The Genius Star

The aim of each of the 165,888 possible puzzles is to complete the star using the eleven coloured shapes, once the seven "blockers" have been positioned. There may be times when it seems impossible, but there will ALWAYS be at least one solution... and that's why it's called The Genius Star!

If you have previously played the now legendary Genius Square, you will find The Genius Star's puzzles to be significantly more testing! We've also introduced a brilliant new element to the challenge - The Golden Star - which requires a whole new level of genius to master!

2x Genius Star grids
2x sets of eleven colours shapes
2x sets of seven 'blocker' pieces (white triangles with a black star)
1x set of seven dice (four six-sided dice and three eight-sided dice)

How to play

Each player receives a Genius Star grid and a set of the eleven coloured shapes, plus seven 'blocker' pieces as shown on the left.

Note: Amongst the eleven coloured shapes, two are the same (light blue half hexagons), with portions of a Golden Star on each triangle, on the reverse side - the significance of these will be explained later.

Roll all seven of the dice together and place a 'blocker' piece into the triangles matching the seven numbers that appear on the dice.

Now race your opponent to fill every other space on the grid using the eleven shapes.

There are 165,888 possible combinations in which the dice can fall. Using a specially devised computer programme, we have confirmed that all of them have at least one possible solution, some much harder. It's all in the luck of the roll of the dice.

As soon as somebody finishes first, roll the dice and play again!

You can also play alone and challenge yourself against the clock!

The 'Golden Star'

For players that are looking for an even tougher challenge, we are delighted to introduce The Golden Star.

You will see that the two light blue pieces each have half a Golden tar printed on one side. When the twi pieces are placed side by side to create a hexagon shape, the entire Golden Star is completed.

If you thought The Genius Star was hard to solve before, it's even tougher to find a solution that includes the completed Golden Star. In fact, only 57.4% of the puzzles actually have a solution that includes a completed Golden Star.

We've create the following two great ways for you to incorporate The Golden Star into your games!

The Double Win

One of the best-loved features of the Genius games is that they are played at a lightning place and can be won and lost in a matter of seconds. This makes them perfect for creating multi-game series between two players, like "best of five" or "first to ten wins." When playing in this way, if a player wins a game with a solution that includes The Golden Star, they score a double win!

Remember, it can take longer to find a solution with The Golden Star and sometimes there won't be a correct solution at all, so players will need to take a calculated risk each time on whether to try to go for the double win.

It's a Steal

For this version, you will need a timer or a stopwatch.

Start by rolling the dice and race to complete the star as normal. If the first player to finish has not included The Golden Star in their solution, they must immediately activate the timer. Their opponent then has 60 seconds to find a solution that does include The Golden Star. If they are successful, they steal the win from their opponent!

Depending on the skill levels of the players, you can increase or decrease the length of time allowed to achieve the steal.

Note: If the first person to finish the star does include The Golden Star in their solution, they have won the round automatically and it cannot be stolen by their opponent.

As mentioned above, there will not always be a solution to every puzzle that includes The Golden Star. If you prefer to use puzzles that definitely have a possible solution that includes The Golden Star, visit www.thegeniusstar.com to generate a random dice selection that is guaranteed to work.