We Had A Blast! |
The 1998 Mensa Games Gathering was a rousing success. We ate, noshed, drank, laughed, stayed up ‘til all hours of the night and got great publicity for Greater Phoenix Mensa. Several of us were interviewed live on Channel 3’s "Good Evening Arizona" when their weatherman, Len Johnson did all his live remotes that evening from our game room. Channel 12 also did a short story with videos and a voice over report later than evening. And did you see us on the front page – front page!! -- of the Arizona Republic on Monday? What a kick for our group.
60 people, representing at least 10 different states spent a weekend trying out 55 games not even on the market yet. Some were very easy to learn, but deceptively challenging to win. Some took quite an investment of time to play, but proved worthy of the effort. Some were not good, but that’s the luck of the draw. Comment Cards were there for all players to offer their kudos and criticisms.
The official Games Gathering judge, Steve Weinreich , the man who conceived the idea for the gathering in the first place over 7 years ago, wisely recognized that no one would be able to play all the games within the weekend (though one or two did manage and a few came very close!), made appropriate adjustments and determined that everyone could vote for their favorites. So all attending Mensans were able to be involved in choosing the 5 games to which we award the "Mensa Select" designation:
Avalam - a fascinating stacking games that took less than a minute to learn, made you use strategy to win, was different each time you played and beautifully constructed.
Kram - a cross between Scrabble and a crossword puzzle. It was fun to play and put together with great care by its creator (who even constructed the box it came it and his own special dice!). I understand the game is popular in Britain and will be imported to the State soon.
Cube Checkers - (my personal favorite), which offered an interesting twist on the old Checkers game, because it was placed with dice and each time you moved, you also turned a second die to the next highest number. The twist was that you could not jump your opponent’s piece nor could you be jumped) unless your die showed a number that was equal to or greater than the die you wanted to jump.
Spy Alley - a deductive reasoning game. You had to guess your opponents’ spy identities and prevent your opponent from guessing yours. Meanwhile you were trying to accumulate the necessities that you needed (as dictated by your identity). You could fool your opponent by purchasing items you did not really need – but then they could do the same to you…..
Wadjet - a visually awesome board game of exploration into Egyptian tombs. It must be experienced and seen to appreciate the work that went into its construction. Those who played it said it was a cross between Monopoly and Sleuth.
Many of the non-winners were equally challenging and appealing to the Mensa mind. The overwhelming majority of the games appealed to someone in the group.
Best of all, we got to take home 4 of the games as door prizes. So many were sent by manufacturers, interested in comments that could make the game better, that we were able to draw names and let people pick a game door prizes 4 times around (for those of you drooling, we have some prizes left over and they will be offered to Greater Phoenix Mensa as prizes for next year’s RG, so start planning on attending).
I was also thrilled to see many GPM attendees who had been to few, if any events come out for this one and meet their fellow local Mensans for the first time. Here’s hoping they continue to take part in our activities.
Special note to any one of you who attended the Games Gathering: Please consider hosting a mini Games Gathering at your home. All of us who attended could bring some of the games we won and allow others who didn’t come to the weekend have a taste of some of the games we tested. Let me know (243-0480) if you’re interested in having an open house.