Ingenious (board game)
board game

Ingenious is the English name for Einfach Genial (Simply Ingenious), a German abstract strategy board game designed by Reiner Knizia under commission from Sophisticated Games and published in 2004 by Kosmos. Across most of Europe it is titled as the local translation of Ingenious or Simply Ingenious, the notable exception being Mensa Connections in the UK.
Components
1 game board
4 tile racks
4 cardboard scoring boards
24 wooden scoring blocks
120 tiles
1 rule sheet
With the exception of the game box and rule sheet (which require regional translations), identical components are used in each version of the game.
Tile distribution
There are six coloured symbols used in the game:
red 12-pointed star
green circle
blue 6-pointed star
orange hexagon
yellow 24-pointed star
purple ring
Tiles are in the shape of two conjoined hexagons, with one of the coloured symbols in each hexagon. There are six tiles for each two-colour combination (e.g. red/orange) and five for each double (e.g. blue/blue). The combination of colours and symbols aids visually impaired players.
Rules
Basics
The game can be played by two, three or four players, with additional rules provided for solo and four-player partnership play. Each player has a rack of six randomly chosen tiles which are concealed from the other players. The board is also made up of a number of hexagons, with the two outermost rings reserved for three- and four-player games respectively.
“Ingenious (board game)” enters the record as board game. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ingenious, board and game can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Ingenious (board game)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Ingenious, board and game provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1307125. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2004.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Ingenious (board game)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Ingenious (board game) primary sources, Ingenious (board game) archive and Ingenious research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ingenious (board game)”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Ingenious (board game)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.