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Mensa Select winners 2010
Jeff Wolfe
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Ohio
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American Mensa held its Mind Games event this weekend, where the Mensa Select games for 2010 were selected.

The first reports I had from my sources in San Diego was that this year's crop of games was disappointing. Last year, Dominion was one of the winners. This year, Word on the Street is the only winner I recognize.

I have updated my GeekList, Mensa Select winners 1990-2010 by BGG rating. That GeekList also explains more about the Mind Games event and the selection process for the Mensa Select games, if you're interested.

Enjoy.
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1. Board Game: Anomia [Average Rating:6.79 Overall Rank:2964]
Jeff Wolfe
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Dan Poole
United States
Goldsboro
North Carolina
Ph'nglui Mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!!
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We're charging our battery. And now we're full of energy. We are the robots. We're functioning automatik. And we are dancing mechanik. We are the robots
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This is a neurological term which means the inability to name objects
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  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:38 am
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Nick Damato
United States

Ohio
since almost every play in the game began with the word "uhmmm" I think it's an appropriate name.
 
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  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:42 am
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Nick Damato
United States

Ohio
I just noticed that this game was rated an 8.00 last weekend before it won the Mensa Select award and a week later it's down to a 6.5.

I'm more in line with the 6.5, to be honest.
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  • Posted Sat Apr 24, 2010 8:56 pm
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Jeff Wolfe
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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ubikk wrote:
I just noticed that this game was rated an 8.00 last weekend before it won the Mensa Select award and a week later it's down to a 6.5.

I'm more in line with the 6.5, to be honest.

Currently, only three people have rated it, so the number is largely meaningless. The average right now is 6.67. The three ratings are 8, 7, and 5, so apparently the 8 came first, then the 5, then the 7.
 
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  • Posted Sun Apr 25, 2010 9:45 am
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John Hornberger
United States
Niskayuna
NY
It's all about sample size. Perhaps BGG should list standard deviations and confidence levels...

Regarding Anomia itself, I wasn't that interested in it, and it wasn't on my random list of games to play, but I ended up playing it later anyway and I'm glad I did. It's a great example of a game that doesn't require a vast intellect to play, but remains intellectually stimulating because of the quickness required.

To play, one has to be aware of what categories other people have showing, and be ready to name an item from them quickly (more quickly than an opponent). It's a simple as it sounds, but because of the race element (and the chance of a cascade of ensuing races as cards become suddenly uncovered) it's exciting and fun. That's why it gets high marks.
 
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  • Posted Mon Apr 26, 2010 3:34 pm
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2. Board Game: Dizios [Average Rating:5.44 Unranked]
Jeff Wolfe
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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Nick Damato
United States

Ohio
This is a tile placement game with psychedelic tiles. Scoring is based on the tile(s) you play next to and placement is based on the tile graphic.

I thought there was a much better tile-placement game entered called Kachina, which in fact was the very first game selected at the end during the game lottery, IIRC.

I think the reason Kachina did not win, was because the strategy was much heavier than most games, which resulted in much "Analysis Paralysis" among the players. In an event like this where you have to play a lot of new games over as short period of time, fewer people have patience for long turns.

I liked it.
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  • Edited Mon Apr 19, 2010 7:10 am
  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:35 am
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Chris Ferejohn
United States
San Francisco
California
Pitying fools as hard as I can...
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Right right. Mensa wouldn't want to be recommending a game that required thinking... whistle
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  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:16 pm
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Nick Damato
United States

Ohio
cferejohn wrote:
Right right. Mensa wouldn't want to be recommending a game that required thinking... whistle


It does seem unexpected, but I think that "fun with light mental exercise" is preferred over "brain-burner competition" in most of the winners.

That said, I thought Kachina was fun, but I'm more of a serious gamer.

 
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  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:58 pm
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3. Board Game: Forbidden Island [Average Rating:7.08 Overall Rank:252]
Jeff Wolfe
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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Nick Damato
United States

Ohio

This is the new game from the designer of "Pandemic."
 
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  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:15 am
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Peaceful Gamin'
Canada
Vancouver
BC
designer
It was solitaire with cool cards. Zero interaction
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Looking for a playtester/editor/translator for your cool new game? Contact us, we're free (but we ask to be mentioned in the acknowledgements, and a copy of the game would be a nice gesture, but not necessary).
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Promising cover!cool
 
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  • Posted Wed Apr 21, 2010 11:13 pm
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4. Board Game: Word on the Street [Average Rating:6.87 Overall Rank:847]
Jeff Wolfe
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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Nick Damato
United States

Ohio
I'm surprised this won because the few groups I played complained about the way the endgame dragged on.

There were many word games submitted this year, including (but not limited to):

* Letter Roll

* Syllaballistic

* Spellenmeister

Which all had a similar "make a list and compare it to other players" mechanism that was distinct from Word on the Street.

I suspect Letter Roll was a close second to Word on the Street in the word game genre.

There was also a word rummy game called "Scravage" that was published by Scroker games which submitted Scroker last year, which also did not win.
 
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  • Edited Mon Apr 19, 2010 2:02 am
  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:27 am
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Randy Cox
United States
Clemson
South Carolina
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We have no problems with end game. Games take 20 minutes.
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  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 3:42 am
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Robert Garlinghouse
United States
Lebanon
Oregon
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Randy Cox wrote:
We have no problems with end game. Games take 20 minutes.


Agreed. Played this multiple times at Just a Game Con, this is an excellent game. If I had made it to Mind Games, I would have voted for this.
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  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:10 am
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Nick Damato
United States

Ohio
Randy Cox wrote:
We have no problems with end game. Games take 20 minutes.


I agree. I'd already played the game quite a few times before this event. The two groups I played with were obviously outliers, since it won.
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  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:34 am
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5. Board Game: Yikerz! [Average Rating:6.40 Overall Rank:3480]
Jeff Wolfe
United States
Columbus
Ohio
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Nick Damato
United States

Ohio
The most magnetic game since Polarity

Fun with rare-earth magnets. Probably not so much fun for the TSA who had to deal with the luggage of people who flew home with this one.

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  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:31 am
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Sascha Kutzmann
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Krefeld
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Does anybody know where to get this Game in Europe? I wanted to purchase it at Amazon.com, but they simply dont sent it to Germany
 
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  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 8:48 am
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Chester Ogborn
United States
Albuquerque
New Mexico
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I was really puzzled at the games that get noticed by Mensa Select until I understood that the group plays lots of new games in a very short period of time. Games most likely to win will have short simple rules, and not a long playing time. There is a bit of irony that its kind of a short-attention-span award.

Its not a deliberate criterion, but the selection process kind of forces the action that way. Anyway, games likely to be a good fit will not be the same ones that show up on other award nominee lists due to those constraints.
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  • Edited Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:53 am
  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 12:52 am
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Nick Damato
United States

Ohio
FYI - I posted the full list of entries to this event on this list:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/54112/mensa-mind-games...

 
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  • Edited Mon Apr 19, 2010 2:00 am
  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 1:49 am
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Nick Damato
United States

Ohio
cornjob wrote:
I was really puzzled at the games that get noticed by Mensa Select until I understood that the group plays lots of new games in a very short period of time. Games most likely to win will have short simple rules, and not a long playing time. There is a bit of irony that its kind of a short-attention-span award.



Yes, the submission rules state that the game must be able to be learned from the instructions and played in less than 60 minutes. The award seems geared toward family games with a wider age range, as opposed to strategy games for the mature audience. Although there has been increasing discussion amongst members about the desire for an award for "meatier" games.

Also, people may not realize that the games are submitted by the publishers. Mensa doesn't have an internal nominating process (which, trust me, is probably a good thing, LOL).
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  • Edited Mon Apr 19, 2010 1:57 am
  • Posted Mon Apr 19, 2010 1:55 am
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