Blink How to Play Quick Links: | Objective | Setup | Playing the Game | No Current Matches | Winning the Game | Three Player Blink | Tournament Play | Balanced Play | FAQ | Components |
Objective of Blink
The objective of Blink is to be the first player to play all of the cards from your hand.
Setup
- Shuffle the cards and deal them face down into two face down piles. Each pile should have the same number of cards.
- Each player takes one of the draw piles without looking at any of the cards.
- Both players take the top card from their draw pile and place it face down on the table. The players should place the two cards next to each other.
- Each player takes the top three cards from their draw pile and adds them to their hand. Players can look at the cards in their own hand.
Playing Blink
When both players are ready to start the game, each player will flip over the card they put face down in the center of the table. After the players have turned over both cards, the game starts.
You will play Blink in a fast paced manner. There are no turns as players can play cards whenever they want.
To play a card from your hand it needs to match the card on top of one of the two center piles. A card can match in one of three ways:
- Color
- Shape
- Number of Symbols
If you have a card that matches in one of these ways, you can play it face up on the corresponding pile as quickly as possible. You may only play one card at a time to the center piles.
After you play a card, you will draw the next card from your draw pile to refill your hand to three cards. You may only have a maximum of three cards in your hand at any time.
No Current Matches
Occasionally there will be situations where neither player have a card in their hand that they can play. In this case you will pause the normal play of the game.
If both players have at least one card left in their draw pile, both players take the top card from their draw pile. Each player places this card on top of one of the two center piles. Once both new cards have been placed, the game continues where it left off.
If one or both of the players no longer have cards left in their draw pile, each player chooses a card from their hand. Both players will place their chosen card on one of the center piles at the same time. Once both cards have been played, the game will resume where it left off.
Should both players only have one card left in their hand, the game ends in a tie.
Winning Blink
The first player to play all of the cards from their hand and draw pile wins the game.
You could also choose to play more than one game. Whichever players wins the most games is the ultimate winner of the game.
Three Player Blink
For the most part three player blink is played the same as the normal game.
To start the game the cards are evenly distributed into three piles. Each player gets one of the piles of cards. Each player takes the top card from their draw pile. They will all turn their card face up at the same time and place it between them and the player on their right.
When playing cards you still need to find matches like the normal game. The one exception is that you can only play a card to the pile on your left or right. You cannot play a card to the pile between the other two players.
Four or More Players/Tournament Play
If there are four or more players, you will follow tournament rules.
Players will play in two player games. You will play three games against your opponent. The player that wins two games moves on in the tournament. The last player remaining in the tournament wins the game.
Balanced Play
If one player is considerably faster than the other, you can give more cards to the faster player to make the game more balanced.
Blink FAQs
If you have any questions about how to play Blink, leave a comment below on this post. I will try to answer any questions asked as best and as quickly as possible.
Blink Components
- 60 cards (10 cards of 6 different colors)
- Instructions
Year: 1995 | Publisher: Mattel, Out of the Box Publishing | Designer: Reinhard Staupe | Artist: Oliver Freudenreich, John Kovalic, Ariel Laden, Jürgen Martens
Genres: Card, Family, Speed
Ages: 7+ | Number of Players: 2+ | Length of Game: 10 minutes
Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: Moderate-High
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