Discover mindbugour board game of the week, co-designed by the father of Magic. A card game game design minimalist, and simple in appearance, but amusingly surprising.
What is the card game mindbug ?
mindbug is a card game of confrontation for two players. With only ten cards, play creatures and attack your opponent to reduce their life points to zero. But be careful not to have your best cards stolen. Accessible from 8 years old, for 2 players only, a game lasts about 20 minutes.
Edited by Iello, mindbug is a game by Skaff Elias, Richard Garfield, Marvin Hegen and Christian Kudahl, illustrated by Denis Martynets, sold for €15.90 at Philibert.
What are the rules of the game mindbug ?
Installing maps
The setup couldn’t be simpler and quicker: each player receives ten cards at random from the fifty contained in the box, and draws five. Throughout the game, as soon as you have less than five cards in your hand, you replenish it (as long as there are cards left in your draw pile). And that’s all !
All cards are creatures, with a power (from 1 to 10), and, in most cases, with a triggered ability (when it is played, when it attacks, or when it is destroyed) or permanent.
Finally, each player starts the game with only three small life points.
Goal of the game
A game turn is just as simple: either you play a card from your hand, or you attack the opponent with a previously played creature. The latter then decides to let her pass, and lose a life point, or to defend himself with one of his own creatures. Their strength is compared, and the weakest is destroyed.
Then it’s his turn, and so on until one of the two players loses his last life point.
“Okay, it’s kind of battle improved… yeah, okay…” you say to yourself. Yes, it’s true, in a way. But with a “little” twist that makes all the difference.
Indeed, each player can, twice in the game (and only twice, it’s important), steal the card you just played. Poor compensation, you directly replay a turn.
“And is THAT what changes everything?” »
Why play the card game mindbug ?
Yes, it is this simple rule, harmless moreover, which makes pass mindbugfrom a nice little battle game to what will become one of the best card games of the year. Just that. The bets are open !
Bluff, against bluff, risk taking, despite his game designminimalist, the gaming sensations provided by mindbugare intense. Should you play your high card now, at the risk of having it stolen? Or first bait the opponent with another, weaker one, at the risk of losing a turn, somehow? On the other hand, the card that the opponent has just played seems strangely strong: is he trying to bluff me, is it better that I let it pass to steal another one later… only knots in the brain.
Except that no card in the game is inherently stronger or weaker than another. It all depends on the context, the creatures previously played, those still in our hand, those in our deck that we only discover when we draw them, etc. Beyond their strength, we must also (especially even) take into account their ability, which can really reverse the course of a game.
If we discover the cards and we play a little randomly during the first games, very quickly we begin to know them to reach a higher level of play: the one where we consider the cards that our opponent could have in his deck. . If I steal that creature, but he plays this one afterwards, I’m done. On the contrary, if I manage to pass this one and he doesn’t have another in his deck, I take the lead, unless another card’s ability allows him to destroy it. In short, even bigger knots in the brain.
Obviously, from time to time, depending on the draw of cards, we feel that certain games cannot be won. It’s true, it’s possible. Maybe we just stole the wrong creature at the wrong time, and whatever happens, the games are so fast and engaging that a rematch is enough.
You will understand, we fell in love with mindbug . If you like two-player battle and combo (lightweight) card games, it’s very likely that this happens to you too. Without detracting any merit from the other co-authors, we recognize the paw of the father of Magic . mindbugthat’s it: a Magicon steroids, from which we would have removed all the complicated and indigestible rules accumulated over the years.
Obviously, after Black DistrictOr Duel Splendorfans of two-player games have been spoiled as rarely in recent weeks.
The verdict
We liked
- Disconcerting rules of simplicity
- Fast, nervous, tense parts
- The pleasure of sowing doubt in the mind of the adversary…
- …then getting caught in his own trap
- All in a small box
We liked less
- Uh…
- Maybe…oh no
- Or else… either
- In fact, nothing!
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