Geistes Blitz is a game from Germany that is a simple game of who can think and act the quickest. It’s designed for 2-8 players ages 8 and up but we found a way to include younger kids if it’s played differently. It’s not a Halloween game but since it involves a ghost, it can certainly be played around that time!
Geistes Blitz
The game comes with 5 wooden pieces and a deck of cards. The instructions have an English version as well, after you flip through a few pages. The instructions are quite simple though. First the story of Balduin the ghost is introduced and we are asked to help him sort his photos.
As I said there are five items: a gray mouse, red chair, green bottle, white ghost and blue book. You place the items in the middle of the table. Shuffle the cards and place them face down nearby. One person flips over a card quickly so that everyone sees what is on it at the same time.
Every card has two items on it. The first thing you are looking for is if the card shows an item in the right colour (as shown above.) If it is, you grab that item. If not, than you are looking for what item is not depicted in item OR colour. For the card shown below, you would note that there is no red bottle or blue ghost, so you are looking for what isn’t shown. It can’t be the ghost or bottle nor can it be something that is red or blue. The only thing left is the gray mouse. You have to be quick though because there is no turn taking in this game. You have to look at the card, figure out what you need to grab and do it very quickly to win.
How Your Younger Ones Can Play
As I said before, the game is for ages 8 and up because you need to be able to figure out what to grab. My 7 year old played and didn’t do too bad although she wasn’t as quick as the adults so she wasn’t fast enough a lot of the time. My 3 year old wanted to play though and he doesn’t understand it enough to play. So we showed him how to flip the cards fast and he was the card flipper. After we were done the game, we also played a different version with him, naming a colour or item and having him pick up the right one. That way he could play too and it helped with colour recognition too.
Where to Buy
I got mine at a local game store but it looks like Mastermind Toys (Canada – mostly Ontario) has an anglicized version of the game (called Ghost Blitz) and Amazon.com carries it as well. You could also try looking at your local game stores.
I bought this game myself.
Stefani Tolson says
October 25, 2014 at 6:12 AMThis looks like a fun game for the kids. I bet my daughter would like to play this with her brother.
Dede says
October 25, 2014 at 6:29 AMOh, how fun! In college we played a card game called Dutch Blitz. I’m sure it has similar rules to Ghost Blitz.
Jennifer says
October 25, 2014 at 9:02 AMThis looks like a lot of fun. I love games like this, because they ALWAYS lead to laughter and fun memories.
loriag says
October 25, 2014 at 9:35 AMA very appropriate game for this season.
Treen Goodwin says
October 25, 2014 at 10:07 AMawesome looks like a fun game to play with my grandson , he loves to play games with us when he comes over , thanks for sharing :)
Ellen Christian says
October 25, 2014 at 1:50 PMThat sounds like loads of fun. I love that you were able to change it a bit to include younger kids. Great family game.
Debi@TheSpringMount6Pack says
October 25, 2014 at 1:56 PMThis is such a cute game! I know my entire family would get such a thrill out of this, especially my two boys who are always competing in games such as these.
Nikki says
October 25, 2014 at 5:45 PMOh, what a cool game! I’ve never seen that one before! Perfect for Halloween!
Dawn says
October 25, 2014 at 8:07 PMI think my family and I would love this game! We used to try all sorts of games out!
Anne says
October 25, 2014 at 8:57 PMThis looks like a great game for encouraging quick thinking. My kids would probably be much better at this than me!
Debra @A Frugal Friend says
October 25, 2014 at 9:07 PMWe fell in love with a German card game years ago and have convinced all family and friends to play over the years! This one looks like fun!
Jen Temcio @dapperhouse says
October 26, 2014 at 11:19 AMHA! This looks and sounds hilarious! I am totally getting this game for my family!!
Michele says
October 26, 2014 at 4:02 PMI really enjoy playing card games. It looks like this one worked out for all your kiddos. It’s great when you can change the play a bit and include the whole family in the fun.
Ronni says
October 27, 2014 at 8:26 AMMy 8 year old is all into ‘family game nights’ since we started a few months back. I’ll have to add this one to our growing collection. I like how you changed it for younger kids!
angela m says
October 28, 2014 at 10:35 AMLooks like a cute game. I love reading board game reviews, you can’t tell by the box if it is a good game
Elva Roberts says
November 5, 2014 at 8:03 PMThis ‘Geistes Blitz’ game sounds like it would be very entertaining for the age group, 8 and up, for which it is intended.-any thing to get them away from the ipas for a short time and interact with real people!
kathy downey says
December 17, 2014 at 4:00 PMThis looks like a fun game for the kids.