Geistesblitz (German for ‘Ghost Blitz’) is an entertaining party game for up to eight players that is all about quick reactions and quicker hands. Perhaps designer Jacques Zeimet initially designed Ghost Blitz with a younger audience in mind – kids love it! – but it also appeals to older players, too (competitive siblings after a couple of glasses of wine, we’re looking at you). Ghost Blitz consists of a deck of cards and five wooden objects: a white ghost, a green bottle, a grey mouse, a red chair and a blue book. These should be placed within reach of all the players. The top card in the deck is revealed to everyone. On it will be two (of the five aforementioned) objects. Either the card will have one object on it that is the correct colour (such as a red chair) and the other object will be incorrect (such as a green mouse). In this example scenario, the players have to try and be the first to grab the red chair (as in, the correctly coloured object). Alternatively, the other circumstance could be that both of the objects on the card are incorrectly coloured (such as a blue mouse and a red ghost). In this example, the players have to try and grab the one item that not represented on the card – here the featured items are mouse/blue/red/ghost, so they would try to get the green bottle). If you are the player to grab the correct item, you get to keep the card. If you jump the gun and grab the wrong item – trust us, this is easily done! – you have to give away one of your hard-earned cards. The item is returned to the middle of the table, and the player that grabbed the item last then turns over the next card and play resumes. Once the deck is exhausted, the player with the most cards is the winner. Ghost Blitz is fantastic, silly fun. This is not a game to play in a quiet library – you will howl and laugh every single time people grab the right (or wrong) item, especially when someone is a millisecond too late and is left clutching at thin air! Top tip – be wary of any players with sharp fingernails! The noise levels (and competitiveness) only ratchets up with a higher player count. Sometimes opportunities arise to fit in a 20-minute game at the end of an evening, something light and jolly that doesn’t involve too much heavy thinking. Ghost Blitz is a perfect candidate for this. It’s also a superb ice-breaker that we’d put in alongside the likes of Dobble, Rhino Hero and ICECOOL – all games first-and-foremost meant for children to enjoy, but in reality, are absolutely guilty pleasures for board game fans who are looking for physical good old-fashioned fun.

Players: 2-8
Age: 8y+
Playing Time: 20′