> A polarizing title, The Mind is either a work of minimalist genius or "not even really a game." Essentially, you get a deck of cards with numbers from 1 to 100 on them. Each player gets a certain number of cards each round (it increases each round), and then everyone must play those cards to the table, in ascending order, without speaking or signaling.

As children, my siblings, friends, and I played a game very similar to "The Mind". Starting at one, the group had to count by ones up to as large a number as possible. Anyone could speak at anytime, but if you said a number when someone else was speaking you all lost.

The mechanic is slightly different than "The Mind", but the tension from deciding when to speak was similar to the tension of deciding when to play your card.

To me, "The Mind" feels a bit too simplistic and childish to win game of the year. But perhaps others relish its simplicity.