The official rules of Blink are not suitable for young children. As the rules are written, children play at the same time, trying to get rid of their cards by placing them on top of other matching cards in two stacks in a free-for-all. The potential for conflicts is great as children try to place their matching cards on stacks before the other player plays a different card.
The version of the game included resembles the game Uno, with a few slight differences. The primary difference between Blink and Uno is that while Uno cards differ on two dimensions (color and number), Blink cards differ on three dimensions (color, shape, and number). Therefore, when children play Blink, they have the added challenge of coordinating 3 dimensions. Other differences between Blink and Uno are that in Blink, the numbers are represented by a quantity of objects while Uno cards use numerals only, and there are no special cards in Blink that correspond to the Skip, Reverse, and Wild cards in Uno.
The added difficulty of having to track 3 dimensions is appropriately challenging for most kindergarten-aged children. Many children this age focus on only 2 dimensions, and ignore the third (usually number or shape). Teachers can easily notice this when children fail to notice a match in their hand and instead draw a card.
It should be noted that children in the age range 4-6 years tend not to hide their cards when they play. This is because they are not aware of how to use the information gained from seeing another player’s cards to play strategically. Therefore, it does not occur to them to hide their cards from the other players. When children figure out that knowing what cards the next player is holding can help them decide which card to play, they will also figure out that other players can do the same, and they will begin to hide their cards. Until that time, urging them to hide their cards will not lead them to do so.
* Blink is made by Out of the Box Publishing, LLC.
Recommended # of players: 2-5
Click here to download the game.