Ingenious | BoardGameGeek

Reply: Ingenious:: Reviews:: Re: Video Review - INGENIOUS!

sightreader — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:13:37 +0000

cajuninms wrote:
It is hard to gauge how people like/dislike these videos unless I get some sort of feedback.

Hey, great stuff, and thanks for the review. It's nerve wracking and awkward speaking to a camera that just stares at you, isn't it? It's hard not to freeze up - I call it the "answering machine syndrome". However, there are several things you can do about it.

I think the best solution is to have real people watching you as you speak. You can have them lurking behind the camera and out of view - just don't have them actually operating the camera, because you really need that eye contact and nonverbal acknowledgement to help you move through your presentation. If they're the hammy sort, then they can be on camera as you teach them, but I doubt most folks will go for that.

If you can't get a second person to help, then put up an outline of your plan behind the camera so you can remember where you're supposed to go next and not flail when switching topics. If you have that second person, they can page cue cards for you.

Great stuff, and thanks for the presentation!

Reply: Ingenious:: Sessions:: Re: "Mom, you're hyper-focusing on one color."

sightreader — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:50:47 +0000

by sightreader

Larry Welborn wrote:
"That's what happens when you hyper-focus."

Awww! That's so cute!

Reply: Ingenious:: Variants:: Re: 5 player version?

mrorwell — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:39:56 +0000

by mrorwell

Sorry... I didn't see the reply. They were having problems with the subscription system.

Why do you think it would make it hard to score an Ingenious? You have more people laying tiles, so you have the potential to have more orange or green or whatever on the board when you lay your tile. Granted, there are more opportunities for someone to block you, but in the early stages of the game, the board would still be relatively open, even with 5 players.

I agree that the game would almost certainly end before someone gets an automatic win with 6, but with four player, we frequently have all of us with 3+.

Reply: Ingenious:: Reviews:: Re: Video Review - INGENIOUS!

cajuninms — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:50:47 +0000

by cajuninms

Thank you for the feedback. That will help a lot with my future videos!

Reply: Ingenious:: Reviews:: Re: Video Review - INGENIOUS!

Barticus88 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:44:14 +0000

by Barticus88

Your speech is rambling and disfluent. You should write a script. You don't need to reed a script verbatim, but you need to know what you are about to say.

You need to script the actions as well. You have the scoreboard covering part of the play area, and when you fiddle with it you displace some tiles. It's a very sloppy look.

That said, you are doing a good job of covering the game itself.

Review: Ingenious:: Video Review - INGENIOUS!

cajuninms — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:26:26 +0000

by cajuninms

Youtube Video

Hope you guys enjoy my review of a great family game, Ingenious.

If you enjoy, please post a comment. It is hard to gauge how people like/dislike these videos unless I get some sort of feedback. Please thumb/tip if you feel you need necessary!

Hope you have a good day.

Reply: Ingenious:: Sessions:: Re: "No, no! Don't! Please don't do that!"

Jeffr0 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:16:01 +0000

by Jeffr0

brinksw wrote:
Were you playing with a house rule that let players trade pieces?
I'm pretty sure that per the rules, you swap tiles out with ones from the bag...

I wasn't open to letting people trade tiles contrary to the rules, so I reacted negatively to the prospect when two players started (joking maybe?) about doing so.

Reply: Ingenious:: Sessions:: Re: "No, no! Don't! Please don't do that!"

Dingus — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:41:44 +0000

by Dingus

This was refreshing -- to read about the psychological aspects of playing games and beginners/experienced players and personalities. I like strategy and rules, but the people side kind of gets ignored sometimes. We usually don't mention such things at game night (except for when we were being interviewed for a UT student podcast a few weeks ago.) And we don't think to write of them in session reports - maybe it's a fear of being revealed as human. So thanks for a new perspective.

Reply: Ingenious:: Sessions:: Re: "No, no! Don't! Please don't do that!"

brinksw — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:22:10 +0000

by brinksw

Were you playing with a house rule that let players trade pieces?
I'm pretty sure that per the rules, you swap tiles out with ones from the bag...

Session: Ingenious:: "No, no! Don't! Please don't do that!"

Jeffr0 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:27:50 +0000

by Jeffr0

I've always admired people that exuded gravitas and charisma. Take Earlbirt, for instance. We're at his house for an afternoon of Car Wars and the subject of various rules interpretations came up. He quietly explained the rules we would be using, and that... seeing as this was his house, we're be using his house rules. Not one of us even dared to so much as joke about it.

It sorta reminds me of the time back when I was a kid riding around on bikes with my best friend. He wanted to do one thing; I wanted to do something else. He didn't wanted to compromise; I stood my ground. We headed off in different directions and... it gradually dawned on my that I was just not going to bully my friend into doing anything other than what he'd already decided. I'd lost the psychological battle. I just wasn't the alpha male here at all. So... tail between my legs, I slunk off to do whatever it was that my friend wanted to do.

Earlburt would never have to do something like that. Ah well.

So folks are over at my house one afternoon. I'd just taught one guy how to play. We clipped along to the final move only one point apart-- pretty good fun, that. And somehow we managed to round up four players for the next game: a brand new player and two second-time players.

Ingenious had set on the shelf for months up until then. I'd been pushing Carcassonne on all my non-gaming friends. Most of them just blundered through the game, but a couple of them quickly assimilated the rules and tactics. They played mean, cut-throat moves and they always asked for seconds. They were the exceptions, though. Most people simply could not grok the "adjacency" limits on meeple placement. Even after five games, many players could not understand basic farmer strategy and its alternatives.

Ingenious seemed to be going much better for me, though. To teach the game, you mumble something about how to score... show a couple of simple cases, show them the crazy situation from the rules... then count up their score for them until they decide they've got the hang of it. Then all you have to do is explain the "Ingenious!" rule... and demonstrate cashing in your tiles as early on as you can. Simple. One player that was prone to Analysis Paralysis in Carcassonne seemed to keep things moving a bit faster with Ingenious on the table.

I was thoroughly enjoying the game. Sure, I had to get up occasionally to do a favor for my wife or to take care of a small child. But things mostly moved along. I liked how much could happen between my turns. Entire colors could be blocked off, so I mostly tried to score off things that I needed that I suspected might not be around for long. I moved each color up steadily where the new players scored more Ingenious! moves early on.

It seems like there's so many spaces to play on in the larger four player game, but I knew they would fill up fast. It got down to the end-game and the player across from me complained that she didn't draw the tiles she wanted. The guy to my right was doing his turn and offered to swap tiles with her.

"No... don't do that."

Seeing that I was perturbed, the guy to my right redoubled his efforts to swap tiles. "Really... would you like to swap," he leered.

The tempo of the game was shattered. Up until then, things had moved along decently enough. Yes... I was set to win the game. Normally I let the new players just win to hopefully get them to come back, but this time... I was enjoying finally playing a game more or less for real even though it was still pretty much a casual thing. Being three or four moves away from finishing the game... and fearing that the children in the next room might suddenly need some assistance... I perhaps got a bit overexcited.

"No, no! Don't! Please don't do that!"

In some crazed autistic fit, I crossed some invisible line of social decorum there, and suddenly I was the butt of jokes all around the table. (Sigh.) A small thing, I suppose. But it becomes painfully clear in such situations what would happen if we were all on bikes again... heading off in different directions....

The last few moves were played and scores were tallied. I did indeed win the game, but the newest player wasn't far behind. Even better, she seemed to get some genuine satisfaction from playing well. I was happy to get to play such a rich game with so many players, but I couldn't help but feel that I'd lost some larger, more precarious and tentative thing in the same moment.

At least it was just a game.

Reply: Ingenious:: Variants:: Re: 5 player version?

Robrob — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:55:11 +0000

by Robrob

I'd think in a five player game it might be hard to score an "ingenious".

Thread: Ingenious:: Variants:: 5 player version?

mrorwell — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:38:46 +0000

by mrorwell

I have a friend who is planning on taking this game the next time he visits his folks. There will be five people around the table and he is certain that they will want to play this.

Has anyone played 5 player? Do you have suggested variant rules? Was there anything that didn't work well?

Thanks for the input.

Session: Ingenious:: "Mom, you're hyper-focusing on one color."

Larry Welborn — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:24:04 +0000

by Larry Welborn

Today, I sat down with my wife, 8 year old son and 6 year old daughter for a game of Ingenious. In the past, I have played with various handicaps to enable the children to compete competitively, but since they are a bit older with several games under their belts, I decided to play straight up. My games with the children tend to be high scoring as there is less blocking than in a game with all adults, although we will still shut out a color on occasion.

Both children played quite well. Early on, the children had a good mix of colors going while I was concentrating in a couple of colors. My wife had only scored in purple, although she was in double digits. When she played yet another purple tile, my son exclaimed, "Mom, you're hyper-focusing in one color. You need to get some points in other colors too." That became the catch phrase of the game.

My daughter was playing very well, much better than she normally does, and without any suggestions from either myself or her mother. She soon pulled into a slight lead over the rest of us. She then executed one of the best plays she has ever made in any game, as she managed to get 3 ingeniouses in one turn. Two turns later she had completed the sweep, getting an ingenious in every color and ending the game with a victory.

Final Scores: Daughter 18, Me 14, Son 11, Wife 7. As we counted up the scores and congratulated my daughter, my son told his Mom, "That's what happens when you hyper-focus."

Review: Ingenious:: [Dutch Review] - Spinnekes

Fidoh — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:58:00 +0000

by Fidoh

Vroeger, toen de dieren nog spraken, speelde ik bij mijn grootouders domino. Ik heb het dan over een jaar of 14 geleden. We speelden dan altijd voor "spinnekes". Dat is een soort van snoepje. Ze zijn lang geleden overleden en domino spelen met mijn grootouders is eigenlijk de leukste herinnering die ik heb aan hen.

Ingenious heeft nogal wat weg van domino. Je hebt een aantal stenen voor je met twee figuren op, een links, een rechts. Je legt een steen, je trekt een nieuwe uit een zwarte zak en het is aan de volgende.

Het is dus een abstract spel. Het is gemaakt door Reiner Knizia. Knizia is nogal een oude bekende. Hij is ook de ontwerper van Modern Art, Ra en Blue Moon, bijvoorbeeld. Hij is erg populair en zijn games hebben meestal redelijk eenvoudige regels. Dat is ook zo bij Ingenious.

Je scoort punten door lijnen te maken van hetzelfde symbool. Je telt hoelang die lijn is geworden en je krijgt zoveel punten. Als je een lijn van 3 vakjes verlengt, krijg je 3 punten bij in de kleur in kwestie. Het kan natuurlijk ook dat je meer dan een lijn in een keer verlengt of dat je punten scoort in 2 kleuren ineens. Voor de duidelijkheid:

Hier krijg je dus 4+2+1=7 punten in paars.

Je punten hou je bij op een kartonnen bordje. Door middel van een gekleurd houten blokje markeer je hoeveel punten je hebt. Als je 18 punten hebt gehaald van een bepaalde kleur, mag je een tweede steen leggen in dezelfde beurt.

De winnaar is de speler die op het einde, wanneer het bord vol ligt, de meeste punten heeft in de categorie waar hij de minste punten heeft. Juist. Dat klinkt een beetje raar misschien, maar het werkt wel heel goed. Je kan je dus niet specialiseren in een bepaalde kleur, maar je moet proberen om al je kleuren tegelijk te verhogen, zodat ze allemáal hoog geraken. Je mag 18 punten hebben in vijf kleuren, maar als je maar 2 punten hebt in de zesde kleur, heb je dus eigenlijk maar 2 punten voor het eindresultaat. Dit is best een interessante manier om punten te tellen. Het komt ook voor in Eufraat & Tigris, maar dat is ook een spel van Knizia. Typisch dus.

Het spel kan je met 2 tot 4 mensen spelen. Hoe meer spelers er zijn, hoe groter het spelbord wordt, wat op zich een goeie manier is om dit te ondersteunen. Persoonlijk vind ik dat het spel toch veel beter is met minder spelers. Het is nogal moeilijk om controle uit te oefenen op hoe het bord eruit ziet als er tussen elke keer dat jij een steen neerlegt, er nog drie andere komen. Als je met twee speelt, kan je zelf veel vaker stenen leggen en ontwikkelt het spel zich meer zoals jij dat zelf wil.

Ingenious is een knappe abstract. De geluksfactor is soms nogal vervelend (als het lang duurt voor je een broodnodige rode steen trekt, bijvoorbeeld), maar dat geldt natuurlijk ook voor je tegenstanders. Het is een interessant en redelijk diep spel dat zeker je aandacht even verdient. Persoonlijk geef ik ni dit genre de voorkeur aan Blokus, maar Ingenious krijgt zeker ook goede punten. Misschien moet ik het ook eens spelen voor "spinnekes".

Pro
- Supereenvoudige regels
- Kwaliteit van de components
- Zeer goed spel voor twee

Con
- Geluksfactor kan storend zijn
- Minder goed met meerdere spelers

Je kan het spel hier online uitproberen tegen een AI.

New Image for Ingenious

kin2x — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:39:01 +0000

by kin2x

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smile

Reply: Ingenious:: Reviews:: Re: Ingenious after 10 plays

Kokoglace — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:04:13 +0000

by Kokoglace

Nice review! :) I found it very clear and it gets to the point faster, which is what dialogues are usually for (see Socratic arguments). I'm looking for a game which my parents my enjoy, this seems to be a good candidate except perhaps for the scoring process...

New Image for Ingenious

trenttsd — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:30:47 +0000

by trenttsd

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One player draws, another places early in a game of Ingenious.

Reply: Ingenious:: Sessions:: Re: Ingenious – Another Puzzle Game for My Wife to Win

Jeffr0 — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 23:20:36 +0000

by Jeffr0

Don't waste your "ingenious!" moves.

If you can save back a couple of colors scored at the 15-17 point range, you can move them both up to 18 in a single turn. The resulting triple move can be used to shut out a color that your opponent needs to win.

Whoever can coordinate a move in this vein will dominate in a two player game.

Session: Ingenious:: Ingenious – Another Puzzle Game for My Wife to Win

lilwil — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:27:23 +0000

by lilwil

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We have had Ingenious around since last Christmas and to be frank, it really isn’t a game that I would typically play. I tend more towards wargames or miniatures. We recently have had a regular game night with a few other couples, so I am digging out games that either haven’t been played or rarely get played. Ingenious is a good game, as it should be given that it is a Reiner Knizia game.

My wife and I played it last night and I took a thorough beating. I knew better than to ask her to play with me and expect to win, but the only way to get better is to keep working with the best. She is a puzzle fiend and really seems to like the game. My only hope was to try and get her with the scoring. Ingenious counts your lowest number on the score sheet as your final number. It behooves you to have a balanced approach to the game.

We played three games and by the third game I was finally realizing the tactical aspect to the game. It isn’t so much about placement to keep raising your score. You must also think tactically and look for ways to block your opponent from the colors in which they are weak. Scoring is on a scale of 0 to 18. The first game was her 10, me 5. Second was her 12, me 6. I thought that I had her in the third game. We had only a couple of plays left to make and I was ahead 8 to 7. She made a 3 pt play at the end to win the game 10-8.

We’re looking forward to playing with others. With two people, it is difficult to block a color from your opponent. However, we’re thinking that blocks could occur with three or four players. We’re going to try it with the kiddo this weekend.