Before you get confused, no a board game version of everyone’s favourite mid 2000s time sink Minesweeper isn’t on its way to your shelves, (I think it already exists!), but instead Floodgate Games have announced a very fun looking new party game, Mind Sweeper.
Armed with a broom and some small tokens which immediately caught the clean freak in me’s eye, Mind Sweeper will have you using a broom to sort a variety of tokens to guide other players into guessing a secret word, like Codenames or Decrypto but with more household items.
With it due for release in just under two weeks on the 30th of July and set to be previewed at arguably America’s biggest board gaming convention GenCon, it looks like it could be the next big party game to get families board gaming together.
Sweeping away the competition
Mind Sweeper really does look like something my friends and family would enjoy, and I could see it very much becoming a hit in the party game genre.
It has all the hallmarks of a good party game, super quick, super simple, but with a fun hook or quirk that sets it apart from its rivals.
In Mind Sweeper you will take it turns being in charge of the sweeping, using a lovely little broom and a pile of tokens to get players to guess a secret word. You will pick your secret word from six options on a card, and then using the broom you will arrange the tokens which depict a variety of different things on them to guide them to this word.
Working as a team, you will all guess together through ten cards to see how many of them you can clean up by the end.
For 2-10 players, it just has a fun little vibe that can be brought out and done within 10-20 minutes, working as a nice little palate cleanser after a big board gaming session, or as something to show your non gamers at Christmas.
Yes the broom is pretty much pointless realistically, but it adds a novel twist that just adds to the silliness. To me it feels like a kind of easier and less abstract version of something like Things in Rings, more aimed at children, and there is always space for that in the board gaming market.
And with Floodgate Games already having a great deal of success with other ideas on the quirkier side of the spectrum, from the amazingly fun Decorum where you’re solving a puzzle through passive aggressively complaining about how you like your house, to the wonderfully cooperative Fog of Love, Mind Sweeper promises to be a cracking addition to their catalog.
Make broom in your collection
With a scheduled release date of 30th of July, Mind Sweeper is looking like a lot of fun. I am always on the look out for great new party games, but some just don’t connect with me like others, but for whatever reason there is something about this game that has me really interested.
If a bit of sweeping and word guessing sounds right up you’re alley, Mind Sweeper is certainly one to keep an eye on over the coming months!
