Blindspot Guard explained: thresholds, recovery, and blocked effects

Why a Flirt card can add zero Arousal, what each Guard band blocks, and how recovery changes the next turn. With worked examples.

Elara sits at the Blindspot bar beside Guard and Intoxication meters. Her tracker-signal line appears above Joke, Flirt, and Insight reply cards.
Game screenshotCaptured from the English demo: Elara notices the missing tracker signal while the player considers three replies.
Risouverse
In this article

What Guard actually does

Elara sits at the Blindspot bar beside Guard and Intoxication meters. Her tracker-signal line appears above Joke, Flirt, and Insight reply cards.
Game screenshotCaptured from the English demo: Elara notices the missing tracker signal while the player considers three replies.
Risouverse

A Flirt card can have a positive SED value and still add no Arousal. Check Guard first: above 80, it blocks the entire positive Arousal effect.

Lower Guard lets more of that effect through, in steps. Guard is not another progress bar to fill, and it is not the same as Intoxication. Read the card's effects separately from the guest's dialogue.

Rules checked against the studio's game source on 2026-09-15. Live balance may change; tap Guard in the game to check its current bands. Screenshots were captured from the local English demo on 2026-09-26.

The seven Guard bands

Use the current value, including decimals. Exactly 80 lets 15% through; 80.1 lets nothing through. The rate applies after relevant player and garnish bonuses. Negative Arousal effects are not softened by Guard.

  1. 80 < Guard ≤ 100
    Positive Arousal that gets through
    0%0%
  2. 60 < Guard ≤ 80
    Positive Arousal that gets through
    15%15%
  3. 40 < Guard ≤ 60
    Positive Arousal that gets through
    30%30%
  4. 20 < Guard ≤ 40
    Positive Arousal that gets through
    50%50%
  5. 10 < Guard ≤ 20
    Positive Arousal that gets through
    70%70%
  6. 0 < Guard ≤ 10
    Positive Arousal that gets through
    85%85%
  7. Guard = 0
    Positive Arousal that gets through
    100%100%

One effect, four different results

Elara continues a bar conversation about the tracking ward and mismatched stools; Guard, Intoxication, and the served Rocks drink remain visible.
Game screenshotRecorded from the English demo: After a reply, Elara says the ward was installed after the mismatched stools.
Risouverse

Suppose an effect is worth 20 Arousal after bonuses, before Guard. At 90 Guard it adds 0. At 70 it adds 3. At 50 it adds 6. At 0 it adds the full 20.

The input did not change. The barrier did. A bigger printed SED number is not automatically a better immediate result. Check the forecast's raw, blocked, and final values when they are shown.

The order within a card matters

Elara continues a bar conversation about the tracking ward and mismatched stools; Guard, Intoxication, and the served Rocks drink remain visible.
Game screenshotRecorded from the English demo: After a reply, Elara says the ward was installed after the mismatched stools.
Risouverse

A card uses the Guard value from before its effects resolve. Its own Guard reduction does not improve its Arousal hit retroactively.

Example: start at 50 Guard. After bonuses, the card has 20 Arousal and 20 Guard damage. It adds 6 Arousal, then leaves Guard at 30, before any side effect. It does not add 10 Arousal. A later 20-point effect at 30 Guard would add 10, provided nothing else changes first.

Why Guard goes back up

When a Rocks or Tall drink continues into another turn, Guard recovers by 5 before that turn's drink effects, capped at 100. A newly served drink skips that recovery step. The continuing drink can then reduce Guard again, so the final visible change may be smaller than +5 or even a decrease.

Some dialogue cards also carry a positive Guard side effect. It applies after the card's main effects; player Humor can reduce it. Read the warning and the net change, not just the green numbers.

Before your next choice

Elara sits at the Blindspot bar beside Guard and Intoxication meters. Her tracker-signal line appears above Joke, Flirt, and Insight reply cards.
Game screenshotCaptured from the English demo: Elara notices the missing tracker signal while the player considers three replies.
Risouverse
  • Open the Guard bands and check the exact value. Crossing a threshold matters more than shaving off a point within the same band.
  • Compare the card's HUM and SED effects, then check any Guard side effect. Do not assume a mixed card gets the lower band on its own hit.
  • Read the next drink forecast and watch Intoxication separately. Lower Guard does not remove the other constraints of the shift.

New to the bar? Read the beginner guide.

Watch the demo or open Blindspot.

Sources & further reading

BLINDSPOT

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Blindspot puts you behind the bar in the Risouverse. Talk to your guest, mix drinks, and watch how the conversation changes.

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