Nobody Blink! Guide: How to Get the Perfect Family Photo

Nobody Blink! is a game about getting one good family photo out of people who do not want to hold still. This guide covers how scoring works, how to handle each kind of chaos, and how to go further in the Whole Village. The story section stays light on spoilers.

How a photo is scored

Every person in the frame counts. A perfect person has open eyes, is looking at you, is smiling, and is not doing anything else. Anything less costs points, and the worse the problem, the more it costs:

• A gag (bunny ears, tongue out, asleep, on the phone) costs the most. A toddler who has left the frame costs everything.
• A blink costs almost as much.
• Looking away costs about half as much.
• Not smiling is the smallest loss, but a whole row of tired faces adds up fast.

In a big group, each problem still costs more than 10 points, so one blink is the difference between a masterpiece and a nice try. Only your best frame counts for the sitting, so a bad frame is never a disaster.

The shutter is slow

The picture is taken a moment after you press. Whatever happens in that gap is what you get. Do not press because the group looks perfect now. Press when it will still look perfect in a sixth of a second.

Every flash also sets off a wave of blinks just after it, and the flash needs over a second to recharge. Do not rush your next frame.

The rubber chicken

The chicken resets everybody at once: all eyes forward, all smiles at full, and every gag stopped except a sneeze. It is also the only thing that stops a crying baby. You get two squeezes per sitting, so the best time to use one is right before you shoot. Press the chicken, then the shutter a moment later.

Be careful with gigglers. A squeeze makes them burst out laughing about a second and a half later, and laughing people have their eyes shut. Shoot before that happens.

Who does what

• Grandpa dozes off and will not wake by himself. Tap him.
• The toddler walks out of the frame and keeps going. Tap early, because the longer you wait the more it costs.
• Uncles do bunny ears on whoever is closest. Tap the uncle, not the victim.
• Teenagers and office workers drift to their phones. A tap brings them back for a couple of seconds.
• Sneezers wind up with their heads back. A tap buys you time, but the sneeze still comes, and everyone beside them flinches and blinks. Often it is better to wait it out and shoot just after.
• Yawners and gigglers are catching. Stop one fast or the people next to them join in.
• The couple will bicker. Tap either one.

Bad photos are worth collecting

Sixteen bloopers are hidden in the game, and most of them need things to go wrong on purpose. For the Group Nap you need most of the family mid-blink. For Bunny Farm you need two sets of ears at once. If you want them all, stop fixing things and shoot at the worst moment you can. The first photo of each blooper goes in your shoebox.

Look at your prints

Once the shop gets busy, take your time on the table after each sitting. Tap anything that seems wrong in a photo. Not everything in a print was in the room.

The night sittings

Later customers do not blink at all, which sounds easy. The problem is you. Your eyes sting, a bar fills, and you blink. Each time you do, anyone you are not holding in place moves toward the lens. Tap them to send them back to their seat. A flash also pushes them back, so a frame can buy you time as well as a picture. If one reaches the lens you lose a frame.

Start with whoever is closest, and shoot when everyone is seated. There is no chicken at night.

Whole Village

Whole Village starts with six people and adds four after every keeper, which is a score of 80 or more. You get three frames each round. Twenty people is hard. Thirty takes real practice, and forty is a serious brag. Spend your money on the Spare Chicken and Extra Roll first, then the Light Meter, which shows the score of the current moment.

Daily Portrait

Everybody on Earth gets the same twelve people each day. Scores are not ranked online, but the Challenge button copies a code that gives a friend your exact family, so you can settle it between you.