Puzzles are some of my favorite game types and when you add a few friends it is a great time! Today we are going to look at one of those type of games and see what it brings to the table!
Ubongo! is designed for 1-4 players ages 8 and up. It is designed by Grzegorz Rejchtman with art by Bernd Wagenfeld, Karl Homes and Nicolas Neubauer. It is published by Kosmos.
Overview
Each player begins with 12 different tiles and will receive a new puzzle board each round. The goal is to quickly finish the puzzle to score points. After 9 rounds the highest point total wins the game!
Gameplay
Each player begins with the 12 unique tiles and decide which side of the puzzle boards to use. Some are easy tasks and others are hard, and depending on which side of the puzzle board is used will determine the difficulty of the game. The 9 round game track is placed in the center of the table with the 3 and 1 point gems placed in the appropriate columns.
Each player takes a puzzle board and flips them at the same time to begin the puzzle. The roll of the die indicates the puzzle pieces that will be used and the sand timer is flipped at the same time. As soon as a player finishes first, they shout Ubongo! and the other players continue to try and solve their puzzle. Once the hourglass runs out players must stop if they have not completed the puzzle.
The fastest player is awarded the blue gem, the second fastest the amber gem and each of those players can draw an extra gem. Anyone else who finished can also draw a gem from the bag. Any players who don’t get their puzzle finished do not get anything this round.
The game continues for nine rounds and each round a player takes a new puzzle board and repeats the process. At the end of nine rounds players add up the values of the gems and the player with the most gem points wins!
Impressions
Ubongo! is a classic puzzle game that has become one of our family favorites. This game is simple to learn and gets to the table quickly even if you are a new player. Games that have an easy in are popular with my family, so if that fits for yours it may be the right one as well.
One of the few negatives with this game is that it tends to be repetitive in nature. Meaning for some players, they will “solve” the puzzle of a game like this and be able to whip through it pretty quickly when they play. The nice thing is that there are a number of different boards so there is less chance for memorizing patterns in the game.
Overall if you love a good challenge in abstract puzzle games that plays well with young and old players alike, Ubongo! is definitely a game you should check out. It has been around for quite some time for a good reason-it is a classic that all gamers need to get to the table and try out at some point!
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