Meet MindBlock, brain game extraordinaire, AND made from wood! I LOVE wooden toys, games, serving dishes, plant pots…so so beautiful. I’m from a tiny logging town in Southern Oregon so wood is just in my blood and I love games with wooden components!
ANYWAY… We play math games at least one day a week instead of our regular math curriculum, just to keep math fun and everyone engaged, and MindBlock is a great just-for-fun game OR creative math substitute.
Each player starts out with 7 random blocks from the bag and hides them from other players on their tray.
One a player’s first turn, he has to lay down at least 3 blocks worth 15 total points (each block is worth its own value). If he can’t lay down, the player to his right draws a block from the bag and places it on his tray. Being able to lay down on your first turn requires some lucky drawing, so this player is pumped he did it!!
THIS player wasn’t so lucky and had to draw a tile from the bag.
After a player’s first turn, he must either lay down at least one tile from his board OR rearrange the tiles already in play. If he can’t do either of those things, he draws a tile. (The rules actually say for the player to his right to draw him a tile, but we think that complicates things just a bit so each player just draws his own tiles.)
Tiles have to be played in sets (3 or 4 tiles of the same color but consecutive numbers) OR runs (3 or 4 tiles of the same number but different colors.)
Mindblock is unique because you can use sums of numbers to create the run or set, which opens up so many more possibilities for play! In the middle set, for example, there are two 7s and then a 6+1 to = 7.
Again, one of the actions a player can take on his turn is to rearrange the tiles.
This is where this game is so great at building reasoning and problem solving skills. Moving things around can almost always allow the player to play a block or two he couldn’t have played otherwise, but it really does take a some problem solving and persistence to figure out just how it could work. Sometimes it’s easy and obvious how the tiles could be rearranged, other times it’s like watching a genius at work!
The rearranging can get wild, so everyone has to watch carefully and remember where everything went in case the shuffling doesn’t work out evenly in the end. That’s a great brain exercise all by itself!
Sometimes a player has to do a lot of deep thinking…
Because it’s just numbers and colors and patterns, this is a game that can be played and mastered by even young kids. And because using up tiles requires some spatial visualizing and some serious mental gymnastics, it’s also fun for teenagers and adults to play. It’s a fantastic family game and really can be played competitively with kids as young as 6 or 7 years old. Our whole family plays together and the winner isn’t necessarily the oldest player!
Usually the older kids get the strategy better and do win, but my 6 year old can definitely hold his own and see the patterns and do some rearranging. It’s so good for his developing brain to use it in this different way.
We are having a lot of fun with this game and play to continue using it often in our homeschool.
Thanks to Blue Orange Games for sponsoring this review. I received this game free of charge to facilitate this review, but all my high opinions of this game is sincere and honest. I hope your family enjoys it as much as we do!
