Blink-ing is fun
I’ve been beat repeatedly, in a card game, by a 5 year old. I’ve tried, really tired to win and I’d say I’ve won about 2% of the over 100 times we’ve played. We were given the game Blink for one of our children’s birthdays, we had no idea it would soon bring out the hooting and hollering from our youngest, when he wins nearly every time!
Blink was invented by a German school teacher, Reinhard Staup, in 1995 and is appropriately named “Speed” in many parts of Europe. When Reinhard says the game can be explained in 1 minute and played in 21 seconds, it should be about speed. Mattel now manufactures this game and can be picked up at many Learning Express Toy Stores, or bought on-line.
BLINK is about quick thinking compare and contrast. 2 players are needed and they each have a half the deck of cards. The goal is be the first to play all your cards from your deck. The great thing about this game, no reading, no turn taking and even a very young player can become and expert in no time.
Six shapes and six colors and three numbers. The game starts with a deck for each player, each player lays down one random (or top) card on the table to be used by both players. The players have 3 cards in their hands at a time, great for small hands. Compare your cards to the 2 on the table, and this is where quick recognition is the key, maybe adults tend to analyze the choices too much and the kids use automatic reflex to win before the other player can blink.
The shapes are- as we like to call them- a tear drop, star, lightning bolt, moon crescent and puff ( flower shape). The colors are red, grey, yellow, blue and green, easy to see. Each card has one of the six shapes in one of the six colors and has either one, two or three shapes all of the same color on it. The object is to match any of the cards in your hand based on one common characteristic of one of the two cards on the table. See a card on the table that has two blue crescents on it? You could play any card with two objects, or any card with blue objects or a card with any number or color of crescents . Keep in mind that there will be two choices on the table and if you are not quick enough, your opponent (your child who will most likely win) can change the cards before you blink and lay your match on the table.
This game is very fun, fast and easy to play. Playing uses visual memory by needing to compare what you see on the table to what you have in your hand and vice versa, it quickens this skill without challenge, great for help with reading. The mechanics of vision is exercised by the back and forth of looking at the table, about a foot away, to the cards in the hand, about book reading distance away. It uses fine motor skills demanding the players to quickly grab slippery cards from a deck, hold them and then pick one to place on the table. It uses eye hand coordination needing to place a card on top of a matching card. Lots of visual processing, language building and mathematics are all exercised in a short quick amount of time, and with nearly instant gratification. Looking at what they see, processing the 3 choices to compare and turning into pictures in their heads, then turning it around to do a mental check list of what they are looking for in their hands and choosing correctly those same traits all while working under pressure, by choice, releases adrenaline that can increase memory and also gives players good feelings about the moment.
This game is a top pick for any family. The cards come in a handy tin container making it an awesome companion for travel, camping or to put in your bag to pull out when you anticipate needing to entertain your child for a few minutes. I need to go play with my husband so maybe I can beat my 6 year old tomorrow!
We buy BLINK at Learning Express in stores, you can also pruchase it on-line at Magic Beans by clicking here . . .
