Thread: Re: Solitaire

ackmondual — 2008-05-09T06:24:01+00:00

ditto

Thread: Re: Solitaire

Ambrose — 2008-05-09T04:39:43+00:00

Your lowest scoring color is your final score. That is the only one you consider.

After that, try to beat that score in future games.

Thread: Solitaire

howaa — 2008-05-09T03:29:26+00:00

In the solitaire version, do I add all the rows together, or do I only score my lowest row? It seems like the rules are saying to add them all together.

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ackmondual — 2008-05-07T02:13:55+00:00

Almost a perfect score. The blue rings were my last 2 moves (top right first) and the orange was Computer 1's last move

Thread: Re: Ingenious - Executive Review

vegaz — 2008-05-07T07:06:48+00:00

Oh, sorry about that... :blush:
It would be nice to have a special edition however...

Thread: Re: Ingenious - Executive Review

tada — 2008-05-06T09:35:04+00:00

Oh man! I was hoping for a shiny new version made of chrome and brass called "Ingenious - Executive".

Thread: Ingenious - Executive Review

vegaz — 2008-05-06T07:19:21+00:00

With my "executive reviews" I try to distil the essence of a game in a brief summary, adapted to time-challenged gamers (like myself).

Story
No story here, the game being 100% abstract. What I can tell is that I bought this game mainly because of its solo option, only to discover that it's a great family game, which is very fun to play and can be loved by non gamers, girlfriends, older relatives, etc.

Theme
No theme, of course. It's an abstract game that declares that openly: much better than a completely unrealistic theme, in general.

Components
The plastic tiles, which are the main components of the game, are of very good quality: some of them are slightly deformed, but that's not a real issue. A bit disappointing is the board, which seems to be made of cheap cardboard. The artwork in this game is basically non-existant, but the general design of it is elegant and well-thought.

Mechanic
In Ingenious (well, in my case it's "Einfach genial", being the German version) each player draws tiles and lays them on the board, in principle drawing and laying down one tile in each turn. Each tile has two different symbols on it, the symbols being 6 in total. Points are scored when a tile is put on the board in a way that lets identical symbols being adjacent one to another. The number of points scored is equal to the number of symbols immediately adjacent, and every player has to keep the scores he or she realizes for every one of the 6 symbols: at the end of the game, the score of each player is the lowest of the scores realized by him/her for a symbol (so that it is necessary to try to make points with every symbol, and being very strong with one or two of them is completely pointless).

Complexity
Easy game. A non gamer can learn it in 1 minute.

Length
Quick game. Very quick, actually (never more than 30 minutes, I would say).

Replayability
Excellent. If you like it, you can go on forever.

Number of players/Solo playability
The game can be played with 1 to 4 players, and it scales without problems. Of course, the solo play is basically a puzzle (draw tiles and play them trying to maximize your points), the 2 player game is a tactical challenge, the 3 or 4 players game is a fast and fun run to get more points than every other player.

Final take
This game has been a great and positive surprise for me, since I had never thought that a completely abstract game could be so fun, especially with 3 or 4 players. Ingenious was close to become Spiel des Jahres in 2004, having being selected for the final list. Bruno Faidutti thinks it would have been absurd to give the coveted prize to Reiner Knizia, author of so many complex games, for this relatively easy game, but I think Ingenious is actually great.
I rate it a very solid 8.

Game: Ingenious

Thread: Re: Solitaire

Thread: Re: Solitaire

Thread: Solitaire

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Thread: Re: Ingenious - Executive Review

Thread: Re: Ingenious - Executive Review

Thread: Ingenious - Executive Review