Mount Rushmore Card Game Overview
As concerns surrounding the Coronavirus continue to grow, travel advisories have been going out discouraging people from attending festivals, considering a cruise and flying anywhere. While it’s generally a somber time, this is the time of year for spring break adventures which makes it even more disheartening to hear so many friends canceling their travel plans. Let’s be candid, it sucks. It’s made me think about how much they’re missing out on and think about how they’ll need to reassess their plans for the week. Perhaps they could possibly check out movies releasing in March or stay inside and play board games.
There are so many options for travel using board games including Japanese-themed games, games about Rome and even games about the City of Florence. Those are in addition to games for teaching geography and history! I know it’s not the same as actually being at the location, but it’s at least an alternative.
As I was looking through our game shelf, I found Mount Rushmore by Strawberry Studio, part of the Board & Dice family of games. The simplified explanation of how to play is that it’s like concentration except you’re trying to match a newly flipped card to one in the tableau. Setup will vary based on how difficult you want it to be. For the sake of this overview, I’ll (mostly) share the details of a beginner game.
Take the sixteen monument cards that are marked with a map symbol. Place them face-up in the center of the table in a 4×4 grid. The remaining stack consists of three types of search cards. Some have four earth-colored heads displayed, others display one head marked in red and the remaining have two red faces featured. All the search cards have an assortment of the heads facing different directions. Depending on how difficult the game, you’ll incorporate more or less of the red cards. For a basic game, shuffle the plain search cards (none with red) and deal 12 to form a search deck. Return the rest to the box as they won’t be used for this game.
A player is selected to be in charge of flipping the cards on the search deck. On the count of three, the top card on the deck is flipped and all players frantically search the grid to find the matching card. As soon as you think you’ve found it, place your hand on it. All other players continue to search, either selecting a different card or passing.
After all players have committed to a card or passed, the search card is compared to the selections. The player who located the proper one first earns the card. The first person to claim three wins the game. That’s all there is to the game. Sound too short? Rearrange the grid, reshuffle the search cards to form a new deck and start again!
Kick things up a notch by incorporating an assortment of the red cards. When these cards are revealed, you’re actually looking for the opposite of what is displayed in red. It may sound easy, but remember that you’re racing your opponents to find the right card!
While it’s not as exciting as actually visiting this national treasure, Mount Rushmore card game is a simple introduction to the monument. Check with your local game store for availability, get a copy direct from Strawberry Studio and keep watch for Mount Rushmore on Amazon. Connect with Strawberry Studio on Facebook to learn about their other games (like Scare It! card game) and where you can find copies.
Have you ever visited Mount Rushmore?
