The Mind Game is like Sitting in Traffic
Playing the Mind Card Game is a bit like sitting in traffic. Or it’s like waiting to see who will take the last slice of pizza or pie. This is a game where you have to read people’s body language and nuances, and gestures. Are they eyeing that piece of pepperoni pizza? Wouldn’t it be rude to take the last piece?
That’s how I would describe a big part of what it’s like when playing The Mind with your friends. Who has the lower number? Is my 17 lower than his or her card? What if she has the 16? But what if he has the 19? These are the things that players need to gauge without speaking to another directly about the cards they hold or the numbers on them.
And yet, players MUST and often DO put their cards down in the correct order, even though no one has verbally said anything at all about their cards — let alone the number on it. It’s kind of like this – even though I may have gotten to the Stop sign before the car to my left, it might be that they are in a hurry, in a much bigger hurry, and I can tell because they’re halfway through the stop sign or because they were driving fast when approaching the sign.
That’s one tactic that players use when playing the Mind. How badly does that player want to put their card down? More than me? And what are they willing to bet to do?
Hey, the traffic analogy is only one real-world application of the game – the real question for us and our minds is, what else does the game say about real life and how we play?
