American Mensa Names Mensa Select® Winners
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 24, 2006
Contact: Catherine Barney
817/607-0060
Arlington, Texas (April 24, 2006) — After a 40-hour game-playing marathon, members of American Mensa named five new games as Mensa Select®. In alphabetical order, this year’s winners are:
Deflexion – Players alternate turns moving Egyptian-themed pieces with mirrored surfaces. At the end of each turn, the player fires a built-in laser in hopes of illuminating the opponent’s pharaoh. (Deflexion, www.deflexion.biz)
Hive – Nature’s chess game. The object is to surround the opponent’s queen bee. Each player gets 11 tiles of five different insects. Each insect’s move is different. (Smart Zone, www.smartzonegames.com)
Keesdrow – Identify words within a maze of letters using three different colored pegs. Earn premium points by building on opponents’ words or by using a letter more than once within your own word. (Pywacket, www.pywacketgames.com)
Pentago – Create a row of five marbles, any direction, on a game board that consists of four twistable game blocks. (Pentago, www.pentago.com)
Wits & Wagers – A trivia game you can win without knowing any trivia. How? By betting on answers provided by your friends. (North Star Games, www.northstargames.com)
Mensa Select winners are chosen annually at the Mensa Mind Games® competition. During the competition, Mensa members play and rate new board and card games. The five games that rate the highest are named Mensa Select and may display the Mensa Select seal on their packaging.
"You don’t have to be a genius to enjoy these games — you just have to enjoy a challenge," said Pam Donahoo, executive director of American Mensa. "This year’s winners include something for everyone — strategy games, a word game and a party/trivia game. They’ve earned the Mensa Select seal because they are well-designed, original and, best of all, fun to play!"
This year’s Mind Games competition was held April 21-23 in Portland, Ore. One hundred ninety-eight players from every corner of United States reviewed the 62 game entries. During the event, Mensa members also filled out thousands of comment cards, which will be returned to the manufacturers. Suggestions from the comment cards are often used to improve the games.
Based in Arlington, Texas, American Mensa is an organization open to anyone who scores in the top two percent on an accepted, standardized intelligence test. More information about the organization may be found at www.us.mensa.org. More information about Mind Games may be found at www.mindgames.us.mensa.org.
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