So I’ve had to adjust my timing to match. Like playing with my wife, I’ve noticed she waits longer per number as the gap gets larger - so she might wait 5 seconds for a 10 gap and then 30 seconds for a gap of 20 cards. And on the game goes.Īll of which is to say that there is a lot of information in the game beyond the passage of time and it’s about developing a theory of mind of all the people you’re playing with- how would they play if they had a card lower than yours? But if they had a card lower than five they’d be more confident about it so you rush to get your card down first, and you’re right, the tentative player had an 11. You notice someone starting to play a card somewhat tentatively. Of course everyone knows that so if you have a 5 for example, you’ll wait to see if someone plays something immediately. If you have a 1 obviously you’re playing it immediately. Let’s say we’re in the second round and all the players have 2 cards. It basically becomes everyone playing their lowest card as quickly as possible, and hoping that the lowest one lands first. I bet with enough practice you could win some games.ĮDIT: On second thoughts, you're still communicating when you either play a card or not. You could also skip the later rounds by immediately playing a high card, at the cost of one life. Presumably you have to calculate based on the number of players and cards remaining how likely it is that you have the lowest card. if no one plays a card immediately then you've communicated and therefore lost). I wonder what the optimal strategy is for the version where you're really not allowed to communicate (i.e. But why would I want to play a game where fun was inversely correlated with the probability of winning? Maybe they mean that that's not the most fun way to play. The spoiler section also says you're not supposed to just count upward in seconds, which is strange because that's clearly both allowed and optimal. It seems like what the rules actually mean is that you're not allowed to communicate except via the one form of communication that they've designated as 'not communication'.

Signal card game rules