. Thanks.
(published August 2004)
Reiner Knizia: From the start, Einfach Genial was planned as a Mensa branded game. In the UK the game has been published by ReCreation as Mensa Connections. The other European publishers chose independent titles, like Genius in Holland or Genial in France. It was quite clear to me that a Mensa branded game should have the touch of a thinking game and should therefore be "pure" without a theme. I know it is politically incorrect, but I believe that Einfach Genial is one of my best designs ever. The publishers gave me a lot of freedom, and it paid off. I am very proud of how the game turned out. I was very lucky...
(published December 2004)
Jim Blackmore: The board game he mentions, "Mensa Connections," cannot be sold in the United States under our licensing agreement. We tested it last year at our games competition and found it wanting. We did not want the Mensa name on the game in this country.
(sent April 2004)
On 4/18/05, Paul Sauberer wrote:
> So what's the scoop on what happened between last year, when Einfach
> Genial was "found wanting" and this year, when it was named a Mensa
> Select game?
They were competing for different things, and there were some slight
changes in the game that may have influenced judges.
Last year [1], the game was not one of the official entries and was not
eligible for the "Mensa Select" award. It was not on the ballots. Official
entries are supposed to have 6 copies of a professionally published
game available -- this game was in prototype form, and came in a
Lord of the Rings box with a big sticker on the top labeled
"MENSA - The Board Game". Participants of MMG were asked, if
they were interested, to evaluate the prototype and decide if it was
worthy of being called "MENSA - The Board Game". Probably less
than 20 people or so actually bothered to try.
This year, the game was competing to be one of the five games
selected for "Mensa Select". Six of the Fantasy Flight versions
were available, and many participants HAD to play the game before
they were allowed to vote.
I would say that lending your name to something usually has a higher
bar than just attesting that something is good. I'm sure that there were
probably quite a few players who thought that Ingenious was one of the
five best games there this year, and yet still believe that it should not be
called "MENSA - The Board Game". Maybe because it's not good
enough, or maybe because it doesn't really represent Mensa-like games
in general. This doesn't seem inconsistent to me.
There were also a few superficial differences that certainly could have
made a difference in the players' perceptions:
-- The prototype had a rather featureless board with minimal graphics.
-- The scoring track was much simpler graphically.
-- When you reach 18 points on any tracks, you were supposed to say
"Mensa" and take another turn. (In "Ingenious", you're supposed to say
"Ingenious".) Mind Games participants are told repeatedly that they
are supposed to evaluate the game rules as written and not attempt to
add "house rules" that would improve the game (such as, say, a house
rule to not have to say "Mensa" when you reach the 18 spot) and so
silly rules like this tend to hurt a game.
Most players at the event find it difficult enough to play the 30 games on their
ballot before the event is over. Those that do make time to play an "optional"
prototype are likely to do so after a marathon 30 games and are likely to be
quite tired and not give the prototype a full chance.
[1] I misremembered here. It was actually in 2003.
[* Smaller essentially means any country but the US, which has half of all the world's members.]