Mag Web (Magazine Web)
August 2001
Russ Lockwood
USA

The best card game ever invented, at least to my taste is Crazy Eights. Oh sure, you've got Poker, Solitaire, Rummy, and such but Crazy Eights has that combinations of mystery, strategy, and simplicity that marks the great card games.

Blink is basically Crazy Eights, but without turns. The 56-card deck is divided in two, one card from each player is flipped up in the middle, and each player draws three cards from the deck. First player to run through his deck wins.

Cards have different shapes (stars, triangles, teardrops, crescent moons, and lightning bolts) in different colors (red, green, gray, yellow, brown, and blue) with a different numbered of said colored shapes (one to five per card). The idea is to match shapes, colors, or numbers and empty your hand. You have a maximum of three cards in your hand at one time, and you play them as fast as possible, one at a time, and draw as fast as possible, one at a time.

Games last 5 minutes or less. Better eye-hand coordination usually wins. It's the first "twitch" card game since 52 Pick Up.

We played for an hour. I don't recall how many games, but 10 or so would be about right. Play value was high at the beginning, but waned as we continued.

Blink is a pleasant diversion, but it didn't dethrone Crazy Eights.

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