Games
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.
What Guard actually does
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. The image below is from an earlier demo recording, not a capture of today's live build.
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.
| Current Guard | Positive Arousal that gets through |
|---|---|
| 80 < Guard ≤ 100 | 0% |
| 60 < Guard ≤ 80 | 15% |
| 40 < Guard ≤ 60 | 30% |
| 20 < Guard ≤ 40 | 50% |
| 10 < Guard ≤ 20 | 70% |
| 0 < Guard ≤ 10 | 85% |
| Guard = 0 | 100% |
One effect, four different results
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
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
- 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.
Sources & further reading
BLINDSPOT
Your shift is waiting.
Blindspot puts you behind the bar in the Risouverse. Talk to your guest, mix drinks, and watch how the conversation changes.
Play BlindspotRomantic Visual Novel · Browser demo · Sign-in required