playing cards based on their number in order to draft new cards which you want based on their colour, while also being aware that every card you play becomes avaliable for anyone to draft in the next round. Also, during rounds one and two, all of the cards in your tableau are going to become your hand for the next round.
Game end is triggered when everyone is down to just one card, and each player must place that card into their tableau as if they just drafted it. Then you calculate scores.
Each scoring card lists a number from one to five, and players score that value for each card stacked onto that scoring card. In addition to this, some cards give bonus positive or negative points which are added or subtracted to get your final score for the round.
The next round begins with everyone picking up all cards in their tableau, and drawing one card from the deck to form their new hand. Scoring cards are re-randomized, and play begins with the cards played at the end of the last round being the first cards up for grab in the new round. The game ends at the end of the third round and the player with the most points wins.
Mind Up! also includes an advanced mode that uses as set of Bonus Cards. A number of them are revealed at the start of the game and they award points to players for fulfilling requirements listed on the cards. These include things like having a specific number, a specific colour of cards, or the most of a colour of card in your tableau at the end of a round, etc.
Mind Up! is a delightfully simple card game with surprising depth
Mind Up! is a delightfully simple game to learn, plays very smoothly and quickly and features more depth than you would expect.
I found that when you play your first game, that first round you aren’t quite sure what you are doing and it feels rather random. As the game goes on you start to learn just how much control you actually have. Deciding what number of card to play isn’t just a matter of playing your highest or lowest card (that is unless you want to draft one of the end cards from the table). You also need to be aware of what you are putting up for grabs for the next round and what numbers you are giving yourself for the next round.
On top of that, the number of cards you want in each set changes with each round as the scoring for each set is randomized. One round you will start with one colour and want to get as many as you can before grabbing others and the next game you are going to want to grab as many colours as you can before you start specializing. Of course while you are doing this everyone else is watching you and good players will start to try to block you from getting what you want, while also trying to get what they need the most. There is a surprising amount of player interaction in Mind Up!
While the basic gameplay in Mind Up! is very easy to grasp I’ve found some players get tripped up on the scoring system. The numbers on the cards only matter for drafting, once the card is in your tableau it’s only the colour that counts. I find new players worry about grabbing big numbers for big points and then want to add up the values of their cards when scoring, which isn’t the way this game works.
If you are teaching the game I recommend making up a fake tableau and scoring it just to make sure everyone is on the same page before the first card is played.
The aspect I like the most about Mind Up! is that you can take it as seriously as you want. I’ve played very casual games where we’re chatting and snacking and having a good time but also happen to be playing a game, and I’ve also played some very cutthroat games.
If you want to take it seriously, card counting can help, though there are so many cards in play there’s no way you can memorize everything. With the way you pick up all of your own cards at the end of the round you could theoretically know exactly what is in everyone’s hands minus that one random card drawn from the deck, but I don’t know anyone who is that good at counting cards. More likely serious players are going to pay attention to where the highest and lowest card are as well as cards that would be part of runs in their hands.
I think the average player is going to play more casually. There’s still a lot of randomness in the game, and the basic mechanics are simple enough that even younger or more inexperienced players can enjoy it. What’s cool about that is, I’ve found the game appeals to a wide variety of game groups.
The heavy gamers are all about card counting, trying to outplay each other and setting themselves up for the next round, whereas the casual players are tactically looking at each turn as an independent thing, and I’ve seen both groups have a great time with Mind Up!
Mind Up! is a game where I recommend every style of gamer should at least give it a try. I really do think that it is going to be great for a wide variety of gaming styles. We’ve broken this one out as a filler on a heavy game night, and we’ve also had it out after midnight on New Years, and it’s gone over just as well on both occasions. It’s also been very popular at our local game nights, where again we’ve seen it enjoyed by a variety of different groups, from families to hobby board gamers.
FAQs
How much math is there in Mind Up!?
Despite featuring cards numbered one through sixty, Mind Up! doesn’t have a lot of math. You are never adding up the values of your cards. Instead you are counting up how many cards you’ve collected of each colour and multiplying that by a number from 1 to 5.
How much does Mind Up! cost?
Mind Up! has a very reasonable MSRP of $15 USD. It can also often be found on sale, making it even cheaper.
Can you play Mind Up! with Two Players? How about Solo?
Because of the way cards are drafted in Mind Up!, the game just doesn’t work with anything less than three players. It’s a very quick game with three, but we’ve found it the most enjoyable with four or more.
That’s all I have to say about Mind Up! What I like the most about this game is that it’s the perfect length and game weight to appeal to a wide range of players and is great for different types of game nights. I’ve used it as a filler and also as a main game on a casual card game night.
What’s a game you dig that has this kind of almost universal appeal? A game you will break out when visiting family and also with your regular game group? Leave a comment below!
- STRATEGIC CARD PLAY: Engage in a clever card game where players simultaneously reveal and order cards to build their tableau.
- DYNAMIC GAME MECHANICS: Start with a line of cards on the table and strategically choose cards to play, aiming to score points based on color and order.
- FAST-PACED ROUNDS: Experience quick rounds that end when only one card remains in each player’s hand, adding to their tableau and scoring points.
2 Responses
Playing a number to win a colour is such a neat twist on drafting, and “no reading required” is a big deal for mixed-age tables. Good point that it works for both traditional card game fans and hobby gamers. Those bridge games are the ones that actually get played at family gatherings. Nice, thorough review.
Thanks!
Moe T