Mensa Connections

Description

Tournament Format
Players Per Table – 2
Rounds – 8
Clock Settings – 12 minutes per player

Mensa Connections or Ingenious are the English names for Einfach Genial (Simply Ingenious), a German abstract strategy board game designed by Reiner Knizia under commission from Sophisticated Games and published in 2004 by Kosmos. Across most of Europe it is titled as the local translation of Ingenious or Simply Ingenious.

The unusual victory condition (‘highest lowest score wins’) requires players to develop all six colours and drives a higher degree of strategic planning than would otherwise be the case. Tactical considerations include not only how many points a player will earn by placing a particular tile, but also which colours they will score on, often resulting in a trade-off between the two. Building large blocks of one colour also leads to higher scoring opportunities for one’s opponent, and gameplay often revolves around a player tactically blocking a colour for which they have already established a scoring advantage.

Tournament Clarifications

The scoring charts are placed beside the board, both on the same side, with the same orientation and visible to both players.

Players must place their tile, declare their score and move their score markers before pressing the clock to end their turn. They may draw new tile(s) after pressing the clock.

If a player gets a colour to 18 then they get another turn but without replenishing their rack. It is possible to have more than 2 consecutive turns.

If a player gets 2 colours to 18 with the same move, they only get 1 additional turn.

A player may change their rack if they have no tiles containing their lowest scoring colour. This must be declared after marking their score but before pressing the clock.  If a player has multiple colours tied for their lowest score, they must have none of any of those colours in their rack to refresh.  After refreshing the opponent takes their turn (if you refresh and still don’t have your lowest colour, you must wait until your next turn to try again).

If a player times out then they make no further moves but their opponent continues playing until normal finishing conditions arise, or they also run out of time. The game is then scored normally.

Each tile placed must be connected to another piece already on the board, or one of the 6 printed tiles on the board.  You cannot place a piece disconnected from all other pieces.