About the association

The International Association of Intellectual Games (known by its Russian abbreviation МАИИ and its German abbreviation IAIS) is a non-profit organisation registered in Triesen, Liechtenstein.

It brings together players of games like the competitive version of “What? Where? When?” and similar intellectual games: team or individual competitions that revolve around answering specially prepared questions under time pressure. The working language of the Association is Russian, but games are also played in Belarusian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Uzbek, English, and other languages.

The association is built on openness and equality: key roles are elected, important decisions follow association-wide votes, and information about how the organisation works is kept as transparent as possible. We are non-commercial and take no part in political activity, and we treat confidentiality, the protection of personal data, and compliance with national and international law as basic commitments.

Our goals are to develop and popularise existing intellectual games while helping to create new ones; to encourage intellectual creativity and support the authors and editors who write the questions; to nurture youth participation and back the coaches and organisers who make it possible; to run competitions according to fair, sporting principles; and to make these games more accessible across different countries, languages, and to people with disabilities.

To do this, we set and refine the rules of play, promote the games, safeguard fair competition, offer organisational and technical support, define standards of gaming ethics, and keep the records, statistics, and history of the movement.