Didn't play any of these games. But "Mensa Select" somehow always makes me want to rate all the games with "1" .

I think that Zombies!!! should have been among the winners. I am sure that a "no-brainer" game would be a huge hit in Mensa.

This better than average list of winners. There is no known correlation between Mensa Mind Game winners and quality games. (In the past, about 1/2 are good. 1/2 are bad.)

I think it is mainly due to the system that is used: The games are entered by the manufacturers themselves (so if a game isn't entered, it can't win.) The judges each get a list of 30 games to try within a two day period and then pick their favorites. Most of the games are new to the judges.

The many problems with this system:
- Games have to be simple to learn & simple to play. (Anything that takes over 2 minutes to teach is at a disadvantage.)
- Games have to be pretty fast (since most judges want to try get through most of their lists.) Any game over 45 minutes is in trouble.
- Games that may be fun the first time, but may not hold up on repeat playing. There's no TIME for playing anything more than once! (A lot of the abstracts that have won have that problem: some that won are notoriously drawish or imbalanced--which might not be picked on first playing.)

Look at the BGG top 50--all but maybe 5 or 6 simply would never win at Mensa Select. They are either too "complicated", or too "long" or both.

Actually, Mensa is simply a social club whose only membership requirement is scoring in the 98th percentile an IQ test. It's a way for smart people to meet other smart people. Most Mensans have no interest in standing on a soap box and proclaiming their membership to the world because they'd rather avoid eliciting a reaction such as this.

Before you react negatively to this post, consider what prejudices you have about Mensa and Mensans and why you have them. I guarantee Mensans are far more diverse than the stereotype you may have in mind.

Not that I'm trying to hijack this geeklist into a referendum on Mensa....

Another nice thing for a publisher is that some of the major booksellers (Barnes and Noble in particular) place immediate orders for the 5 winners. Any additional sales in the mainstream market are good.

I agree the judging methodolgy is not the best, but it is what it is.