Ingenious: Travel Edition

About this board game

Ingenious: Travel Edition is a two-player hex-board tile-laying game that plays in about 30 minutes. Each player places joined-hex pieces to score matching symbols, while trying to keep every colour’s score competitive.

The game includes 57 equally sized pieces, each made from two joined hexes. Their hexes show coloured symbols, sometimes with matching symbols on the same piece. Players draw pieces randomly and begin with six on a private rack, replenishing their supply from the bag at the end of each turn.

On your turn, place a piece in an open space so its symbols touch already-placed symbols of the same kind. Each newly placed symbol scores for every matching symbol in an unbroken line beside it, allowing a clever placement to build points across several rows. A symbol can lie next to up to five individual rows.

• Track points separately for each symbol colour, from 0 to 18.
• Reach 18 in any colour to call “Genial!” and take another turn.
• Use the travel edition’s reduced selection: two of each double and three of each pair of colours.

The game ends when no more pieces can be placed. Each player then checks their lowest-scoring colour, and the player with the higher score in that colour wins. This scoring system makes balanced progress just as important as spectacular gains.

With its visible placement choices, private racks, and emphasis on colour balance, Ingenious: Travel Edition offers a focused contest designed for exactly two players. It was released in 2006 as part of the Kosmos two-player series.