Yellow...on A2...Red is on B3...Blue is D3...Purple is E1. Perfect...no wait! I have it all BACKWARDS!!
| Head Spin (2022) | |||||
| Designer(s) | n/a | Artist(s) | n/a | Publisher |
Project Genius |
 |
2 |  |
8+ |  |
15-60m |
This is an interesting game that is more of a thinky puzzle game than what we traditionally look at. Head Spin is a dexterity puzzle game, where players need to think about the challenges they are working on based on the text on the card and ignoring visuals that often directly conflict with the challenge. The simple example is having colored box with color names inside those boxes that are not the colors of the box itself. The challenges may be align the spinner devices to the colors shown as text below. You have to focus on the words ignoring the color your brain naturally wants to go to. Let's take a closer look at the game components and how it is played.
Box and Components 
The game box is quite colorful and perfectly sized for the games components. The interesting part of this game is the well designed insert. Not only does it hold the game components well, it also includes a place to hold the puzzle card while playing so both players can clearly see the challenge. Overall, very happy with the quality of the box and the insert.
The game includes the following components:
- Two Spinners - These are the unique devices that you will be using to solve the puzzles; they give a feel of a rubik's cube but on a spinner.
- 100 Double Sided Puzzle Cards - These double sided cards provide over 200 different puzzles that have a variety of category challenges: Color Codes, Color Confusion, Gumball Drop, Jigsaw Puzzle, Legend Puzzle, Logic Puzzle, Missing Color, Safe Cracker, Shifty Squares, and Size Wise.
- Two Landing Pads - These are numbers 1st and 2nd and are to be used once the puzzle has been completed to show who finished first and second.
- Rule Booklet
The spinners themselves are basically puzzly fidget spinners; they are very well made and are stiff initially but loosen up after a little fiddling. They are labeled on their flat sides left and right to correspond with the direction of the puzzle. The cards are nice and big making it very easy to read the text on them and see the puzzle components. The cardstock is pretty standard, which is ok; however, due to their large size, I do feel they will be more susceptible to bending easier than standard sized cards.
Overall, the quality is pretty good for what the game is.
Mechanics
Overall, the game is pretty simple. You are trying to get the color pattern to match the presented puzzle on the cards. The trick is being quickly able to understand what the puzzle is and ignoring the traits of the puzzle that are meant to throw you off.
Setup
- Each player takes a spinner and randomly arranges the rotating pieces to different colors.
- Place the 1st and 2nd landing pads beside each other and in reach of both players.
- Shuffle all 100 cards together; you can even flip the sides back and forth for more randomness.
You are ready to begin. It is recommended that you use the box's card holding space to hold the card so that each player can see the card clearly.
Player Turns
The game is played simultaneously. Once both players are ready, a puzzle card is places into the card space in the insert and both players race solve the puzzle.
IMPORTANT: You must be sure to solve with the results being shown left to right in alignment with the arrows on the side of the spinners.
Basically, as soon as someone has solved it, they put their puzzle on the 1st landing space; the second person done will use the 2nd landing space. The answers are validated. If the person one 1st is correct, they earn the card and point. Otherwise, the person on 2nd is checked if correct and earns the card if they are correct. Otherwise, the card is discarded if both results are wrong.
If neither person has reached 10 points (10 cards collected), the game continues in this same way.
Card Categories
I could type up each of the card categories, but honestly, the cards are pretty self explainatory. I will include a picture of each type below. What I will say, is each puzzle is very clever and a lot of fun. If you do a good job shuffling the puzzles, I guarantee your brain will have a good work out. I really the Safe Cracker and Logic Puzzles; they are the type of puzzles I have a lot of fun with in a lot of different games. Though, I like the Color Codes because it makes me thing of the Mega Man (video game) code entry grid.
End Game
The first person to 10 points wins!
Final Thoughts
I really, really like this game. Again, this is not a game in the same sense as many of the games we usually cover since they are puzzle/dexterity games, but they are a type of game I really do find fun and easy to pick up as a filler and mental exercise. Clearly, this is not a game your traditional board gamer will be looking for, but I think this could be very appealing to a lot of age groups and could even be good for those in the age ranges that need something to keep those mental juices flowing.
The one thing I don't find as necessary is the landing spaces; really, I find them as a potential way of smacking each other and even messing up your puzzles. Instead, I think players should simply say done and put their spinner down to avoid shifting their answers.
Again, I think this little dexterity puzzle game is really good. If it looks like something you would enjoy, be sure to check out the game. 
Links/Media
Head Spin Board Game Geek Page
Head Spin WVGamers Amazon Affiliate Link
Disclaimer
WVGamers received a review copy of this game for review. This does not impact our honest review of this game.
WVGamers is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.