Ingenious - Session Report

Something about this game from Herr Knizia reminds me of the Guinness
commercial where the guys keep shouting "Brilliant!" Or "Ingenious", take
your pick.

Julie and I sat down and played three games (I took two out of the three,
but who's counting?) of this new game tonight and I must say, I like it. I
like it a lot. It is definitely in the top five new games I've played this
year so far and will probably give Blokus a run for it's money as a favorite
on my game table. I'm not sure I like it more than Blokus, but I think it's
a better game than Blokus on several fronts:

- Plays faster than the box says (about 30 minutes for the two of us and we
both tend to over analyze games when we play)

- Easier to explain and grab onto than Blokus was.

- End game scoring is easier to figure out as well.

I don't know, though, that the comparison to Blokus is fair or not. They
are both abstracts, so the comparison is there whether we want it or not.
But I will say that the game is fun to play, a good mix of strategy and
luck, and easy to learn.

Ingenious gets a rating of Good on my ratings scale after the initial
evening of fun. Look for a full blown review coming soon to a blog near
you...