Ingenious

I am introduced to a lot of games via the BoardGaming.com website, and also through the intervention of my friends. I learned of Ingenious through a friend of mine named Jason, who brought Ingenious to our local game store and opened it up to play. I remember my first thought when it was shown to me as the pieces of the game were revealed, and that was, “Hmm. It kinda resembles Scrabble a little bit.” I can honestly say after having played the game many times now that it is about as similar to Scrabble as a Van Gogh painting is to a Picasso; sure, they are both fundamentally works of art, but there are pleasant differences in both.

Ingenious, at its heart, is an intellectual game. The name itself almost broadcasts this freely to the observer. But it is intellectual in a way that tests the abstract and requires a fair bit of strategy that can and often will change on the fly. Players are trying to amass points on a color pegging board of 6 different colors. Points are earned by placing colored tiles on a hexagonal-style board with hexagon locations within. Each player draws 6 tiles to start the game, and places them on a supplied tile holder a la Scrabble, but this is about where the similarity between the two games ends.

Each tile is composed of two hexagons linked together, with two various colored shapes on the face. Tiles can only be placed next to a location that matches up with a color/shape on the tile. Once a tile is placed, it is scored, and points are amassed for each similarly colored and shaped tile that is connected in a line with the placed tile. For instances, if a tile with a purple circle is placed next to two existing purple circle tiles, it will score in the two directions where those circles are, and count every other purple circle that connects in that direction in an unbroken chain. If there are 5 circles one way, and two circles the other way, then 7 points will be tallied, and the score marker will move 7 spots along the purple track. The player who places a tile then reaches into a bag that has extra playing tiles inside and draws a tile to replace the one just played.

So far, the premise is pretty simple, but the game throws a few elements into the game to really make it interesting. The most striking feature of the game is the way the game is won. The game continues until no more tiles can legally be played, or until one player succeeds in completing each colored score track to its maximum of 18 (in which case, it’s an instant win for that player). When the game ends, if there is no instant win, then the winning player is the player whose least scored color track is the highest among all the players. This bears a little explanation. Say you have a player who has all the colors maxed out on his or her scoring track except for one that they neglected; say the color yellow only has a measly 2 points. That player’s opponent has not scored as much, but has all of his or her color scoring at 9 across the board, except for orange, which is 8. By this example, the first player’s least scored color (yellow, 2) is lower than the opposing player’s least scored color (orange, 8). So, the opposing player wins. In other words, it matters how much you score, but only to the point where you take care of your weakest link.

So why would you want to score all of your other colors as high as you can, then? Well, this is because of the game’s other notable feature: The Ingenious. When a player maxes out an individual color all the way to 18, they shout “Ingenious!” and immediately get to place another tile on the board. This is important in that a player can take advantage of a coveted space on the board that would yield important points for an opponent, or help the player improve their own scoring totals in another color. This is also important in that Ingenious results stack; if an extra tile in an Ingenious placing triggers another Ingenious, then that player can place an additional tile as a result of that as well. I personally have seen (and performed) three Ingenious maneuvers in the same turn, and the results of that can be crippling to an opponent.

The game also has a handy little rule to prevent a player from getting too handicapped by bad tile draws. If a player has no tiles of a certain color, that player can show their tiles to their opponent (to show they have none of one color) and draw six new tiles from the tile bad, replacing the old tiles back into the bag after this is complete. This is done to ensure that at any point, a player can play a tile in a legal space, even if they would yield no additional points by doing so.

The game accomodates 2 to 4 players, and the board playing field expands in order to extend the game for additional players. I really enjoy how the game scales for extra players; it’s nice and neat, and doesn’t suffer from the usual handicaps that occur when you add more players to an existing game. I actually think the game benefits from a 4-player style, as the game forces you to think beyond the immediate and try to plan ahead for what you might need in the future.

My impressions of this game? I love it. I would play it anytime. The board set-up is simple and takes little time to arrange, and it takes equally as little time to put away. The rules are easy to understand, and while scoring might take a little bit to get used to, once one understands the basic concept, it comes quite naturally. Plus it is quite fun to be able to shout out “Ingenious!” and put a little bit of flavor to the game. However, like all intellectual games, this game has the potential to make someone feel inferior if they happen to lose a game by a large margin. Unlike most intellectual games, the chance of this is surprisingly low. Since the game can be won by who has the most balanced scoring, there are no real ‘blowouts’ in a game of Ingenious. And personally, I think that is the real Ingenious detail of this game.

Ingenious is an interesting and challenging game. The concept is simple. Each turn a player places a double-hexagonal tile showing two colors (and corresponding symbols) on each hexagon (the colors can be the same on a tile) on the game board. For every matching color (or row of colors) the tile is placed next to the player scores points. For instance, when a yellow tile is put next to a row already containing three yellow hexagons in a row, three points are scored. This is done for each hexagon connecting to the tile placed. At first the scoring looks difficult, but after one or two games it becomes crystal clear.

The board size itself depends on the number of players and already has six hexagons of each color printed on it. When the first player puts his or her tile next to one of these starting hexagons no one else may place a tile next to it until that player has played another tile. This is to ensure the starting player isn’t penalized for putting the first tile on the board. The next player gets the same advantage at a different staring hexagon until all players have placed one tile. Then you can place your tiles anywhere on the board!

The points scored are tallied on a scoring sheet. When a score reaches 18 (or higher, but you cannot mark a score higher than 18) the player calls out ‘Genius!’ and gets to make another move. A string of ‘Genius!’ can create oppurtunities for one player, while destroying them for others.

Now the most interesting part of this game is the way you win. Your overall score is determined by the color you have scored the least points in. So you might have got ‘Genius!’ four times already, but green is still at zero. Then you overall score is zero as well (and that will not make you win!).

Ingenious is challenging, fast and fun to play. Trying to get the most points yourself while thwarting the plans of others keeps you on your toes. “If he just didn’t put a tile there, than…” is a frequent thought during a game. If you are into abstract games and like a challenge, Ingenious is a game to try out. I think all age groups can learn the concept and will enjoy it.

High quality pieces and very simple rules set this game up as a great introductory board game or a palate cleanser between more complex games.

The scoring mechanic lends itself both to simple plays for a few points and strategic plays for loads of points.

The game rewards a balanced play style more than a power-gamer style of building chains to score dozens of points at once. Players place colored tiles trying to build up chains of colors, scoring more points for longer chains, to increase the points in a single color on a player’s scoring track. The win condition is to have your lowest scored color have a higher value than your opponent’s lowest scored color.

Reiner Knizia has a knack for developing simple, but good strategic games. Ingenious is a tile laying game of colorful tiles where each player scores points in one of the six colors as they make connections. This game combines a neat scoring method that encourages players to keep making connections that increase your score per color you put down. The person with the highest LOW score among their colors wins the game. There’s some subtle depth in laying the tiles especially near the end game where you can try and block your opponents from getting their low scores up while keeping your colors moving.

This game is a hit with my family of various ages!

Played this game a bunch of times with various people. Always have a good time. The game is a great filler for when you are waiting for your gaming group to show up or just want some good brain work fun.

I have the original set of the game, the components have held up very well with a lot of use. The box I have is not quite as pretty as the new box but it does its job.

Great game that is accessible to pretty much any gaming experience level or type.

This is one of the easier games to teach and play, and works great to introduce to the non-abstract gamer for this genre of play. Try it out for sure!