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The Mind
26 Accessibility Features

We've documented 26 accessibility features for The Mind, including Playable Without Hearing, Audio Cues Mirrored Visually (Or no critical audio signals), Easily Verbalised Game State, No Busy Backgrounds and Outline Key Elements. Its accessibility is strongest in Physical and Reading but it also has features in Visual, Difficulty, Audio and Getting Started to reduce unintended barriers.

This report is created with input from accessibility experts and the player community to help people find games that have the accessibility features they require. Once you have found potential games on the database, there are excellent specialist accessibility sites that offer in-depth reviews to guide your purchasing decisions.

The Mind is a cooperative sequence card game with a telepathic twist. Each card has a single number on it. Your task is to play them in order, the lowest first. However, you are not allowed to communicate physically or verbally to coordinate who plays next. What starts as a seemingly impossible task soon turns into an intuitive challenge to judge how long to wait to play, based on the number on your card.

Our accessibility examiner, Andrew Robertson, first checked The Mind accessibility 22 months ago. It was re-examined by Andrew Robertson and updated 22 months ago.

NotesAccessibility Notes

The only reading required for the game is the large numbers on the cards. The cards provide the number on each corner and upside down in case you are reading from the reverse direction. However, you need to distinguish between "6" and "9" orientations with the dot in the corner which is small and easily missed.

While you can narrate which cards you want to be played, this can be a problem as the game is supposed to be played in silence. In addition, the game relies on non-verbal communication and seeing how people react (who is hesitant and who is strident) which makes it harder for those with visual impairment to play depending on how well they are able to read the body language of players around them.

The nature of the game is time-bound and high-pressure. You have to judge how long to wait to play a card and getting this wrong loses your team a life. This also means that occasionally speed is of the essence when multiple players are wanting to place cards in quick succession. This means you need Pressured Reveals and Pressured Communication, even if everyone is making a special effort to be accommodating for physical accessibility there are still going to be moments when people jump the gun.

This information is based on playing the game and the Meeple Like Us review.

DetailsGame Details

Release Date: 01/01/2018

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Players: 2-4

Genres: Communication (Brain Game and Push-Your-Luck)

Accessibility: 26 features

Components: Cards

Developer: Wolfgang Warsch (@WolfgangWarsch)

Costs: Purchase cost

 

DifficultyDifficulty

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Difficulty in The Mind which deal with how you can adjust the challenge of play.

Difficulty Options

No Deceit Advantage: No game mechanic where players need to deceive each other to progress. This includes bluffing and lying.

No Colour Advantage: Game can be played without colour-blindness being a barrier to performance.

 

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If you want to play The Mind, but it doesn't offer the Difficulty accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Difficulty accessibility:

Getting StartedGetting Started

We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Getting Started in The Mind which deals with what support is offered to get started with the game.

Assistance Getting Started

These features aid your play of the game in terms of cognitive load on learning controls, dealing with pressure and coping with the environment and challenges.

Reference Aid: In addition to the main rules, a succinct quick reference card is also provided for each player to remind them of key rules, actions and currencies. This may be a separate card or integrated onto the board or cards.

 

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Getting Started

If you want to play The Mind, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:

ReadingReading

We've documented 6 accessibility features for Reading in The Mind which deal with how much reading or listening comprehension is required, how well the game provides accessible text.

Reading Level

How much reading is required to play the game and how complex the language is.

No Reading: No reading is required, other than simple titles or numbers. The game either has no text or can communicate textual content with icons or other visuals.

Necessary Text Visibility

How clear are the required text or numbers to play the game.

Large Clear Text on Cards (Or no text required): Text or numbers are large and clear 5mm tall (14pt) on the pieces that you can hold close to read.

High Contrast Text (Or no text required): Text or number colours contrasts to the background. The text in instructions and other information is presented in high contrast ideally with a solid background.

Primary and Secondary Text Distinguishable (Or no text required): Game separates non-essential flavour text from essential gameplay text, to ease comprehension. Includes games that don't have flavour text.

Information Orientation: You don’t have to read text, numbers or symbols upside-down to play the game effectively.

Clear Icons: Icons are used to simply communicate and highlight important graphical elements related to gameplay. This assumes good contrast and generally familiar symbols.

 

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Reading

If you want to play The Mind, but it doesn't offer the Reading accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Reading accessibility:

PhysicalPhysical

We've documented 10 accessibility features for Physical in The Mind which deal with how you interact with the game components and how accommodating these are of different requirements.

Pieces

How the game components accommodate interactions through touch, shape, texture and colour.

No Non-Standard Dice (Or No Dice): The game uses standard numerical dice, doesn’t need dice to play or ensures dice are readable by touch.

No Tiny Pieces: Game pieces are not very small. This doesn't cover cards. The target size for this is not less than 20mm wide and not less than 2mm thick.

No Paper Money: The game doesn’t use paper money.

No Sprawl: You can play the game on a small surface (train table or hospital bed table) of approximately 1/2 meter square. Or you can manage this in a small space easily.

Cards

How the game assists interaction, manipulation and management of game cards.

Standard Card Shape: Cards confirm to standard size so they work with card shufflers and other card management devices.

No Right-Handed Advantage: Cards don't position key information in only top-left corners that favours right-handed in-hand card arrangements.

Placement

How the game assists interaction, manipulation, management and placement of game pieces.

No Unbound Placement: Game state is not easily upset by jogging the board. Components are either held in place or high friction.

Player Components Not Shared: Key components are not shared so you can organise them as best suits your needs. Keeping them close to you. Organising them in useful groupings.

No Fiddly Placement: No movement or manipulation of small pieces or cards in limited space on a board or other location.

Easily Verbalised Actions: The game is clearly labelled (landmarks, coordinates and so on) to make it possible to unambiguously describe game actions and relate those to the board or other pieces. This is useful for players who need others to move their pieces.

 

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If you want to play The Mind, but it doesn't offer the Physical accessibility features you require, this similar game extends the Physical accessibility:

VisualVisual

We've documented 5 accessibility features for Visual in The Mind which deal with how well the game offers visual clarity and adjustments to accommodate visual needs.

Printed Visibility

How well the art on (and design of) components support a range of visual needs.

Colour Blind Friendly Design: Game prioritises the use of colour blind friendly palettes. This eases distinguishing elements of the game where colour is used. Ensure colour blind supporting graphics can be easily described or verbalised.

Double-Coding Colour: Colour is not the only way to distinguish elements. This includes games that make use of texture, shapes, symbols or other visual differentiation, to supplement colour information.

Component Identifiability

How easy it is to see and identify the components you need to work with to play the game.

Outline Key Elements: Game uses a highly distinctive visual silhouette for essential elements required to play the game. This may be from the shape of game elements or by applying a bold outline or backing colour. It may also be clear text if that is the only pertinent information

No Busy Backgrounds: Game board or cards have a simple or monochrome design to aid in identifying game elements when observed in play on top of the board.

Easily Verbalised Game State: Other players can describe the state of both their playing area and shared areas for players unable to see them. The verbalised game state is not too complexed to memorise.

 

Similar Games With More Accessibility Features for Visual

If you want to play The Mind, but it doesn't offer the Visual accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Visual accessibility:

AudioAudio

We've documented 2 accessibility features for Audio in The Mind which deal with how the game supports player communication to meet a range of requirements.

Communication

How the game accommodates different styles of communication, particularly non-verbal.

Audio Cues Mirrored Visually (Or no critical audio signals): Where audio cues (soundtrack, player utterances and shouts) are critical for play, there are visual equivalents to ensure players with hearing impairments aren’t disadvantaged as a result of the loss of incidental sound.

Playable Without Hearing: You can play the game without the need to hear other players or sound made by game elements. Where other communication channels can be used if you have a supportive set of players, this is only included if communication can be low pressure.

 

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If you want to play The Mind, but it doesn't offer the Audio accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Audio accessibility:

VSC LogoAccessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors


Taming Gaming Book Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships.

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