Swish from Thinkfun

Today's review is Swish!  Swish is actually a multi-player card game, but it definitely has puzzling aspects. 

Swish comes with 60 clear playing cards (that's just cool in itself!)  Each card has a ball and a hoop on it in various colors.  To play, a dealer will set out 16 cards in a 4x4 grid.  Then everyone gathers around (there is no limit to number of players) and tries to create a Swish. 

To create a Swish, you must find 2 or more cards that when layered, flipped and/or rotated place one ball into one hoop of the same color (there can be no extra hoops without balls or vice versa!).  The trick is that you must figure out which cards to use, and how to manipulate them, all in your head BEFORE you call out "Swish!"  Then you can pick up the cards you need and prove that your Swish works.  Above you can see a 2 card Swish.  Those are the easiest to spot!

A 3 card Swish is a little trickier.  You can see how the 3 cards above will layer to make the Swish with all balls inside hoops of the same color.  Note: As players find Swishes, they get to keep those cards, so the more cards your Swish uses, the more points you get.  The dealer replenishes the board with cards as each Swish is carried away.

This is a 4 card Swish Jack created!  He's even made 5 and 6 cards Swishes!  The rules say you can use up to 12 cards to make a Swish.  I'd like to see that!  Jack really likes this game as he's quite good at it!

Swish is a great game to play with a group of people.  We've only played it with 4 players, but I'm pretty sure it'd work well with about any number.  Swish gives your visual thinking and spatial relationship skills a great workout!

And if you like these kinds of games, you'll also love Set!