Are you a Genius?

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

If MENSA thinks a test like that shows intelligence in an objective fashion, I doubt that MENSA is actually composed of geniuses.

Uh oh. Someone only got 22 of them.

More seriously, I'm sure MENSA never made any such claim for the test. In fact, I can't find any confirmation that MENSA even created this puzzle (not saying it didn't) and if they did, I suspect this isn't the original form of it.

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I wrote the above then decided that felt like a quick research project.

Here is a 100 item long list of these puzzles (has some of these but not all; the cricket one then was 6 B in an O (but 8 in A) for 6 balls in an over but 8 in Australia) that was posted to USENET in 1994. It is presented there as simply a test of mental flexibility with no mention of MENSA.

The discussion of the rec.puzzles archive in those old USENET threads with these types of puzzles lead me to this page. Which, if it is to be trusted, says this type of puzzle was invented and first published in the May/June 1981 issue of GAMES magazine. They published more in two 1982 issues.

Back in those pre-internet days (for most people) these puzzles managed to go viral and people photocopied, distributed, and altered them and GAMES magazine actually began receiving their own puzzle back as submissions. Based on the extent of the MENSA claim I'm finding on the internet that got added at some point and seems to have been a very popular alteration.