Setup 
 

Shuffle the cards and deal them, face down, to form two equal draw piles. Place one draw pile in front of each player. Place the top card from each draw pile, face down, between the players. These cards should be placed next to each other so they are accessible to both players. Each player takes the top three cards from his or her draw pile to form a hand. Players may look at the cards in their hand. 

How to Play
 

1. Players simultaneously turn over the cards that they placed in the center of the table, and the game begins.

 

2. Without taking turns, players race to play cards from their hand, face up, on either of the center piles. To play a card, it must match at least one characteristic (color, shape, or count) of the card on which it is played.

 

3. As cards are played, players refill their hand by taking cards from their own draw pile. Players may have up to three cards in their hand at any time.

 

4. The game continues until one of the players is completely out of cards from his or her hand and draw pile.

Winning the Game

The first player completely out of cards wins BLINK®.

When in Doubt

 

1. A player may not play more than one card at a time.

 

2. On the rare occasion when neither player can match either of the top cards on the two center piles, play is paused and—

•if both players have cards left in their draw piles, each player takes the top card from his or her                   draw pile, places it face up on one of the center piles, and play resumes.

•if one, or both, of the players has depleted his or her draw pile, each player picks one card from his               or her hand, and simultaneously places them face up on one of the center piles, and play resumes.

•if each player has only one card left, the game ends in a tie.

 

3. Because BLINK® is the world’s fastest game, many players prefer to play a best-of-three or best-of-five match to determine the winner.

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Variations

Three Player BLINK® BLINK® can be played as a three-player game with the following changes:

1. Shuffle the cards and deal them, face down, to form three equal draw piles.

2. Place one draw pile in front of each player.

3. Each player places the top card from his or her draw pile, face down, so that it is an equal distance between the player and the player to the right. The cards will form a triangle and each player will have a card to the right and to the left. More Ways to Play BLINK®

4. Each player can play cards from his or her hand onto the pile to the left or the pile to the right. Four or More Players/ Tournament Play With four or more players, BLINK® can be played as a single-elimination tournament. To advance in the tournament, a player must win two-out-of-three games against an opponent.

 

For Balanced Play If one player is significantly faster than another, the faster player can start the game with more cards.