Mind Games 99

A review by Ken Kaufman and JJ Armour

Disclaimer: As the above indicates, neither of us has any affiliation with any of the listed companies, save perhaps as customers.

The five winners of the Mensa Select award:

Apples and Oranges: A party game in which players try to play cards corresponding to things that fit the category turned up by the judge (one of the players, rotating each round). The judge then awards the point to the one deemed most worthy. Unfortunately, we only played a prototype version; the game has since become available for mass marketing under the name "Apples to Apples".
Ken's grade: 97. A true hoot. By far, this was the most fun of the 38. Fast-paced with room for creativity and humor.
JJ's grade: 92. Bring on the fruit salad! Definitely a hit for anyone with a twisted sense of humor; probably not as fun if you take it too seriously.

Bollox: Abstract strategy game combining elements of Othello, Tic-Tac-Toe, and Chinese Checkers.
Ken's grade: 84. Pretty good game, but what got everyone's attention was the classy packaging. For the $45.99 list price, it comes in what looks like a laptop case, and contains a beautiful wood board and large glassy balls.
JJ's grade: 77. Very attractive. Can be fun even if you don't generally like those kinds of games.

Doubles Wild: Put your pieces on the board based on the rolls of the dice (roll again if you don't like your roll and feel lucky). As the name suggests, doubles are wild and give you leeway in your choice. You may need to fight an opponent for the rights to a space. The object is to build sequences of at least three pieces in a row.
Ken's grade: 74. Fairly fun, and probably improves some with experience. The pieces may be susceptible to some slipping around.
JJ's grade: 54. I would have liked it a lot more if the pieces didn't slide around, but it was fun, and I wouldn't object to owning a copy. One puzzling thing was how the scoring line on the board went very high, yet none of the scores did in our game. Were we doing something wrong?

Fluxx: Card game that begins with one simple rule of play and no victory conditions. The rest are added in the course of the card play.
Ken's grade: 91. A whole lot of fun, and hard to take too seriously. Very unpredictable.
JJ's grade: 98. I love Fluxx. A fine game. Goofy and challenging enough to transfix.

Quiddler: Rummy-like card game in which the cards contain one or two letters and the object is to form words from your hand.
Ken's grade: 68. I didn't like it as much as a lot of the people there. It just seemed too easy for everyone at the table to go out within two draws if there are decent wordsmiths at the table.
JJ's grade: 84. Ok, but I didn't find it very challenging. However, my 11-year-old nephew who's not too fond of games really liked it.

The Rest of the Games:

A/Z: Sort of like Scrabble without tiles. You write your words into the squares, getting points based on length.
Ken's grade: 49. Too little structure to it, except for the confusion involving the "Excuse" pieces.
JJ's grade: 43. Liked the concept, but it's not clearly enough explained, regarding what could or couldn't be done, and the proper use of the magnetic "excuses". For such a type of game, I'd rather play Scrabble -- it doesn't smear.

Animotrax: Eco-conscious game oriented toward children in which players try to reunite baby animals with their parents and habitats. You are aided by answering environmentally oriented questions, for example, naming endangered species.
Ken's grade: 67. Moderately playable, but instead of an interesting variety of questions, the game moves toward rote memory of lists. May not keep your child's interest.
JJ's grade: 60. "Green version of Concentration." Not horrible, but won't really excite kids; questions aren't interesting enough, nor is there enough movement.

Aquarius: Card game that's a distant cousin of dominos, with some groovy artwork on the cards.
Ken's grade: 75. Pretty good game. The strategy can be subtle with a lot of players.
JJ's grade: 91. Very fun, pretty mindless, but challenging enough to keep intelligent adults riveted for hours. Action cards add a good twist and allow some non-Aquarian mean-spiritedness.

Balazoom and Jester's Memory: Listed together because the two were extremely similar, and made by the same firm. Both are children's games with punch-out cardboard pieces about an inch square with letters/numbers and pictures on them. Different activities are possible such as learning the alphabet, concentration, puzzle-forming, etc.
Ken's grade: Balazoom: 50; Jester's Memory: 53. The images are not particularly aesthetically pleasing, and the activities will be either too simple or too pointless for the target age group (3-8).
JJ's grade: Balazoom: 5; Jester's Memory: 68. Pfffffft! Give these to children you don't like. This will keep you from being invited to their future birthday parties.

Bosworth: A 2-4 player game that takes the mechanics and pieces of chess, and deploys them incrementally in a "battlefield".
Ken's grade: 72. Aesthetically rather pleasing and a fun play; in some ways doesn't differ too much from chess.
JJ's grade: 20. I'm not a big chess fan, and I found it difficult because the cards slid around. Children might find it difficult for that reason, and it might teach bad habits to someone learning chess. On the other hand, I doubt it would be of too much interest to a chess player. The game does, though, have a fair degree of challenge

Chebache: A self-proclaimed synthesis of chess, backgammon and checkers.
Ken's grade: 44. As one participant put it, do we really need to tinker with three fine games? Sadly, the rules of movement were very unclear, so the game was hard to play.
JJ's grade: 7. It gave me a headache. The instructions are absolutely incomprehensible. I've got total sympathy for those who tried for 1 1/2 hours; every time I walked past the table, the position looked the same.
Note: I have since been informed that the game has been revised with a new, more understandable rulebook. It may be worth another look for those fond of such strategy games.

Cross Cribb: Like that solitaire or competitive card game in which you lay out 25 cards in a 5 x 5 array and get points based on the quality of the horizontal and vertical poker hands ... but this one does it with cribbage hands.
Ken's grade: 67. I'm not a cribbage player, but it worked reasonably well. Pleasant playing environment.
JJ's grade: 78. I liked it, but once you understand the concept, why buy the set? I don't like cribbage, but it's different enough.

Decisions! Decisions!: Think of it as an adult version of Life (with a touch of Monopoly or Careers) whose focus is on investment strategy.
Ken's grade: 40. It seemed rather pointless, and roughly as realistic as Life. I thought the board was pretty (in spite of the tiny writing), but that may have been due to my red/green syndrome.
JJ's grade: 5. Eeewwwww! Make it stop! More seriously, it would have been more interesting were there more places to switch tracks. Instead, it's a mutant child of Monopoly and Life.

Equate: Basically Scrabble in which the letters have been replaced by numbers or mathematical operators; you form true equations rather than words, and tile values are based on their approximate difficulty of inclusion.
Ken's grade: 74. Loads of fun if you come from the math side of the street (just try to find ways to cash in a "bingo").
JJ's grade: 68. It wasn't as awful as I feared, but I didn't care for it. This game might be good for kids improving their math skills. Racks for tiles would have been nice.

Global Chess: Ever wondered what chess would be like if the board were spherical, rather than square? This game answers that question.
Ken's grade: 79. The large board is quite attractive, and the set of gears facilitates the orientation and reorientatition of the board in its planar projection. Higher quality material for the board and pieces would be an asset.
JJ's grade: 33. Not for the chessaphobic!

Inventions Trivia: Yet another cousin of Trivial Pursuit, this one focusing on inventors and their inventions. Question cards are equipped with clues; in case they're not guessed correctly initially, the guesser gets a second chance to advance, but will have to cede his/her turn to the next player.
Ken's grade: 53. The subject material is often fascinating, but the questions overall are too hard, and the clues often provide no help whatsoever.
JJ's grade: 21. A little full of itself. It would have been more fun with more reasonable clues; as it is, it's too obscure.

King Row Checkers: It's a checker set, containing rules for several dozen variants.
Ken's grade: 50. The packaging is fairly ugly, and the presented games are unspectacular -- either slight deviations from standard rules, or old chestnuts (e.g., Fox & Hounds) and variations on them.
JJ's grade: 30. And the point of this is ... ? As I overheard, all of those alleged variations are things kids have been doing for years without a box with directions on them.

Mystery Rummy Case No. 1: Jack the Ripper: As the name suggests, this is a rummy game in which players get to lay out such things as crimes, suspects, alibis, evidence, and events in such a way that would mirror the unfolding of a Jack the Ripper crime spree. One of six suspects is fingered at the end of the hand, or (s)he may escape. Players collect points for the cards they play.
Ken's grade: 65. The rules and conditions may be a tad too complex for a rummy game. Then again, you may have to play this one a few times to get a good feel.
JJ's grade: 52. The directions are a bit confusing and the cards are a little hard to read, but I wouldn't mind owning a copy. It's a nice blend of rummy, history, blood and gore.

Palenque: Players in this ornate board game represent archaeologists, etc. exploring a Mayan town in search of treasures.
Ken's grade: 62. Does not play very well, and the rules are somewhat confusing. Most of it involves walking around the board a la Clue, hoping that what you need will turn up.
JJ's grade: 23. Evokes the image of a virgin bride whose husband falls asleep on his wedding night, or finding out that the concert you're at is lip-synched. This game had the most unfulfilled promise! It looked so fun and let us down. It just fell flat. Maybe with 2-3 days, it would play out well.

Planetarium: A hand-held game with magnetic balls designed to represent a planetary race across the solar system. Don't let your planets get too close to other objects, or they'll be sucked out of their orbits and "destroyed"!
Ken's grade: 33. Lovely board, reminiscent of old-time wooden pinball, but this game was frankly befuddling. The rules were unclear, as were the target strategy, the orbital path of the comet, etc. Also, the enclosed 8-sided die was practically microscopic.
JJ's grade: 8. The second poopiest game in the room, but at least the magnets did something fun when they got close to each other. The die was totally unreadable!

Proton: A 1- or 2-player game played on a "15 puzzle", most of whose pieces consist of red or white paths. The object in the 2-player game is to build a path of your color between two terminal pieces before your opponent does.
Ken's grade: 72. I didn't mind it, but it was hard to get a feel for. The rules were sadly unclear (conversely, the information on the game's Web site is nicely explanatory. If you want to play, look there.)
JJ's grade: 32. My first objection is that things that small are best single-person entertainment. The directions were unclear; this game didn't have a lot to offer.

Proverbial Wisdom: A game that draws from Trivial Pursuit and Pictionary, in which the goal is to guess proverbs based on drawn and verbal clues.
Ken's grade: 52. The three types of clues didn't make for a smooth flow of play. One had an unclear explanation.
JJ's grade: 35. Confucius say: Don't waste your time.

Railroad Rush Hour: A near clone of the succesful Rush Hour solitaire kit, set in a train yard. The grid is larger than the original, I believe, and there's a new kind of obstacle -- square freight platforms that can move both horizontally and vertically.
Ken's grade: 72. A solid product like the original, but really doesn't add anything new.
JJ's grade: 89. I liked, and will probably buy it. Not an exact duplicate of Rush Hour; it has a couple of twists. It was fun.

Rhombo Continuo: A follow-up to US Games' Continuo (which we haven't played). Players add rhomboid tiles onto the field of play, trying to maximize the areas of one color that they add to.
Ken's grade: 71. Plays well and held my interest better than some abstract strategy games.
JJ's grade: 89. I enjoyed it very much. It plays quickly, and is very colorful. Good for stretching the right brain, and fun for a gaming group.

Rules of the Game: A trivia game in which all the questions relate to the rules governing basketball, (gridiron) football, baseball and golf, the first two both on the college and professional level.
Ken's grade: 71. Fun, with some interesting questions. I'd have really liked a pot luck category for hockey, tennis, soccer, bowling, ...
JJ's grade: 86. The ability to give simple yes/no answers is a twist on the traditional trivia game, as is the fact that it only deals with sports rules. Even the sports-challenged can enjoy it and do well.

SOLD! The Antique Dealer Game: Players buy, sell, trade and bid on antiques in various conditions and various levels of repair and authenticity.
Ken's grade: 47. Very reminiscent of Masterpiece, but a lot more going on. Unfortunately, the game is not structured enough; inexperienced players are left meandering. This is not a quick play.
JJ's grade: 10. This was very tedious, not very fun. Only attempt it with 3-6 hours and no other game to play.

Stealth Chess: A marriage of chess and Stratego. Your opponent can only tell your chessmen from the way they move; find and capture the King to win.
Ken's grade: 75. Plays very nicely and quickly.
JJ's grade: 68. Good for those who sort of like chess. Weaknesses in your strategy may not be apparent to your opponent.

Switch Back: Solitaire game in which one moves "gates" and tilts the board to shift marbles into various patterns.
Ken's grade: 71. A pretty set, but the game's not too entrancing.
JJ's grade: 28. Not memorable -- may appeal to fans of other manual dexterity games.

Target: A card game that combines rummy mechanics with the search for specific poker and similar hands.
Ken's grade: 73. Fairly fun, a little look and feel of Uno. One or two hands is often enough before you move on to something else.
JJ's grade: 91. The printing on the cards is a little hard to read. It's a fun little game if you like cards; otherwise, it will not be of any interest.

The Last Card: Trick-taking game in which your score is determined by the product of the number of tricks you take and the value of the card you manage not to play.
Ken's grade: 85. Quick, challenging, frustrating and very enjoyable.
JJ's grade: 90. One of the more fun trick-taking games, though certainly not in the league of bridge and hearts. The scoring twist adds to the unpredictability.

The Whole Brain Game: Kind of like Outburst in that players have to rattle off as many correct answers as possible in a short span, but it differs in the types of answers required, based in part on eight general questions (e.g., "ways these two things are alike") and in part on the object(s) of the questions which are determined by drawing cards.
Ken's grade: 55. Didn't flow very well, and groups could become argumentative regarding the validity of answers. Or perhaps I just played it at a suboptimal time. The makeup of some of the equipment could be improved.
JJ's grade: 89. I found it creative and kind of fun, but a group playing really needs to be on the same wavelength. It's an opportunity for lots of puns and bizarre jokes.

Tilez!: Lay out multi-colored L-shaped tiles on the board in such a way as to maximize the number of segments that match colors with what already has been played. Differs from Rhombo Continuo in that your score is based on the number of segments that touch, not on the size of the area of same color that was created.
Ken's grade: 59. Just didn't play that smoothly, and the pieces slid around a lot. Probably more fun for bigger afficionados of abstract strategy games.
JJ's grade: 89. Would have been more enjoyable had the pieces not slid all over the board. Similar to Rhombo Continuo in its stimulation of the right brain.

Tisby: Players have to form a criss-cross of words given a group of assigned letter tiles (determined by rolls of the dice) with two in fixed locations.
Ken's grade: 53. It didn't hold my group's attention; the mechanics are somewhat confusing.
JJ's grade: 28. Just too stupid to even bother with. It tries to be a bizarre cross between Scrabble and crossword puzzles. Getting letters from a chart? This is a giant thumbs down.

versa.tiles: A Scrabble knock-off with a major twist: the letters on the tiles are written in such a font (or probably more accrately, set of fonts) that they read as one letter right-side up, and another upside down. Hence, there are only thirteen different letter tiles, each of which represents a unique pair of letters. Players can use them in either orientation to form words; naturally, the points will often vary based on which way they are used.
Ken's grade: 62. Conceptually fascinating! However, the makers did stretch a bit to make some of their double-letter combinations (G-K and X-Z come to mind), so it's sometimes hard to read. The compact kit is both an asset and a liability; borrow racks from that old Scrabble set.
JJ's grade: 23. My Tisby comments apply here too. In addition, the characters are too hard to read. The tiles are chintzy, hard to handle, and bounce all over.

Y2K Connections: Is this even a game? Or is it an activity? And how socially useful is it? This is not a competitive activity (for the most part). Rather, it serves as a teamwork-building framework for participants to address and solve specific potential problems brought by Y2K-based infrastructure failures.
Ken's grade: 58. I rate it in the "not a game" category, so I feel the product would be improved if it didn't try to be one. Things like "if it is acknowledged that an individual hasn't complained during the last 5 minutes, that person gets to add two puzzle pieces" are just too sweetly totalitarianly preachy, and are likely to detract from the experience (oops, no puzzle pieces for me!) Their scenarios are comprehensive and thought-provoking; those on their own would be ample reason for interested parties to consider this product.
JJ's grade: 13. The question is why-2K? This was an insult to all of the real games in the room. Rather, it's an activity that might be found on the shelves of all the HR departments in Eugene, Madison, and Boulder. You can only engage in Y2K Connections if you've eaten granola and are wearing your earth shoes.

Zoki: One set comes with 34 tiles, about two inches square, with zero to three stripes on each of their four sides (the stripes are color-coded based on how many are on that side), and rules for four separate games. Zoki-9 and Zoki-16 are solitaire games in which one randomly selects the number of pieces in the game's title, and tries to make a square by matching like numbers of stripes on all common edges. They can be played by two players, each with 9/16 pieces, as a race to complete a square first. Mira-12 is a version of Concentration in which the goal is to find pairs of cards that add up to 12 stripes, rather than pairs that match exactly. Finally, Zoki-Yugo is a 2-player game, similar in nature to Zoki-9, except each player has control of five pieces, and the goal is to match as many stripes as possible while preventing your opponent from doing the same.
The manufacturers requested that the first three games be graded as a single unit, and that Zoki-Yugo be graded separately.
Ken's grade: Zoki-9/Zoki-16/Mira-12: 81; Zoki-Yugo: 66. By far, I liked the two solitaire games best. It's fascinating how virtually any random subset of the pieces can be formed into a legal square. And the Zoki-16 was a major challenge! Zoki-Yugo was also a challenge, but it didn't really hold my attention. Possibly too much subtlety for a first-timer.
JJ's grade: Zoki-9/Zoki-16/Mira-12: 84; Zoki-Yugo: 85. Attractive, fun, and a good time passer for 1 or 2 people. It also challenges the right brain. I liked the solitaire games a bit more.