Think outside the square! Ingenious is an abstract tile-placement game in which the players take turns placing tiles in the shape of two connected hexagons into a hexagonal grid on the board. Each tile has two colored symbols on it. Players earn points in a specific color for each line of matching colored symbols that they extend when they place a tile. A player's final score is determined by his or her lowest scoring color, not the highest. The winner is the player whose lowest score is the highest compared to the other players' lowest scores, and not the player with the highest scoring color overall.

The game includes 120 domino-style tiles, each consisting of two hexagons connected along one side. Each hexagon has one of six colored symbols in it, with most tiles having two different colored symbols and some having two of the same colored symbol. Each player has a rack with six tiles on it. During his or her turn, each player places one tile from his or her rack onto two empty hexagonal spaces on the game board. For each of the two hexagons composing this tile, the player scores one point in the hexagon's color for each already-placed hexagon of the same color that radiates outward in a straight line from one of the placed hexagon's five sides. If a player's score in a color reaches 18, he or she immediately takes another turn. At the end of the turn, the player refills his or her rack to six tiles.

When no more tiles can be placed on the game board or when one player scores 18 in each color, the game ends. Players then compare their lowest scores, and whoever has the highest low score wins.

Ingenious includes rules for solitaire and team play. This highly awarded, international bestseller has been redesigned with a plastic board.