Award-Winning Board Games - Mensa Mind Games

The following games are all winners of the prestigious "Mensa Select" award, bestowed annually by the American Mensa Society. Each year, the Mensa Mind Games event is held somewhere in the United States. Mensa members are invited to play and judge the games which have been submitted to compete for the award. The five most popular games based on originality, game play, aesthetics, play value, and clarity of instructions receive the Mensa Select distinction, an award coveted among game manufacturers, and a symbol of quality for game players around the world.

Popular Mensa Select Games

Mensa Select Winners, By Year

2011 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Pastiche — A World of Beautiful Colors comes alive
• Pirate Versus Pirate — The Swashbucklin' Game of Swords and Rewaaarrrds
• Stomple — Outwit your opponents by stomping their marbles before they stomp yours

2010 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Anomia — Where common knowlege becomes uncommonly fun!
• Dizios — The bright, bold and brain-bending domino game with a dizzying twist.
• Forbidden Island — Join a team of fearless adventurers on a do-or-die mission.
• Word On The Street — The hilarious tug of words will have you on the fast lane to fun!
• Yikerz — Master magnetic forces to win this dynamic game.

2009 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Dominion — You assume the role of a monarch, as your parents before you.
• Marrakech — The bazaar is bustling: it's the big day at the rug market!
• Stratum — Strategy skills get stepped up a notch once space runs out.
• Tic-Tac-Ku — A great new adaptation of the old classic Tic Tac Toe.

2008 Mensa Select Mind Games

• AmuseAmaze — At last a word game where words don't have to be biggest to be best, and where even little words are winners.

2007 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Qwirkle — This tactile wooden block game combines the logic and strategy of Set with the creative multi-maneuver game play of Scrabble.

2006 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Hive — Surround your opponent's queen bee while trying to block your opponent from doing the same to your queen bee.
• Pentago — The object of the game is to create a row of five marbles, in any direction.
• Wits & Wagers — A fast-paced party game with a unique combination of trivia, gambling, and social interaction.

2005 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Da Vinci's Challenge — This game uses ancient symbols to create patterns and pictures to outsmart your opponent.
• Ingenious — Players place colored tiles on the hexagonal board, blocking opponents and trying to protect themselves.
• Loot — Set sail for an exciting adventure of strategy and skullduggery in this captivating game.
• Niagara — Players move their canoes up and down the Niagara river to pick up gemstones.

2004 Mensa Select Mind Games

• 10 Days In Africa — You have 10 days in Africa -- touring by plane, car, and on foot.
• 10 Days In The USA — Plan your trip from start to finish using destination and transportation tiles.
• YINSH — Each player starts with 5 rings on the board in this tempestuous abstract strategy game.

2003 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Blokus — A fascinating strategy game for the whole family, very easy to learn, yet challenging to play.
• TransAmerica — It's America in the 19th century: railroads are booming and the pioneer spirit is everywhere.

2002 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Curses! — Players take turns drawing cards and putting "curses" on each other.

2001 Mensa Select Mind Games

2000 Mensa Select Mind Games

• iMAgiNiff — The funniest game you can imagine!
• Time's Up! — Race though three fun-filled rounds to guess the most celebrities in 30 seconds.
• Zertz — A fast & dynamic game for 2 players, played on a board that gets smaller and smaller.

1999 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Apples To Apples — The wild, award-winning party game that provides instant fun for four to ten players.
• Fluxx — The card game with ever-changing rules! Sounds complicated it's really quite simple.
• Quiddler — A fast-paced game you can play using everyday words.

1998 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Spy Alley — Turn up the collar on the trench coat and dig in to some international intrigue.

1997 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Quoridor — Can you get your pawn across the board and block your opponent from doing the same?
• Rush Hour — A sliding block puzzle designed to challenge your sequential-thinking skills.

1996 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Rat-a-Tat Cat — Rats are high, cats are low ... get rid of the rats and go for the cats!

1995 Mensa Select Mind Games

• The Great Dalmuti — One minute you're on top, and the next you're peasant scum in this fast-paced game of medieval one-upmanship.
• Duo — If you enjoy Uno, double your fun with Duo!
• Quixo — A modern version of tic-tac-toe.

1994 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Downfall — Twist and turn the cogs on your side to bring your counter through the maze.

1993 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Inklings — The shorter the clue, the more points you score!
• Quarto! — Players take turns trying to line up four pieces, but your opponent who chooses which piece you play, not you!

1992 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Terrace — A strategy game played on a three dimensional board with 64 squares.
• Traverse — Chinese checkers gone wild!

1991 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Set — Get that grey matter churning as you try to find sets of three numbers, symbols, colors or shadings.
• The Amazeing Labyrinth — Traverse the constantly shifting maze and collect your cards.

1990 Mensa Select Mind Games

• Abalone — Loosely based on sumo wrestling, the goal of Abalone is to push your opponents marbles off the board.
• Taboo — Time is against you, and you've got to think fast, talk fast and avoid saying TABOO words.

See Also: Other Award-Winning Board Games