Family Focus Game Reviews: Ingenious
Hello all. The purpose of this series will be to provide a review of varying games from a family gaming perspective. No…this series will NOT examine the intricacies of Monopoly or Risk, Scrabble or Yahtzee. Instead we will look at popular BGG games, and how these games work in the context of a typical family (2 parents, a child, perhaps additional relatives).
First on the list is Ingenious, a Knizia classic.
Ingenious is an abstract tile game in which the players place colored double-hexagonal tiles in order to match tile colors. In placing a tile, players score 1 point in that color for each tile in a straight line which matches its color. At first this concept can be a bit hard to grasp, and indeed it is even difficult to explain in text. However, as will be discussed later, the rulebook offers clear and precise visual examples of appropriate scoring. The goal of the game is to advance your score in each individual color. At end game, a players individual score is equal to the color in which they have the lowest score. For this reason, the goal of the game is to evenly advance your score in each color.
As far as family game play goes, I will attempt to break this down in to several categories:
1) Ease of Play: Ingenious provides a simple, easy to grasp abstract game which I find to be simple enough for all members of the family. Being the most avid gamer in the family, I find the game to be strategic enough to satisfy my hungers, but easy enough for my parents to compete. No advanced rule knowledge is required. Simply play your tiles, count your points, take a new tile and advance play to the left.
2) Clarity of Rules: As stated earlier, the rule book for this game is well defined and clear in describing the mechanisms of the game. Although text explanations may not always suffice, the rulebook provides good visual examples of appropriate scoring. Even my mom, who routinely has trouble with even the most mundane of rules, was able to quickly grasp the gameplay of Ingenious
3) Visual Appeal: As with most abstracts (particularly newer ones), the visual appeal of Ingenious is…well….mostly in its colors. The board is well designed, well laid out, and the pieces are colorful. Aside from this…visual appeal is a bit lacking.
4) Quality of production: I was a bit surprised at the quality of production here. For some reason I had expected a plastic game board which could somewhat hold the hex tiles in place after play. However, upon receiving the game I found the board to be cardboard. Granted, this hardly detracts from the game, but it was less than expected. Aside from this minor flaw, the game includes nice plastic tiles, convenient tile holders, and a nice bag for use in drawing tiles
5) Fun Factor: This is the really important part as far as family play is concerned. Ingenious, although an abstract, provides an enjoyable play for my family. The whole family is always willing to bring this one to the table, and it often gets everyone in the mood for more games after game play has finished.
Summary:
Ingenious is a simple, fun, and (mildly) attractive abstract game which is well suited for family play. The quick turn play, simplicity, and small learning curve ensure that it will often make its way to the table. Additionally, the ability to quickly move through 2-3 games is a real plus at family gaming events. Finally, the easy to grasp strategy is a real plus. I often find myself lacking games in which the entire family can participate on an equal strategic level. Ingenious provides just this, a fun and simple game with an element of strategy understandable by the whole family. This results in a game which is fun for the whole family, children to adult.
Thank you much for reading my review. Stay tuned to my blog for more Family Focus Game reviews, or see my geeklist on Boardgamegeek.com for more reviews oriented at gaming within a family environment. The geeklist can be found at:
http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/46140
