Skip to main content

Ubongo

Game ID: GID0369875
Collection Status
Description

In Ubongo, players compete to solve individual puzzles as quickly as they can to get first crack at the gems on hand for the taking.

Original edition:
The game board consists of six rows, with twelve gems (of various colors) placed in these rows. At the start of play, each player places their pawn in front of one of those rows. Each player also takes twelve polyominoes — that is, pieces consisting of 2-5 squares in some configuration; players use these pieces each round to try to recreate shapes.

At the start of a round, each player receives a puzzle card that depicts a shape created by some number of squares; one side of this card depicts six rows of 3 pieces, the other side depicts six rows of 4 pieces, for a more difficult puzzle. When everyone is ready, someone rolls a die to determine which row of pieces each player can use to recreate the shape on their individual card. The race is timed by a sand timer, and the outcome of this race determines the action on the main playing board.

Whoever first solves their puzzle in time gets to move their pawn up to three rows left or right, with the second player to finish moving two rows and the third player only one row. Players then collect two gems from the front of the row where their pawn is located, which means that the more rows you can move, the more control you have over which color gems you can collect. After collecting gems, each player receives a new puzzle card, and a new round begins.

After nine rounds, the game ends and whoever has collected the most gems in a single color wins! If players tie, then those players compare who has the most gems in a second color, and so on.

2015 edition:
The puzzle-part of the game remains the same, but the scoring track and system has been greatly changed, to be the same as in Ubongo Extreme. There are no pawns anymore, but instead the winner takes a 3-point gem plus a random gem, the second-place player takes a 1-point gem plus a random gem, and others who finish within time take just a random gem. Whoever scores the most gem-points after nine rounds wins the game.

Year Published
2003
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 1
This page: 1
Sentiment: pos 1 · mix 0 · neu 0 · neg 0
Mentions per page
Top
Showing 1–1 of 1
Video 40f7UEKf4pQ Unknown Channel general_discussion at 0:39 sentiment: positive
video_pk 7142 · mention_pk 21140
Video thumbnail
Click to watch at 0:39
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
  • quick, thinky, approachable for families
  • high energy and replayability
Cons
  • can create pressure for younger players or less experienced gamers
Thematic elements
  • polyomino tiling under time pressure
  • abstract puzzle family-friendly
  • abstract
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
  • polyomino tiling — players race to fill a card with polyomino-shaped tiles that resemble tetrominoes
  • time pressure — a quick-paced challenge that adds speed as a core mechanic
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
  • it's very important that kids and grown-ups enjoy it
  • you either lose together or win together
  • menara would be a great unique option for this
  • one guy is a quick polyomino speed game ... it's a bit thinky
  • the avengers robin hood is a storytelling adventure game
  • it's a story game where you are pirates and try to fulfill your destiny
  • you can play magic maze... it's a real-time experience
  • don't blame the kid if you lose
References (from this video)
No references stored for this video.
Transcript Navigation
Top
Showing 1–1 of 1
View on BoardGameGeek