Mensa Select is an annual award given by American Mensa

Mensa International

Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test...

 since 1990 to five board games that are "original, challenging and well designed." The awards are presented at the annual Mensa Mind Games competition.

Mind Games 2011 took place April 15-17 in Albany

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. Mind Games 2012 will take place April 20-22 in Herndon

Herndon, Virginia

Herndon is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area of the United States. The population was 21,655 at the 2000 census, which makes it the largest of three towns in the county.-History:...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

.

1990 New York, NY

• Taboo
  Taboo (game)
  Taboo is a word guessing party game published by Hasbro in 1989. The object of the game is for a player to have his/her partner guess the word on his/her card without using the word itself or five additional words listed on the card....
  
  
• Scattergories
  Scattergories
  Scattergories is a creative-thinking category-based party game produced by Hasbro through the Milton Bradley Company and published in 1988...
  
  
• Tribond
  Tribond
  TriBond is a board game distributed by Imagination Games. It asks the question - "What do these three things have in common?" Players try to guess the "common bond" between the three clues...
  
  
• Abalone
  Abalone (board game)
  Abalone is an award winning two-player strategy board game designed by Michel Lalet and Laurent Levi in which each player is represented by marbles of opposing colors...
  
  
• Trivial Pursuit: Genus Edition
  Trivial Pursuit
  Trivial Pursuit is a board game in which progress is determined by a player's ability to answer general knowledge and popular culture questions. The game was created in 1979 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, by Canadian Chris Haney, a photo editor for Montreal's The Gazette and Scott Abbott, a sports...
  
  

1991 New York, NY

• Pyramis
• Lapis
• Set
  SET (game)
  Set is a real-time card game designed by Marsha Falco in 1974 and published by Set Enterprises in 1991. The deck consists of 81 cards varying in four features: number ; symbol ; shading ; and color...
  
  
• Master Labyrinth
  Amazing Labyrinth
  Labyrinth is a board game for 1–4 players, published by Ravensburger in 1986 simultaneously with the film Labyrinth.- Gameplay :The game board forms a maze built of both fixed and moving pieces. The players rearrange the maze to their advantage by moving a row of pieces in turn. Each player has one...
  
  
• Clue: The Great Museum Caper
  Clue: The Great Museum Caper
  Clue: The Great Museum Caper, was a spinoff of the board game Cluedo . It was produced by Parker Brothers and Waddingtons Games. Clue: The Great Museum Caper was originally produced in 1991, and production ceased soon thereafter...
  
  

1992 New York, NY

• Kinesis
• Q4
• Terrace
  Terrace (board game)
  Terrace is an award-winning strategy game played by two, three, or four players on a multi-leveled 8×8 board...
  
  
• Traverse
• Why Not?

1993 New York, NY

• Farook
• Inklings
• Overturn
• Quadrature
• Quarto
  Quarto (board game)
  Quarto is a board game for two players invented by Swiss mathematician Blaise Müller.It is played on a 4×4 board. There are 16 unique pieces, each of which is either:* tall or short;...
  
  

1994 New York, NY

• Char
• Chung Toi
• Down Fall
• Magic: The Gathering
  Magic: The Gathering
  Magic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...
  
  
• Pyraos
  Pylos (board game)
  Pylos is a board game invented by David G. Royffe and published by Gigamic. Two players are given 15 marbles each. They take turns to make a pyramid in a 4 by 4 square grid...
  
  

1995 New York, NY

• Wordspin Scramble
• Continuo
  Continuo (game)
  Continuo is an abstract strategy game by Maureen Hiron first published in 1982. It is played by arranging patterns printed on a deck of 42 cards, each card being printed with a grid of 16 colored squares. The goal is to place cards so that the tiles match as many chains of color as possible....
  
  
• Duo (game)
• Quixo
• The Great Dalmuti
  The Great Dalmuti
  The Great Dalmuti is a card game designed by Richard Garfield, illustrated by Margaret Organ-Kean, and published in 1995 by Wizards of the Coast. It is a variant of the public domain game Asshole, dating back to late Middle-Ages. The game was Awarded Best New Mind Game 1995 by Mensa, and was in...
  
  

1996 Atlanta, GA

• Rat-a-Tat Cat
  Rat-a-Tat Cat
  Rat-a-Tat Cat is a memory game created by Gamewright, and it won a Mensa Select award in 1996.-Cards:*Four of each number card that says 0-8*Nine of number card "nine"*Power cards**3 "Draw 2"s**3 "Peek"s**3 "Swap"s-Setup:...
  
  
• Pirateer
• 6 Nimmt!
  6 Nimmt!
  6 Nimmt! / Take 5! is a counting card game designed by Wolfgang Kramer in 1994 and published by Amigo Spiele. The French version is distributed by Gigamic. This game allows 2-10 players who start with ten randomly numbered cards. These are played in turns onto four card stacks with the goal of...
  
  
• Quadwrangle
• Touche

1997 Chicago, IL

• Hattrick
• Rush Hour
  Rush Hour (board game)
  Rush Hour is a sliding block puzzle invented by Nob Yoshigahara in the late 1970s and first sold in the United States in 1996. It is manufactured by ThinkFun ....
  
  
• Quoridor
  Quoridor
  Quoridor is a 2- or 4-player abstract strategy game designed by Mirko Marchesi and published by Gigamic Games. Quoridor received the Mensa Mind Game award in 1997 and the Game Of The Year in the USA, France, Canada and Belgium.-Rules of the game:...
  
  
• Sagarian
• Stops

1998 Phoenix, AZ

• Avalam
• Cube Checkers
• Kram
• Spy Alley
  Spy Alley
  Spy Alley is a board game wherein each player secretly works for the spy agency of one of six countries. The players take turns moving around the board in an attempt to first gather the password, disguise, code book, and key corresponding to their country, and then reach their embassy, winning the...
  
  
• Wadjet

1999 Seattle, WA

• Apples to Apples
  Apples to Apples
  Apples to Apples is a party game originally published by Out of the Box Publishing, and now published by Mattel. It is designed for four to ten players and played for 30–60 minutes....
  
  
• Bollox
  Boku (game)
  Bōku is an abstract strategy board game played by putting marbles on a perforated hexagonal board with 80 spaces and the winner is the first player to get 5 marbles in a row...
  
   (Also called Boku)
• Doubles Wild
• Fluxx
  Fluxx
  Fluxx is a card game, played with a specially designed deck. It is different from most other card games, in that the rules and the conditions for winning are altered throughout the game, via cards played by the players.-History:...
  
  
• Quiddler
  Quiddler
  Quiddler is a proprietary card game created by Set Enterprises. Players compete by spelling English words from cards in hands of increasing size, each card worth various points. The game may be considered a mixture of Scrabble and gin rummy. The word "Quiddler" is a trademark.- Play and scoring...
  
  

2000 Atlanta, GA

• 3 Stones
• Finish Lines
• Imaginiff...
• Time's Up!
• ZÈRTZ
  ZÈRTZ
  ZÈRTZ is the third game in the GIPF Project of six abstract strategy games. The game features a shrinking board and an object that promotes sacrifice combinations...
  
   (in the GIPF project
  GIPF project
  The GIPF Project is an award-winning series of six abstract strategy games by designer Kris Burm.The series is named after the first game, GIPF, and the idea behind the project is that the reward for winning each of the other games in the series is to allow the winner to introduce new pieces with...
  
  )

2001 Medina, OH

• Brainstrain
• Dao
  Dao (game)
  Dao is a two-player abstract strategy board game, which won the Mensa Select award in 2001. It comprises a 4x4 playing board with four playing pieces for each player....
  
  
• Metro
• Shapes Up!
• Thepollgame

2002 Minneapolis, MN

• Curses!
• DVONN
  DVONN
  DVONN is a two-player strategy board game in which the objective is to accumulate pieces in stacks. It was released in 2001 by Kris Burm as the fourth game of the GIPF Project. DVONN won the 2002 International Gamers Award and the Games magazine Game of the Year Award in 2003.- Equipment :DVONN is...
  
   (in the GIPF project
  GIPF project
  The GIPF Project is an award-winning series of six abstract strategy games by designer Kris Burm.The series is named after the first game, GIPF, and the idea behind the project is that the reward for winning each of the other games in the series is to allow the winner to introduce new pieces with...
  
  )
• Muggins
• Smart Mouth
• The Legend of Landlock

2003 Houston, TX

• Blokus
  Blokus
  Blokus is an abstract strategy board game for two to four players, invented by Bernard Tavitian and first released in 2000 by Sekkoïa, a French company. It has won several awards, including the Mensa Select award and the 2004 Teacher's Choice Award....
  
  
• Cityscape
• Fire and Ice
  Fire and Ice (board game)
  Fire and Ice is an abstract strategy game played on Fano plane islands that are themselves part of a larger Fano plane.The game of Fire and Ice has similarities to a reversed game of peg solitaire...
  
  
• Octiles
• TransAmerica
  TransAmerica (board game)
  TransAmerica is a railroad board game centered on the construction of railroad track in the United States. The game was created by Franz-Benno Delonge and developed by Team Annaberg. It is published in the United States by Rio Grande Games. In 2003 it was a Mensa Select recipient.- Setup :The...
  
  

2004 Chicago, IL

• 10 Days in Africa
• Basari
• The Bridges of Shangri-La
• Rumis
  Rumis
  Rumis is a game about optimal placement of blocks of various shapes within a confined space. The name means "stones" in the language of Quechua. The theme and artwork are inspired by the Inca architecture. Rumis has also been published under the name Blokus 3-D....
  
  
• YINSH
  YINSH
  YINSH is an abstract strategy board game by game designer Kris Burm. It is the fifth game to be released in the GIPF Project. At the time of its release in 2003, Burm stated that he intended it to be considered as the sixth and last game of the project, and that the game which he had not yet...
  
   (in the GIPF project
  GIPF project
  The GIPF Project is an award-winning series of six abstract strategy games by designer Kris Burm.The series is named after the first game, GIPF, and the idea behind the project is that the reward for winning each of the other games in the series is to allow the winner to introduce new pieces with...
  
  )

2005 Tampa, FL

• Da Vinci's Challenge
  Da Vinci's Challenge
  - Background :Da Vinci's Challenge is a game of patterns based on Leonardo Da Vinci's Flower of Life. The objective is to score the most points by using your pieces to create patterns worth different point values. Your pieces can also be used to block your opponent from creating patterns. The game...
  
  
• Ingenious
  Ingenious
  Ingenious is the English name for Einfach Genial , a German abstract strategy board game designed by Reiner Knizia under commission from Sophisticated Games and published in 2004 by Kosmos...
  
  
• Loot
• Niagara
  Niagara (board game)
  Niagara is a German-style board game designed by Thomas Liesching and published in 2004 by Zoch zum Spielen and Rio Grande Games.- Gameplay :...
  
  
• Zendo
  Zendo (game)
  Zendo is a game of inductive logic designed by Kory Heath in which one player creates a rule for structures to follow, and the other players try to discover it by building and studying various koans which follow or break the rule...
  
  

2006 Portland, OR

• Deflexion (now called "Khet")
• Hive
  Hive (game)
  Hive is a bug-themed tabletop game, designed by John Yianni and published in 2001 by Gen Four Two. The object of Hive is to capture the opponent's queen bee by completely surrounding it, while avoiding the capture of one's own queen. Hive is an abstract strategy game.Hive shares elements of both...
  
  
• Keesdrow
• Pentago
  Pentago
  Pentago is a two-player abstract strategy game invented by Tomas Flodén. The Swedish company Mindtwister has the rights of developing and commercializing the product.The game is played on a 6×6 board divided into four 3×3 sub-boards...
  
  
• Wits and Wagers
  Wits and Wagers
  Wits & Wagers is a board game designed by Dominic Crapuchettes and others. It is published by North Star Games. The first edition of the game was introduced in 2005, but the more refined second edition was released in 2007 and continues to be available today.The game is played in seven rounds...
  
  

2007 Pittsburgh, PA

• Gemlok
• Gheos
  Gheos
  Gheos is a tile-laying board game designed by René Wiersma. Graphic design and illustration was supplied by Joshua Cappel, and box cover art was painted by Allan Bednar. The game was published in 2006 by Z-Man Games.- Gameplay :...
  
  
• Hit or Miss (not to be confused with Hit or Miss
  Hit or Miss
  Hit or Miss is a solitaire card game which uses a deck of 52 playing cards. It is one of the unique solitaire card games because the player only deals the cards one at a time....
  
  , a solitaire card game)
• Qwirkle
  Qwirkle
  Qwirkle is a tile-based game for 2-4 players. It was designed by Susan McKinley Ross and published by MindWare. Qwirkle shares some characteristics with the games Rummikub and Scrabble. It is distributed in Canada by game and puzzle company, Outset Media. Qwirkle is considered by MindWare to be...
  
   (MindWare http://www.mindware.com/p/Qwirkle/32016)
• Skullduggery
  Skullduggery (board game)
  Skullduggery, created and illustrated by Allegra Vernon, Outset Media's Creative Director is a children's board game, teaching basic logic and strategy. The pirate-themed game is played on a tiled board, with tokens representing the players. The game uses pirates and gemstones as enemies to create...
  
  

2008 Phoenix, AZ

• AmuseAmaze (HL Games http://www.hlgames.com)
• Eye Know
  Eye Know (game)
  Eye Know is a board game that includes images, trivia and betting. It was created by Paul Berton and George Sinclair and published in 2008 by Wiggles 3D....
  
   (from Wiggles 3D Inc. http://www.eyeknowgame.com)
• Jumbulaya (Platypus Games http://www.platypusgames.com)
• Pixel (Educational Insights http://www.educationalinsights.com)
• Tiki Topple (Gamewright http://www.gamewright.com)

2009 Cincinnati, OH

• Cornerstone (Good Company Games http://www.goodcompanygames.com)
• Dominion
  Dominion (game)
  Dominion is a designer card game created by Donald X. Vaccarino, and published by Rio Grande Games. The game was released at Spiel 2008 in multiple languages, and voted best game of the fair by the Fairplay polls with a rating of 1.75 from 147 votes. Within two months of its release, Dominion was...
  
  
• Marrakech (Gigamic http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/gamesin.php?UniqueNo=4021)
• Stratum
• Tic-Tac-Ku (Mad Cave Bird Games http://www.growingtreetoys.com/product/tic-tac-ku-game)

2010 San Diego, CA

• Anomia
• Dizios (MindWare http://www.mindware.com/p/Dizios/44004)
• Forbidden Island
• Word on the Street
• Yikerz! (Wiggles 3D Inc. http://www.yikerzgame.com)

2011 Albany, NY

• InStructures
• Pastiche
• Pirate versus Pirate
• Stomple
• Uncle Chestnut's Table Gype (Eternal Revolution http://www.playgype.com)

External links

• Mensa Select page at US Mensa website
• Mind Games website