2005 Mensa Mind Game Winners

The winners of the 2005 Mensa Mind Games competition have been announced. After a 40-hour gaming marathon during which more than 50 games were considered by members of the high-IQ society, the five new "Mensa Select" games are: DaVinci's Challenge, Ingenious, Loot, Niagara, and Zendo.

The following information about each winner is taken from a press release issued by American Mensa:

DaVinci's Challenge: This game uses the ancient Flower of Life symbols to create patterns and pictures to outsmart your opponent. (Briarpatch, http://www.briarpatch.com/)

Ingenious: Players place colored tiles on the hexagonal board, scoring points, blocking opponents' tile placement and trying to protect themselves from being blocked by their opponents. (Fantasy Flight Games, http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/)

Loot: Set sail for an exciting adventure of strategy and skullduggery in this captivating card game. The player with the most loot rules the high seas. (Gamewright, http://www.gamewright.com/)

Niagara: Players move their canoes up and down the Niagara river to pick up gemstones. The player who gets the most gems wins the game. (Rio Grande Games, http://www.riograndegames.com/)

Zendo: An inductive logic game in which the Master creates a rule and the Students compete to be the first to figure it out by building and studying arrangements of pyramids. (Looney Labs, http://www.looneylabs.com/)

Mensa Select winners are chosen annually at the Mensa Mind Games competition. Members of American Mensa spent a weekend playing and rating new board and card games. The five games that rate the highest are named "Mensa Select" and may display the Mensa Select seal on their packaging.

"You don't have to be a genius to enjoy the games that win this competition," said Jean Becker, chair of American Mensa, in a press release. "The Mensa Select seal lets consumers know that intelligent people enjoy playing the game. We rate the games on originality, aesthetics, value, and playability, so the Mensa Select seal indicates games that are fresh, challenging, and well-designed."

This year's Mind Games competition was held April 15 to April 17 in Tampa, Florida. More than 160 players were challenged by the 51 game entries.

Based in Arlington, Texas, American Mensa is an organization open to anyone who scores in the top two percent on an accepted, standardized intelligence test. More information about the organization may be found at http://www.us.mensa.org/. More information about Mind Games may be found at http://www.mindgames.us.mensa.org/.