Game Reviews: Mensa Mind Games®, year 2007

Sneak A Peek (The Crossword Game)

• Replay Value (1-10): 6
• Fun Factor (1-10): 3
• Worth Buying (1-10): 4

This game is an attempt to create a way for players to solve the same crossword competitively, almost as if it were a game show. There's a large display with the crossword, two large scroll viewers that allow players to see individual clues and individual answers, and a red viewer board that allows players to see any one letter of the crossword. Traditional crossword clue numbers are eschewed in place of numbering the rows and the columns from 1 to 15. On your turn, you're assigned a row or column at random (determined by a small deck and a die-roll, and you attempt to solve any clue in that row or column. You can also give up an attempt to learn about any one letter in that row or column. Each player therefore has some information that is known by everyone (incorrect guesses by other players), and information that is known only to themselves (isolated letters, or answers that they've answered incorrectly). So, there's a small unfolding mystery as the crossword is slowly uncovered...

... and unfortunately, the game does run pretty slowly. Although the designers have pretty much made every effort they could to make the game flow, there's still a lot of fiddliness with the components. I can't help but feel that this would be a pretty enjoyable game if electronics were managing all the clue guessing and randomizing, but needing to pass viewers back and forth and slide clue sheets forward and backward make the game very tedious, even for one who likes solving crosswords. Until technology catches up, I'd give this one a pass.