Review: The Mind Soulmates (NSV) – English

Are you soul mates or are you just psychic? Try finding out through The Mind Soulmates, a new variation of the popular card game The Mind.

The Mind is probably not unfamiliar to many players (or frequent players). In fact, this game became incredibly popular a few years ago. The game, published in Dutch by White Goblin Games, was a cooperative game fairly similar to the game with an unfortunate title The Game, also by White Goblin Games. In the Mind, players try to play cards in the correct order in levels that become increasingly difficult. Players receive a card or hand of cards (depending on the level) and are not allowed to communicate with each other about which cards they have in hand and which cards they will play. Players are therefore completely dependent on intuition or how much they are attuned to each other.

The Mind Soulmates is a variation on the classic. Much of the game play is similar, but there are some subtle changes that make the game feel different.

In Soulmates, players try to beat 12 levels with 3 or 4 lives. For each level, one player is the seer. This player gets to look at some of the cards from this round before players begin playing and also write down a number from these cards as a hint to the other players. The cards are then distributed among the players and they will play the cards (this time) closed in the middle of the table.

After all the cards have been played, the seer will check if the cards have been played in the correct order and otherwise players lose a life, players get an extra chance with the same cards and an extra hint. When players pass a level they move to the next level. Each level specifies how many cards to distribute to players, how many cards the seer may view and how many hints the seer may give.

Soulmates offers a nice variation on a tried-and-true game concept, and the addition of the seer introduces a substantial change to the game feel and game play, reviving Soulmates The Mind a bit and also re-introducing this concept to new players and returning players.