I do like games that do not take up a lot of room. Not only does this mean that I can easily store more in my house, but it makes them easier to take away from the home too; whether this is for a trip to Nan’s, a long ferry ride, or a game to take on holiday. Simply ingenious (available from Esdevium Games) is a fast game of risk taking, is another one of those travel friendly compact games. It consists of 126 tiles and a rule summary in a small box. There are six differently coloured symbols on the tiles (twenty-one of each kind), with the winner being the first player to collect 7 tiles in all six different symbols/colours (or only 5 tiles if there are four players).
As the title suggests this game is “Simply ingenious,” with the symbols and scoring system being like Ingenious (which also has a travel edition as well as the original). My 6 year old and 10 year old found the game simple enough to set out and play by themselves with no adult intervention. Yet it is a taxing enough game to be fun for all ages (recommended from 8-99. The game is suggested to last around 20 minutes, meaning it is not a really quick game (such as Jungle Speed Safari) but not a very long game (such as possibly Discworld).
Simply place all the tiles face down in the middle of where you are playing. Then select 3 tiles each and reveal them. There must always be 3 tiles in the middle of the “pool” until this is no longer possible. The youngest player goes first and turns over another tile.
No Match
If the tile the player turns over is not the same as any of the other tiles in the middle, they simply place it into the middle with the rest. This is the end of their turn.
A Match
If the tile the player has turned over matches one or more of the 3 tiles already revealed (in the centre) they have “won” that tile (and`bank’ all the tiles of that colour/symbol). The player can then decide whether to stop there and finish their go, or they can turn another to see if they have another match. If on the next turn there is not a match then they lose all the tiles they have turned over and that is the end of their turn.
Collision
If a player continues to risk turning over more tiles, and they turn over two tiles with the same symbol/colour then this is collision and they lose all the tiles that they have turned over (in the `holding’).
Ingenious/Bonus Play
If you have seven (or five with a 4 player game) of the same tile (symbol/colour) in your ‘banked’ tiles then shout “ingenious” then take another turn. Tiles that are in excess of the number needed for that symbol/colour return to the middle. This can only happen once per colour/symbol.
Single Weakest Colour
If the colour tile you have the least of in your banked area is in the middle, then you can call the “weakest colour” and take that instead of turning over a tile. This is the end of your go. You MUST have a “weakest colour” to utilise this option.
This game was enjoyed by my family. It is easy to adapt and simplify further for those players younger than eight years old.
We enjoyed this game so much so that Esdevium Games have agreed to also give one to a lucky reader!
UK Only
Ends 24/3/2014 0:00am GMT
