Blinded by Science

• Designer: not credited
• Publisher: Outset Media
• Players: 2+
• Ages: 14+
• Time: ~10 minutes
• Times played: 3, with review copy provided by ThinkGeek

Blinded by Science is a new trivia game which is being exclusively distributed by ThinkGeek – a website which is one of my favorites for scientific/geeky/quirky gifts and gadgets.  ThinkGeek contacted me to look at the game and they have graciously offered to provide a few copies as a giveaway to our readers.

This is a straightforward game that revolves around the 220 different fact cards in the box.  Each card has theme which is printed on the back side of the card as well as the top of the other side.  There are three questions related to that theme are then printed on the card.

The cards are shuffled at the start of the game, and a game deck is dealt out.  Depending on the length of the game that you wish to play, you draw 7, 11 or 15 cards per player into a deck.  The cards are laid out on the table so that all of the theme titles can be seen on the cards.

A start player is chosen.  That player chooses any card from the table (trying to choose a theme which he feels that he knows more about) and hands it to any other player.  The first question is then read out and the active player gets a chance to answer.  If he is correct, he scores a point – the game suggests a pen and pad to keep track of the score.  The other questions on the card are then read out in turn.  Some of the cards also offer an extra credit question… if you’re luck enough to pick this card out, you’ll get a possible four points from that card!

The questions are all factual, and in our first plays, we haven’t really found any questions or answers that seemed to be incorrect.

An example card: Wee Tadpoles

1) Which of the following are NOT amphibians: frogs, toads, geckos, or salamanders

2) Baby amphibians look completely different than adult amphibians.  As they age, they go through body transformations.  What is this called?

3) What two organs in amphibians carry out gas exchange?

EXTRA CREDIT) There are approximately 7,000 known amphibian species.  What are 90% of them?

The game continues until each player has a chance to answer the predetermined number of cards (i.e. all the cards from the table are chosen).  The player with the most points wins the game.  There is no specified tiebreaker.

My thoughts on the game

The game has an interesting mix of themes and facts on the cards.  The level of difficulty can be quite high – we played a game with three gamers, all of us with advanced degrees in the sciences, and there were still a number of questions which were answered wrong.  The theme/title of the card can definitely help you choose a card that you know more about.

That being said, there isn’t much of a game here.  There isn’t much strategy for the player here… except may to choose going to MIT for college.  It’s really just hear questions and do your best to answer them.  My third “play” of the game was really just me and some friends passing about half of an hour on a long drive reading questions to each other.

As I mentioned, many of the questions are pretty hard – I’m not sure that I would remember all the answers that I have heard over the first few games… but I’m definitely learning (or maybe relearning) a bunch of stuff while playing the game.  I think I’ve seen about a fourth of the cards in the box so far, and it remains to be seen how much of this information I retain.

GIVEAWAY

OK, now to the giveaway.  Up above, I gave an example set of questions from a card.  Please try to answer them, and send your answers and your snail mail address to:  [giveaway entry deadline has passed!].  Winners to be drawn at random from all entrants.  You do NOT need to answer them all correctly in order to win.  ThinkGeek will ship the games directly to the lucky winners.

Until your next appointment

The Gaming Doctor