Tournaments

Tuesday, July 3
Evening
Join us for a bit of Body Scrabble—brought back from the 2006 AG in Nottingham, England. (No physical contact—just a lot of fun.) Try a round of True Greed ©, a dicey game of chance invented by Mary Lee Kemper. Learn the lingo before you enter the tournament on Wednesday. Simon Says break the ice with your fellow Mensans in this version of the "follow instructions" game from your youth. Alan Baltis will apply his much-heralded oral skills (and a few devious tricks) to whittle the field down to a single fully Simonized Champion. Hilarity may well ensue. Limerick Contest—Do ahead or make one up when you get there. We'll be reading them sometime after 10:00 p.m. If times permits, we may think up a thing or two more for you.

Tuesday through Saturday
Ongoing
SCRABBLE—THE RELAXING KIND—Pick up your Scrabble sticker, apply it on your badge so other players recognize you. Then play with whom you want, when you want, for as long as you want. Turn in your best three scores. That's it.

Wednesday, July 4
9:00 a.m.

POKER LESSONS with Steve Burnham—Join Steve for some early instructions on how to play poker. Get a head start for the Thursday evening Poker Tournament.

10:30 a.m.

QWIRKLE with Joe Zanca—Easy to learn. A game that requires tactical maneuvers and well-planned strategy. Players put blocks in lines based on color or shape. Better strategy means more points. Open to all.

12:30 p.m.
SUDOKU TOURNAMENT, OPENING ROUND with Adam Smargon—Before the tournament starts, a warm-up puzzle will be administered. The actual tournament will consist of three puzzles. The fastest five people with the correct solutions will advance to the finals to be held at 12:30 p.m. on Friday.

2:00 p.m.
TRUE GREED© with Mary Lee Kemper—A Dicey Game of Personality. Are you truly greedy or do you play appropriately for your score? Find out at this fast paced Mensan dice game. No experience necessary. Familiarize yourself before the tournament by playing for fun on Tuesday night.

5:30 p.m.

PINOCHLE with Misty Richmond—Four-handed play—single deck. Draw for partners. Play will occur in two rounds.

7:30 p.m.
EUCHRE with Beth Weiss—played in the Midwest for the Champion of the Kitchen, or perhaps the entire County or even State. At the AG, we go one better; we play for the Champions of American Mensa. A fast-playing game, where jacks are high and a bid means you're committing to take three tricks out of the five available. The tournament structure guarantees three rounds of play with no duplicates in partners or opponents. Experienced players ONLY.

11:30 p.m.
COVER UP with Joe Zanca. A four-in-a-row game with depth—three depths to be exact. Players choose where they will place their disks and at what depth. Place a disk below the surface and risk having that disc covered up. Move a disk and risk uncovering an opponent's disk. Takes a minute to learn. All welcome.

Thursday, July 5

9:00 a.m.
META-FORMS TOURNAMENT with Adam Smargon—This award-winning game develops reasoning skills and different spatial logic abilities. It was originally developed for children, but offers an entertaining and surprising challenge to math and logic fans of all ages. The game has a deceptively simple premise and only visual rules. A tutorial will be given before the tournament begins.

10:30 a.m.
CRIBBAGE with Emily Taylor—not a game for the mathematically challenged, but if you know His Nobs from His Heels, you should plan to peg a few points at the AG's cribbage tournament. No muggins, but skunking is permitted.

12:30 p.m.
DUCHRE with John Massura—We've combined Euchre and Duplicate Bridge to come up with Duchre. As in Duplicate Bridge, each team will play the same cards as the other teams to see whose skill can overcome luck. There'll be 1st and 2nd place winners for NS and EW. Sign-ups required. Limit of 26 teams.

4:00 p.m.
LOGIC and COMMON SENSE DEDUCTION with Oriel Maxime—Sherlock Holmes said that once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however unlikely, must be the truth. It's easier said than done, though! Match wits with your fellow Mensans on six original and challenging problems of logic and common sense deduction. Winner gets a prize and bragging rights extraordinaire.

7:30 p.m.
POKER with Steve Burnham and Ed Becker—Last year's World Series of Poker winner took away a $12 million prize. Our prize is less than that (by $12 million), but you can join in the fun that tournament poker players have. If you know the rules of poker, you can play hold 'em. Instructions at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday or check out Joe Haber's talk Thursday afternoon.

11:30 p.m.

KA-CHING with Joe Zanka—Buy low, Sell high! Making money is the name of the game in this high stakes duel for dollars. Compete against your opponent to turn the biggest profit by strategically buying and selling stock cards.

Friday, July 6

9:00 a.m.
BABYLON with Joe Zanca—Players aim to make the last move in this fast game of tactics. Can you outmaneuver your opponent and impose the last move? No experience necessary.

10:00 a.m.
FIENDISH ARMCHAIR TREASURE HUNT with Jay Smith and Helen Kupper—This is a (mostly) sedentary game in which teams compete to discover real and imaginary locations for obsure, really obscure, and fiendishly obscure pictorial clues. Join a team or bring your own.

12:30 p.m.

SUDOKU FINALS with Adam Smargon—Come to watch and cheer on your favorite competitor as they compete for first place. And yes, we encourage cheering sections—either for (or against!) the competitors of your choice

2:00 p.m.
SETTLERS OF CATAN—This is the game that began the "German invasion" in America. We will use the "tournament start" rule, which makes for a faster game, and play three rounds in two hours. You are expected to already know the regular rules of the game.

TRASH BOWL—Lively, game show-style pop culture team competition, only without the commercials. Hosted by your genial quizmaster Charlie Steinhice. Challenging for competitors, entertaining for spectators. Ever play College Bowl or Scholars Bowl in high school or college? You'll recognize the format and buzzer system, but not the subject matter—movies, music, sports, TV, junk food, etc. Competition limited to 10 teams of 4 players; we suggest you sign up early.

5:30 p.m.
BOGGLE with Charles Godfrey—played with house rules. A three-minute word-search game, played on a five-by-five grid, with a minimum word length of four letters. Be sure to play the game a few times before playing in the tournament. Never played Boggle? You can learn more here.

7:30 p.m.
SET—To play this family game of visual perception (a 1999 Mensa Select game), discover the 3 cards that form a set from the 12 laid out on the table based on the attributes of quantity, shading, shape, and color. Age is no advantage and Set requires no specific language skills, so everyone at the Annual Gathering, including the younger generation, is on equal footing. Video instructions are available.

10:00 p.m.

HEARTS—Double Deck Cancellation Go Fish Hearts. One elmination round with finals at 11:30 or earlier. Experienced players only.

Saturday, July 7
9:00 a.m.
DUPLICATE BRIDGE with Brent and Donna Manley—the style of contract bridge played at tournaments and at most bridge clubs. Instead of shuffling and dealing over and over, the hands are shuffled and dealt once and placed in a tray by compass positions, then moved to another table at the end of each round. The deals are played multiple times, and scoring comes from comparisons. Players sitting East and West move after each round. North-South pairs are stationary. East-West and North-South are scored separately, and one's true opponents are not the players sitting at the table each round but the other players sitting the same direction.

1:00 p.m.
SPELLING BEE with De Freshwater and Colleen Baltis—Remember back to your school days and the fun times with spelling bees? Then join us for this one. The words won’t bee easy, but you can sit through this one. You’ll have paper and pencil and can stay in the competition until you miss on three turns.

4:00 p.m.
HARRY POTTER AND THE QUESTIONS OF DIFFICULTY with Mandi Buckalew—Do you know who lives at Number 4, Privet Drive? How about what to feed a flobberworm? If so, grab some friends and join this Harry Potter trivia challenge that could stump even the greatest of Harry Potter fans. Up to five people per team, and oh, the prizes! Be there or be a squib.

7:00–9:00 p.m.
SIXTH ANNUAL MENSA PALABRA TOURNAMENT—Palabra is a combination of words, poker and rummy. Score with words, straights, flushes, builds or vowels. Multiplier cards and “color-locking” multiply words and straights by 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, etc., to 200 points or more! "Q's, X's," and "Z's" can be placed in straights or flushes. Cancel an opponent's 400-point combination or steal some of it for yourself. (How high will you score?) Some experience necessary

9:30 p.m.
CARNELLI with Bruce Poppe —Play this title-association game invented by Mensans Jan Carnell and Jim Lange. See why this game has been popular at Mensa Gatherings for decades. No experience necessary, rules will be taught. You can find a more detailed description and rules on the Metropolitan Washington Mensa website, or just show up. Remember, the decisions of the Carnelli Master are "arbitrary, capricious, and final."

11:30 p.m.
GEMLOK with Joe Zanca —Strive to land on the most precious gems! The roll of the dice determines your moves, but your strategy determines your fate. Nothing is certain until you roll a Gemlok! No experience necessary.

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