Games

The classic Mensa word-association game consisting of movies, music, books, and whatever else the capricious and arbitrary host will allow. More details are found on Wikipedia’s Carnelli page.

Two teams compete by each having a “spymaster” give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. The other players on the team attempt to guess their team’s words while avoiding the words of the other team or the Assassin, whose selection results in immediate defeat.

A simple card game, until you try to come up with a strategy that works.

Your team will get an ordinary word, and you’ve got to help them out by thinking of a song that has that word in the lyrics. Any song will do, even old commercial jingles or TV theme songs. Actually, you’ll have to sing at least eight words of the song, but no one cares how badly you sing or if you’re off-key, just sing it!

Watch out… the leader might sometimes “accidentally” mispronounce the word to be spelled. Make sure not to rely completely on the administrator’s pronunciation, because it is not always going to be completely correct… but it does make things more challenging for us!

Alan will be the host, keyboard player, and judge.

How’s your long-term memory in the area of recognizing melodies?

Maximum number of players: No maximum
Type: Writing down song titles and self-scoring
End of game: After 1 hour
Materials: Pencils and paper

Rules:

• Each player gets 1 point per correct answer
• Songs are played on a keyboard for about 15 seconds
• Player takes about 15 seconds to write each answer
• The host provides the answer for self-scoring
• Any player may suggest an alternative title which the host will judge

After all songs are played, 5 minutes is given to find a secret message.
Solvers of the secret message get 10 extra points.
The secret message is revealed and players make a final tally of their scores.

A strategy card game where sticking it to your opponents is half the fun! Very easy to learn, 3 to 20 players can participate. Play it for a while, and when the cards don’t go your way, you’ll find yourself saying “Oh Hell!”

Ice-breaker game; drop in and drop out as you please.

Even you can speak Neanderthal…. or maybe not. Your peers will be happy to judge!

As the father of Howard “The Professor” Lederer and Annie Duke, “The Duchess of Poker,” Mensa world poker champion Richard Lederer is the most successful breeder of world-class poker players in history. Dr. Lederer will talk about the great American game of Texas Hold’em and instruct you in its fundamentals. Beginning and intermediate players are warmly welcomed.

If you can identify song titles and the artists who recorded them from hearing short segments of them, you’ll do well on this quiz. Hints and trivia about the songs will be provided.

Right off the top of your head, name a restaurant, fruit, toy, Halloween costume, and weapon. And make sure they all begin with the same letter. If “C” is the letter, you might answer Chinese, Cantaloupe, Cap Gun, Clown, and Catapult. But be unique. If your response is the same as an opponent’s, you score nothing! 144 different categories and 20 letters chosen randomly give lots of possibilities.

Alan will be the referee.

Maximum number of players: 10
Type: Interactive word game, around a circle
End of game: After 1 hour
Materials: Pencils and paper

Rules:

• Each player starts with 5 points
• Initial play each round: state a letter
• Subsequent plays proceed around the circle: place another letter anywhere in the set of letters played
• Maximum time per play: 15 seconds
• Objective: Have a playable word with a letter sequence and stump the next player
• Maximum word size: 8 letters
• Dictionary: Official Scrabble Dictionary, 6^th Edition
• Restrictions: No regular plurals or conjugated words
• Scoring: +1 for stumping or completing an 8-letter word. -1 for being stumped/losing a challenge
• Overall winner: The player with the most points at end of game

Example 1 of a round:

Player 1 = B, Player 2 = BR, Player 3 = EBR, Player 4 = EBRE, Player 5 challenges, Player 4 successfully answers MEMBRANE.
→ Scoring: +1 for Player 4, -1 for Player 5.

Example 2 of a round:

Player 6 = Q, Player 7 = QX, Player 8 = QNX, Player 9 = EQNX, Player 10 = EQUNX, Player 1 =  EQUINX, Player 2 = EQUINOX, Player 3 unsuccessfully challenges EQUINOX.
→ Scoring: +1 for Player 2, -1 for Player 3.

Some things are better left unsaid. How do you get your team to say “diamond” if you can’t say baseball, ring, carat, jewel, or engagement. Each time your team shouts out the secret word, you get a point, but be careful, your opponents will be looking over your shoulder making sure you don’t say any of the Taboo words.

By night, werewolves kill off villagers. By day, angry villagers kill off suspected werewolves. (But oops; sometimes they just kill off “innocent villagers.”) “Werewolf” requires observation, some deduction, and a lot of bold-faced lying. Who will prevail: the werewolves or the villagers? Since an average game takes 15-20 minutes, new players can join quickly. (This game is similar to, but better than, “Mafia.”)

Given a funny and unusual old saying from around the world, and with a little wit and imagination each player writes their own ending to go with the beginning. The made-up sayings are read aloud along with the actual old saying, and everyone tries to guess the real one. You’ll get points when other players think your ending is the real one, and points for guessing the real old saying.