by Kerry Handscomb

Thousands of games have been launched over the past few decades. A few of these enjoy a brief period of vogue before dropping out of sight and even fewer achieve lasting status as modern classics. The majority, however, are consigned to oblivion with hardly a second glance by the game-playing public. Mentalis, introduced around 1977 by Mentalis Ltd. of London, belongs to this category, and it is not difficult to see why, on the face of it. It was an odd little game, with nothing much to recommend it to the prospective purchaser browsing for a new game. There were no flashy graphics nor grandiose promises on the box, which plainly stated its name; inside was just a board and an unexciting collection of colored plastic pieces. Despite getting a very solid review in Games and Puzzles, Mentalis quickly disappeared without a trace. This is a shame, because beneath that unprepossessing exterior was a delightful little game.

Mentalis is, in fact, great fun to play. The tactical cut and thrust starts right from the very first move and the element of bluff, which makes poker such an exciting game, plays a very large part. A certain degree of memory is required in the play of the game, but, rather than being overwhelming, this factor is just sufficient to make the game riveting because of reluctance to let your attention wander so that you lose track of the position.

An original Mentalis set will be hard to come by now, but it should not be too difficult to construct your own set, and the reward will be well worth the effort required. Making a board is easy with a piece of card. It does not really matter if it is in the three different-colored sections, as long as the three regions are clearly marked. The pieces should be made as homogeneous as possible. Flat, neutral-colored counters would be ideal; the colored spots available from stationary stores can be used to denote the different values. You will need an opaque bag to hold the pieces. The commercial set also contained shields for storing your pieces, but a book or your hand will do as well.

A Mentalis set consists of a board, as shown in Diagram 1, and 50 tile pieces. (The Mentalis diagrams are shown on the back cover.) The tiles are kept in a bag unseen until they are drawn out to be used by the players. The central 6x6 portion of the board, colored yellow, is the play zone. The two 2x6 end regions, colored red and green, are the capture zones. The capture zones take no part in the actual play and are used solely for storing captured pieces. Each of the 50 white tile pieces has a colored spot on either side. The colors are red (R), green (G), blue (B), black (X) or yellow (Y). Every piece has either R or G on at least one side. The distribution of the colors on the tiles is as follows:

R/G 10, R/R 5, R/X 5, R/B 5, R/Y 5,

G/G 5, G/X 5, G/B 5, G/Y 5

Play zone
Diagram 1 Mentalis board with game in play Red's capture zone		Green's capture zone

The players decide who moves first in some manner. The person moving first is designated "red" and places the red side of the board nearest himself. The other player is "green." Starting with red, each player draws four pieces from the bag (without looking!), being careful to keep them hidden from his opponent. Red then places a piece on any one of the play zone squares. This piece must have either red or green side uppermost. Red will know what color is on the reverse, but green will not.

Play now alternates between red and green. On succeeding turns, players have a choice:

1. Place a piece on the board in a vacant square in the play zone. It must always be either red or green side uppermost and it must always be orthogonally adjacent to a piece already placed.

2. "Flip," or turn over, a red or green piece that has already been placed on the board. Depending on the color on the reverse side of this piece, the player may have to take certain further action.

* If the reverse side is red or green, nothing happens and the turn finishes.

* If the reverse side is black, the player who has flipped this piece must pay a penalty of one piece to his opponent. This is accomplished by transferring a piece from his 2x6 capture zone into his opponent’s capture zone. If he has no captured pieces, then he must draw a piece randomly from the bag and place it in his opponent’s capture zone. After the player has paid the penalty, he flips the black piece back to red or green side uppermost and his turn finishes.

* If the reverse side is blue, the player flipping it must jump it orthogonally over an adjacent piece of his opponent’s colour onto a vacant square immediately beyond. (See Diagram 2.) Having done that, he captures both pieces and adds them to his capture zone. If he cannot jump in this manner, either because there is no opponent’s piece orthogonally adjacent to the flipped piece, or because, even when there is, there is no vacant square beyond it, the blue piece is captured by his opponent and added to the opposing capture zone.

Under the piece on c4 is a blue. If it is red's turn, he can flip this piece, jump over the green on d4, and capture both. If it is green's turn, and he flips the piece on c4, he cannot jump the piece on c3 because it is blocked. He must add the blue piece to red's capture zone.

* If the reverse side is yellow then the player must "hop" any other piece on the board other than the one he has just flipped, including another yellow piece. He does this by moving the selected piece to any other empty square in the play zone, provided that, in this square, it is orthogonally adjacent to another piece. A piece may not be flipped while being hopped. The flipped piece remains yellow side up and may never be flipped again. If, because a yellow is flipped at the start of the game, there is no other piece available to hop, the yellow is left as it is and the turn finishes.

A player may not flip a piece that was just flipped by his opponent in the preceding move.

Whenever a 2x2 square of four red or four green pieces is formed in the play zone, these four pieces are immediately captured by red or green, respectively, and added to his capture zone. It is possible to capture a four of your own color even during your opponent’s turn.

If a 2x2 square of four yellows is formed, it is immediately captured by the player who created it and added to his capture zone. (See Diagram 3.)

Under the piece on d4 is a yellow. Either red or green on his turn may flip this piece, hop the yellow from e4 to d3 and capture the square of four yellows.

Winning

A player wins when he has captured twelve pieces, and the squares of his capture zone are therefore all occupied.

When a player runs out of pieces in his hand, he does not straight away take new pieces from the bag, but waits until his next turn. His next turn is a special "flip two – take four" turn. What this means is that he makes two flip moves and then takes four new tiles out of the bag to finish his turn. He must flip two different pieces, if possible, and cannot, therefore, flip a red to green and then back again. In the unlikely event that there is only one piece available to flip, then he flips just this one piece.

Sometimes it happens that there are insufficient pieces left in the bag for a player to draw the full four pieces. In such cases, all the pieces captured so far are returned to the bag from the capture zones. He can then go on to replenish his hand to four pieces. The players must take note how many each still needs to win before removing the capture zone pieces. (The rules with the commercial set state that merely enough pieces to complete his hand are taken from the capture zones, but I think this is unsatisfactory as it does not allow a random draw.)

At no time may either player look at the reverse sides of pieces in the play zone. You have to legitimately flip a piece as part of your turn to do this. Players should try to remember the reverse sides of the pieces they have placed and any that have been flipped. At any time, however, a player may examine the reverse sides of captured pieces, whether his own or his opponent’s. (Again, the rules with the commercial set are not specific on this point, but I believe this rule makes for a better game.)

Certain repetitive situations may arise where a certain combination of pieces is continually flipped by the players. There is an example of this in Diagram 4. Other more complex, repetitive situations may also arise. In such cases, if neither player is willing to break this sequence, the game should be declared drawn. (Once again, the rules with the commercial set are ambiguous on this point, but I believe this is the best rule.)

Under c4 is black; the other three are R/G. Red flips c3, threatening a four; green flips d4 to defend; red flips d3; and so on. Unless this repetitive sequence is broken, the game will be drawn.

As an optional rule, multiple jumps can be allowed with a blue piece. In other words, once the blue has jumped one enemy piece, if it is now adjacent to a second piece that can be jumped it may do so, and so on. All the jumped pieces are captured along with the blue.

There is a really easy and effective handicapping system. The more skilful player usually plays red, and some of the R/R pieces are removed from the bag before the start of play. To give a light handicap, remove one R/R piece, and for a heavy handicap remove all five.

To give an idea of the type of fun tactics involved in playing Mentalis, here is an example of the first few moves of a game.

Red draws: G/G, R/B, R/Y, R/R

Green draws: G/G, R/Y, G/G, G/B

1. R/B c3

Putting a blue in the center of the board is a common opening move. Green has to avoid placing a green next to it in case the first piece is a blue, which red can then flip, capturing both pieces. Of course, another opening tactic move is to put a black in the center of the board and try to bluff your opponent that it is a blue.

1… R/Y c2

Now if green has guessed right about red’s placement of a blue on c3, then green could flip c3 and capture c2 on the next move, so red plays to block this.

2. G/G c1

Red also manages to tuck this piece, which is quite valuable for green, away onto the side. But maybe c2 is a blue and green can flip and jump c3. The possibilities are endless, but red takes a chance and assumes c2 is not a blue.

2… G/G d2

Red has guessed right about c2, so green simply gets down one of his valuable pieces.

3. R/R b2

Red knows c2 is not a blue now so he can threaten the four.

3… flip c2, c1e2 (see Diagram 1)

Green flips the yellow to block the red four and moves the green into a better position.

So the game continues. Often the tactical considerations get very complicated, particularly around the flip two – take four moves or when one of the players is close to winning. You will find this out as you play this game for yourself. Believe me, it is a lot of fun!