Mensa Recommended Games
In addition to the five Mensa Select® winners chosen each year, our Mensa judges also designate a category of games “Recommended for Play.”
By using the “Recommended by American Mensa” label, a manufacturer signals that its game, while not a top-five pick, was still identified by Mensa member judges as one they enjoyed playing and worth recommending to others. The “Recommended by American Mensa” designation was introduced at Mind Games 2013 and has been a part every year since. Each year, 10-15 games are recognized by our judges as “Recommended by American Mensa.”
5-Minute Mystery
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
Wiggle 3D
Players: 4–6
Age Range: All Ages
Real-time cooperative deduction game where players work together to find symbols, match clues, and identify the suspect who has stolen the MacGuffin from the Museum of Everything.
Asymbol
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
SimplyFun
Players: 2–4
Age Range: All Ages
Shapes and lines are essential building blocks in our visual vocabulary. If you look, you will see rectangles, squares, cones, triangles, circles, straight lines, and curved lines in everything around you. The ability to identify basic shapes and how they relate to each other is the foundation for understanding and solving more complex geometrical and patterning problems. Asymbol provides you with 47 unique shapes to pick from as you assemble Things, Beings, Places, and Events/Activities to challenge others to guess your vision!
Block Ness
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
Blue Orange Games
Players: 2–4
Age Range: All Ages
Each turn, players add a piece to their monster following placement rules. They then move the head or the tail of their monster to the new piece. Be the last one to elongate your monster to win!
Bristol 1350
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
Facade Games
Players: 6–8
Age Range: 13+
Race down the streets with your cart mates to escape the Black Plague and each other. Bristol 1350 is a light strategy and social deduction game for one to nine players.
Enchanted Plumes
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
Calliope Games
Players: 2–4
Age Range: All Ages
Play dazzling numbered feather cards in descending rows, matching colors of the previous row. Earn a bonus for completing a bird. The most Enchanted Plumes win!
Gods Love Dinosaurs
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
Pandasaurus Games
Players: 2–4
Age Range: All Ages
Gods Love Dinosaurs is a strategy game of food chain hierarchy. Draft terrain tiles, activate animals to expand your population, but make sure you have enough to feed your dinosaurs!
Happy City
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
Gamewright
Players: 2–4
Age Range: All Ages
A Delightful Building Game Become the mayor of your own mini-metropolis! Buy buildings to attract residents, increase their happiness, and earn an income. But plan carefully! You'll need money to grow, but only the satisfaction of your citizens counts towards your final score. Strike the perfect balance to build the happiest city in town!
Kingdomino Origins
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
Blue Orange Games
Players: 2–4
Age Range: All Ages
Select dominoes and connect them into 5x5 kingdoms. Regions in kingdoms will earn you points if they contain fire. Fire is either part of your terrains or earned by adding dominoes with volcanoes.
Kodama Forest
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
Indie Boards and Cards
Players: 4–6
Age Range: All Ages
In Kodama Forest, everyone works with their neighbors to cover as much of their shared player boards as possible. Every round, each player places one tile on the board to their right and one tile on the board to their left. Forests are penalized for every uncovered dirt section, and the game ends when one board has covered all of its “5” and “10” dirt spaces. Players score both of their shared boards, with the lowest combined score determining the winner. Balancing cooperation and competition is the key to victory.
Mountains out of Molehills
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
USAOPOLY
Players: 2–4
Age Range: 13+
Moles have traveled from all over to compete in the annual Mountain Maker tournament. In this light strategy game, competitors show their skill based on how high they can pile their molehills and by how many mountains they control. The mole that can build and control the most mountains out of molehills over six rounds will be declared the "top tunneler" and will win the game. Features a two-level game board and full-color acrylic standees for each mole!
Museum Suspects
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
Blue Orange Games
Players: 2–4
Age Range: All Ages
Pick a clue, give it a value to bluff your opponents, collect information in your book and bet on a suspect…. After six turns, reveal all clues to identify the suspect and see who had bet the most of them!
Ohanami
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
Pandasaurus Games
Players: 2–4
Age Range: All Ages
Ohanami is a relaxing and competitive drafting game by the designer of The Game. Add cards to your garden in sequential order. Each round additional features score, changing your strategy.
SavannaScapes
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
SimplyFun
Players: 2–4
Age Range: All Ages
Learn about the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem with its amazing diversity of animal life. Players take turns moving around the play area choosing species tiles and placing them next to others to provide them with their needed habitats, creating an ecosystem. Point tokens are earned each time a player meets the needs of their animals or when an event tile is played. The player with the most points when all the rounds are complete wins.
Super Mega Lucky Box
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
Gamewright
Players: 2–4
Age Range: All Ages
A Spectacularly Fun Game It's a spectacular game of colossal fun! Reveal numbers one-by- one, and cross off the corresponding boxes on your cards. Get three-in-a-row to unlock bonuses, which help you cross off more boxes, trigger even bigger bonuses, and boost your score! Everyone plays at once so there's never a dull moment in store! Winning will take a bit of strategy and some Super Mega Luck!
Trekking the World
Recommended for Play 2022
Manufacturer:
Underdog Games LLC
Players: 4–6
Age Range: 13+
Gleaming monuments and sunrise vistas await your arrival as you traverse the globe to experience its many wonders. Will you explore ancient ruins deep in the jungle, or go wild on a savanna safari? Build your bucket list of destinations and take a whirlwind tour to visit them all. But hurry, your fellow travelers might just beat you there! In Trekking the World, two to five players compete to be the ultimate globe trotter by racing to visit world-renowned locations and collect rare souvenirs along the way. The game spotlights 48 real-world destinations, each beautifully illustrated and accompanied with educational passages to inspire your next getaway.