Consider board and card games. Each game has a rule set that defines what a player can and cannot do. Within that rule set, game mechanisms are used to help facilitate play and further reinforce the rules. If you can see patterns in the way the game plays, the way players interact with the game, and the outcome, you can make very smart choices on your turn. You already do this, to a point, and its one of the important Geek Skills: Logical and Critical Thinking.
My toothbrush is smarter than you. I'm not saying this to anger or provoke you. I am simply stating a fact. And if it makes you feel any better, the toothbrush is smarter than me, too. Where my toothbrush leaves you and I in the dust is oral hygiene. Which, when you stop and consider it, is really the only place where a "smart toothbrush" could have any advantage.
Oz Fluxx is the newest addition to the Fluxx family of card games from Looney Labs. The game doesn't break any new ground (for those who are already familiar with the Fluxx games), but like the card games before it, the theme of the game is really what it's all about. All of your favorite classic Wizard of Oz favorites are here, from the most wicked of witches to that little dog who miraculously survives the whole movie.
Zooloretto Mini, by game designer Michael Schacht, is a tile placement game that tasks the players to organize and fill their zoo intelligently and to manage a certain amount of risk at the same time. Challenging and rewarding without being heavy or difficult, Zooloretto Mini will be a fun game to play at your family table with little geeks, friends, and gamer elitists. Plus, baby animals!
Despite the unpromising start, we had a fantastic experience that first time, diving into the game within 5 minutes of opening the box. Even though we committed several rules errors – entirely my fault, sloppy reading – that did not seem to affect play balance or enjoyment, so the game is robust from that perspective. Player choices are limited, but we all had a great time.
CPU Wars Volume 1.0: The Battle of the Desktops is one of the newer entries into the ever-growing family of Top Trumps like games. CPU Wars challenges the players to compare processor statistics and attempt to select the value that would win between all the players. Very little is needed in the way of computer science knowledge to play the game. A player can simply guess and hope for the best. While computer geek purist will wrinkle their nose at such behavior, it does make a game that uses very technical stats into a fast game anyone can play.