Game Reviews: Mind Games, year 2006

These are Wei-Hwa Huang's personal reviews of games that might or might not have been submitted to the Mensa Mind Games event in 2006. (You'll have to go to that site to get the official list of submitted games, when they decide to post it.)

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, ratings, and reviews stated in this document and related webpages are the sole personal opinions of Wei-Hwa Huang and Wei-Hwa Huang alone. Wei-Hwa Huang does not speak for the more than 200 participants on the Mensa Mind Games selection panel. This is not an official site of Mensa Mind Games or Mensa Select, although the statements on which games are winners of Mensa Select are factually correct. Mensa Mind Games and Mensa Select are registered trademarks of American Mensa.

If you have any questions or concerns about my reviews and comments, please feel free to mail me.



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  • You Must Be an Idiot! (9;9;9)
  • *Keesdrow (9;7;9)
  • Pickomino (8;7;9)
  • Quelf (9;7;8)
  • *Hive (9;7;8)
  • Pünct (8;6;10)
  • *Wits & Wagers (7;8;8)
  • Zeus on the Loose (8;8;7)
  • *Pentago (8;8;7)
  • ()
  • Questionary (8;8;5)
  • Portrayal (5;7;9)
  • Pepper (9;7;5)
  • Regatta (2;9;9)
  • Linq (6;8;6)
  • Poison (7;8;5)
  • It-Dah-Gan (7;8;5)
  • Don't Quote Me - TIME for Kids Edition (9;6;5)
  • Tricky Town (5;8;6)
  • Evolution (6;7;6)
  • Codebreaker (6;7;6)
  • Sketchword (7;7;5)
  • LonPos 101 Pyramid and Rectangle Game (4;6;9)
  • The Invention Game (6;6;7)
  • Pacru 302 (7;6;6)
  • *Deflexion (7;4;8)
  • Da Vinci Code Board Game (2;9;7)
  • Top Speed (6;7;5)
  • Heximania (6;4;8)
  • Cephalopod (8;8;1)
  • Diffusion (9;7;1)
  • Space Faces (4;7;6)
  • mental_floss: The Trivia Game (6;6;5)
  • Snatch (7;6;4)
  • JabberJot (7;6;4)
  • Eve's Quest (8;6;3)
  • Gordian's Knot (2;5;10)
  • Castle Keep (3;8;5)
  • Dragon Chess (6;6;4)
  • Bonkers (6;6;4)
  • Pick Two Deluxe (7;6;3)
  • Byte (9;6;1)
  • 800: The Game of Verbal Perfection (7;5;4)
  • Thing-A-Ma-Bots (4;6;5)
  • Net Y (8;6;1)
  • Nymble (6;5;4)
  • Nerdy Wordy (6;4;5)
  • Cosmic Cows (5;5;4)
  • Baffle Gab (6;5;3)
  • Debate This! (7;3;3)
  • Jot (6;4;3)
  • Summit (3;2;7)
  • Match of the Penguins (3;5;3)
  • Mind's I (4;4;3)
  • Ringgz (5;3;2)
  • Da Vinci's Challenge Card Game (4;3;2)
  • Fikloo: The Game of Crazy Commands (5;2;1)
  • Kiss My Rules! (2;3;2)
  • Pairs or Better (4;1;2)
  • Wordigy: A World of Words for Family Fun (3;1;1)
  • Wreck the Nation: the Game of Political Misbehavior (1;2;1)
  • Urban Legends the Game (1;2;1)
  • It-Dah-Gan

    (search on Board Game Geek)

    small pic of It-Dah-Gan

    • Replay Value (1-10): 7
    • Fun Factor (1-10): 8
    • Worth Buying (1-10): 5
    This game is (yet another) variant of President, of which you might be familiar with a commercial version known as The Great Dalmuti. The Great Dalmuti has many of the weaker cards and very few of the power cards, which President has an equal number of each. It-Dah-Gan (pronounced "it again") has something in between. Unlike the other versions, which you play over and over until you get bored, It-Dah-Gan actually has a termination point -- certain cards are worth points, and whomever reaches 50 points wins. Furthermore, although the person in the lead ("At-DAH-top") has the easiest time, once they fall they immediately go all the way to the bottom-most rung -- a feature that isn't in many of the climbing games.

    Overall, my feeling of this game is that it is probably the best version of President I've ever played -- there's actually a termination point, and there's a little more balance between the players, which still retaining the "rich get richer" feel of President. There also seems to be a reasonable amount of strategy as to when one should put out point cards. However, the other people I played with had mixed feelings -- those who were familiar with President (and like games) found it unnaturally tame, while those who had never played such games found it harsh. So perhaps that means it's just right.


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    By Wei-Hwa Huang