ingenious

Ingenious
$39.95
The game is played on a hex board. 120 equally sized pieces, each consisting of two joined hexes come with the game. There are symbols on each hex that makes up the piece, some pieces have two identical symbols, some have two different symbols. The pieces go into a cloth bag so that they get drawn randomly. Each player receives six pieces to start the game, which are placed onto a rack and visible to them alone. The goal of the game is, through clever placement, to obtain points in the different symbol colours. Points are claimed by placing a piece such that the symbols on it lie next to already-placed pieces with the same symbol. Pieces are placed onto any open spaces. So, for example, if a player places a piece with a purple circle on it such that it sits next to an unbroken line of four other purple circles already on the board, then the player scores four purple points. A newly placed symbol can lie next to at most five individual rows of symbols. Each player uses a scoring track to keep track of his points, one track for each colour going from 1 to 18. If a player reaches the 18th space with any colour, then he gets to call out Ingenius and take another turn. At the end of their turn, players draw as many tiles out of the bag as required to bring their rack back up to six. The game ends when no more tiles can be placed onto the board. Now each player looks to see how many points they scored in the colour they scored the least in. Whoever has the most points in their least scored colour is the winner. Simple. The author of the game has also come up with solitaire and team play, in which two teams of two play with each player not being able to see his partners tiles.

INGENIOUS
$39.95
Though this game has some similarities to dominoes, it is quite different and much more challenging. Despite this challenge, the rules are EXTREMELY simple and easy to learn. The premise, scoring more points than your opponents, is simple simple enough, yet managing to do so is quite difficult. Also, it isn't the highest score that wins. It is the highest score in a player's lowest category that wins the game.

The playing pieces are quite durable and large enough not get misplaced easily. Though I had hoped for a board this pieces would fit into snugly, the board is durable. Just be careful not to bump the board during play.

Also, the strategy of the game changes with the number of people playing.

Dominion
$44.95
I play it every week with my friends, some played a lot of similar card games, some never played one before. Everyone learned this game in minutes and no two games have been the same. Every time you play, there is a new strategy to master before everyone else, so it's really more of a contest of imagination and strategy - not a contest of who's bought the best cards like other card games.

You won't regret getting this game. I look forward to picking up the expansions soon.

Mind Twist Game
$24.99
This game is fast paced. Game involves no real skills, but the ability to develop a poker face. Fosters a lot of interaction. Recommend to anyone wanting a quick game with little setup time.