From April 24-26, 2009, a special gaming event called Mensa MindGames occurred in Cincinnati, Ohio. During these three days, over two hundred of America's brightest and most passionate game-players (including yours truly) gathered in a huge conference room and evaluated over forty of the newest games on the market. These games competed for the Mensa Select Seal, a unique award that indicates a game has been found intellectually stimulating, fun, original, and well-constructed. Attendees voted by secret ballot, and at event's end, five games were crowned winners. In no particular order, they are:
1.) Dominion -- A gorgeously illustrated fantasy-themed card game, where players develop individual decks of cards and compete to see who will possess the most expansive kingdom at game's end. The mechanics here are surprisingly clever and simple. - Around $40, by Rio Grande Games.
2.) Tic-Tac-Ku -- This two-player board game extends tic-tac-toe into a large nine-by-nine grid, each of which has a normal nine-by-nine tic-tac-toe grid within it. The trick is that each move directs the other player toward a particular sub-grid, based on that move's position. Tic-Tac-Ku really makes you think ahead. - $29.95, by Mad Cave Bird Games.
3.) Stratum -- Players place four-unit-long bars on a hexagonal grid in layers, competing to have the most units visible when either no one can move or someone runs out of pieces. - around $30, by Family Games, Inc.
4.) Marrakech -- A uniquely ethnic game, Marrakech requires players to both manage their limited monetary resources and strategically place rugs on a grid, trying to coerce the others into paying them fees for landing on the rugs. - around $20, by Gigamic.
5.) Cornerstone -- A variation on Jenga, but with small cubes and an even taller skyscraper. - $39.95, by Good Company Games.
Keep an eye out for any and all of these games at stores near you, and for detailed reviews of these games on this site. In all likelihood, you will enjoy these games as much as those at MindGames did.
Have fun, and never lose that competitive spirit!
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