Whether Mensa is worth joining is sometimes asked on this board. Maybe in-person or online discussion groups for intellectual topics are more worthwhile. People who show up for discussions of literature or philosophy will tend to be high-IQ. The Rationalist community of Slate Star Codex looks interesting.

Mensa’s Debate: Deep Thinking or Games and Drinking?
By Ira Iosebashvili
Wall Street Journal
January 1, 2019
At a hotel on the outskirts of Cincinnati, members of a closed society dedicated to the highly intelligent gathered for their yearly meeting. On the agenda was a test for fresh aspirants and a discussion of submarine warfare techniques. There were also hours spent playing the game Exploding Kittens and consuming prodigious amounts of alcohol.

Despite Mensa’s reputation as a club for brainiacs, some are increasingly worried that discussions of highfalutin subjects are giving way to frivolity such as gaming sessions, cheese samplings and craft beers.

“They are wonderful, loving, playful people,” said Chris Harrison, a 38-year-old project manager and opera singer, of the North Texas chapter he joined several years ago. “They also drink more than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

Plenty of members are fine with the booze and board games, which have become as much of the seven-decade-old organization’s identity as its difficult admissions exam and the “hug dot” stickers Mensans sport at gatherings to indicate their hugging preference (Green = hug me! Red = don’t hug me! Yellow = ask first).

Others, however, grouse that the partying deviates from the group’s mission to “foster human intelligence for the benefit of humanity.” While being a part of Mensa has never exactly been cool, some worry the organization is losing the cultural cachet that made it a household name when membership exploded in the 1970s and ’80s. Membership in American Mensa fell to a 15-year low of 52,364 in 2018. Millennials make up around 13% of the club. Only a third of its members are women.

...

Timi Olotu, a 30-year-old growth marketer from London, has also found a divide on frivolity in the U.K., where the organization was founded. He joined Mensa last year hoping to meet other technology entrepreneurs but found a roster that appeared to be full of “old folks from the countryside” discussing chess, backgammon and Go. He did meet a fellow techie in the organization a few months later, however, and the two soon founded a startup.

Lately, Mr. Olotu has warmed to the organization and enjoys online discussions on technology and cognitive function with his fellow Mensans.

...

One of my sisters decided to try Mensa many years ago. She wasn't into hugging everyone and left quickly.

I think I remember her saying something about water balloons, too. It was not a positive comment.

I joined several years back and quickly left. The monthly newsletter was just the local chapter president complaining about something that happened to her and how it reflected the decline of society (i.e. "get off my lawn"), as if it was her personal blog. We got to hear about her latest medical treatments, how the insurance company screwed up her bills, etc.

I'm sure experiences are very different based on the local members and culture.

It really is. I used to edit our local newsletter. As editor I received my choice of over 20 national newsletters. Some were really awful, while others were done really well. My grammar was worse than many of the contributors. That I didn't have to edit much was the best part of my job. It was all voluntary of course. (What do you expect from amateurs ?)

I found that most Mensans live very isolated lives. Either because they live isolated lives due to some sort of psychological hangup or because the isolation causes them to have hangups, part of the main purpose of Mensa is to provide a social outlet. It does for many.

Most have good hearts. Yes, there're some real works. But, don't over look the quiet ones who definitely have stories to tell.

I joined Mensa a few years back, mostly hoping for discounts on car insurance and that sort of thing, lol. I never did make it to a meeting or party. There was one regular lunch group on the calendar but it was for retired men. I guess I'm one of those living an isolated life. I let my membership lapse a couple of years ago.

I've never found joining Mensa to be of interest to me, but have no objection to other people finding it of value. But then, I have GT siblings and extended family members, and a GT spouse and in-laws, so I already have access to an intellectual community

I did participate incidentally (we were in the same place, at the same time, and they invited me to hang out) in a couple of social gatherings years ago, when the local Mensa chapter had a standing lunch meeting at a restaurant owned by my SO's family. That particular group was mixed in gender, but not particularly in age (slanted toward the older end of middle aged, which, at the time, was quite a bit older than I). I think it's much like many social groups with a nominal theme--however people become members, the real purpose is basic human connection. The ostensible purpose is just an ice-breaker.