Game: Ubongo

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trioker — 2008-08-14T16:07:01+00:00

some of the cards for the bears variant

Thread: Re: Ubongo with my wife.

huffa2 — 2008-08-11T01:26:47+00:00

That's nice.
I played it for the first time with my wife and two players.
At the point the timer ran out on the first round of play, she declared, "This is annoying! I hate this! I'm watching TV!" Her board was shoved across the table and I doubt I will ever suggest it again...

Thread: Great review

stuartm — 2008-07-21T20:35:38+00:00

Not sure it was "light", but it definitely gave me the information I needed to make a buy decision. I love Take It Easy and Ubongo sounds like it would really appeal to me.

Thread: Re: Timer length

petersjs — 2008-07-18T21:34:35+00:00

Mine is 45-48 seconds. Seems about right.

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wizhyun — 2008-07-11T06:10:58+00:00

Ubongo Korean Edition by Korea BoardGames

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trioker — 2008-07-07T01:17:02+00:00

bear's house variant

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trioker — 2008-07-02T22:52:20+00:00

I love to win that way...

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trioker — 2008-07-02T10:09:40+00:00

bear's house variant

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trioker — 2008-07-02T10:07:06+00:00

"aaarrrrghh !"

Thread: Bears Building Game (variant)

trioker — 2008-07-02T01:37:21+00:00

Once again, this variant was invented for my 7 years old son, who is still in his “why” period. I know he would ask me repeatedly “why” if I was to explain him the rules of Ubongo the conventional way. “Why do those guys have to solve these puzzles in order to collect gems?” “Why can’t the guy who gets the most gems claim to win?” “Why are the tiles of the puzzle so much different?” And so on… Instead of digging into my imagination to find answers to these, I simply turned the story in a complete new way. I call it the "Bears building game" (in short, BBG)

“Once upon a time, there were bears freed by the zoo into the forest. But they had gotten used to the civilisation (look at those clothes!) so they did not found themselves comfortable enough inside cold caverns. They decided to build their own houses.
Here is the field of bricks. Each bear have a special magnet for bricks, that he can use to catch the first brick in front of him (“- What ? Bricks are attracted by magnets?” “- Hush son, let me end the story”).

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Before using his magnet, the bear must prove his building abilities: here is a map of a house, and the roll of the dice decides the shapes for the room you must pick up. Your mission is to arrange the rooms inside the map of the house… “

Here comes my personal touch: all the tiles used for figuring the rooms are pentominoes:

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I also built cards for 4 different levels of growing difficulties, that are: 3 pentominoes with squares drawn on the map, 3 pentominoes with blank map, 4 pentominoes with squares drawn on the map, 4 pentominoes with blank map. The blank maps are harder to solve not only because of the missing squares inside, but also because of some distractive rays drawn all around the shape that tend to make your eye wander.

“- You guessed, those snobby little bears do not want houses with multicoloured bricks, they want just plain colour. Therefore only counts the maximal number of bricks you get from this colour. Now, what do you think about it, son ?”

“- Ubongo !”

Construction tips :

I did not bought any material specially for this game :
- The dice I had before
- The bears comes from kinder surprise
- The bricks are one of my son's game he does not play anymore.
- The board is from an eternity puzzle set offered by my sister
- The sand timer is a digital, modernised mechanism I always bring with me around my wrist.

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trioker — 2008-07-02T00:53:42+00:00

game in progress

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trioker — 2008-07-02T00:52:05+00:00

starting position

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trioker — 2008-07-02T00:50:04+00:00

homemade set

Thread: Re: Ubongo with my wife.

TaleSpinner — 2008-05-23T01:48:20+00:00

Say the title of this report three times quickly.

Thread: Re: Ubongo with my wife.

garry_rice — 2008-05-21T21:12:58+00:00

My wife really likes this one too, although we always play with the 4 piece puzzles (the 3 are usually too easy).

Thread: Re: Puzzle solving at its finest

Hendal — 2008-05-21T14:22:55+00:00

´Just another game on my wish list, great review, makes me want this one. Mainly because I want a large variety of different style sof games so I have something for everyone

Game On

Thread: Re: Ubongo with my wife.

Hendal — 2008-05-21T14:14:59+00:00

Never heard of this one, but I am also looking for good 2 person games to play with the wife, thanks

Game On

Thread: Ubongo with my wife.

ikiru — 2008-05-21T13:47:13+00:00

Background:

Me - light eurogamer with random desires to play wargames. Will occasionally indulge in a heavier eurogame if in the right mood. Game that would bring me to the table: Galaxy Trucker

Wife - American style party gamer that tolerates light eurogames. Big distaste for "screw you" and area control type of games. Game that would bring her to the table: Wits and Wagers

I have been looking for games to play with my wife because I have a lot of games that either require more than 2 people or are just too dry for her. She loves puzzles, so I thought Ubongo may be a good game for her (funny thing is that when I told her this, she responded with, "why didn't you just buy a puzzle?").

Anyway, explaining the rules was simple, setup consisted of laying out the stones and puzzle parts, and we each got a board.

We decided to do the 3 part puzzles for our first game.

I rolled the die for the first round and we each selected the appropriate puzzle pieces. Then boom, I solved my puzzle in less than 3 seconds. This left a bewildered look on her face, and I dreaded that she might quickly lose interest in the game. I then moved my token and picked up a couple of like stones. She then finished up her puzzle and picked up some stones.

Round 2 was a bit different. This time I still won, but she was right behind.

Rounds 3-9 was all her. She seemed to get into her rhythm and was solving puzzles left and right. I was able to pick up victories a couple of times, but by far, she was much better.

In the end, she won with 7 purple stones to my 5 red stones.

The game lasted no more than 15 minutes and we both had a lot of fun. We both agree that we would play this more and are interested in playing with more people.

-ikiru

*enjoy the sauce*

Thread: Re: Piece colors?

larryjrice — 2008-04-13T22:11:04+00:00

I don't think I would prefer that variant. It prevents the person who goes out first from waiting for someone else to potentially move into a row and take a couple gems that the first person doesn't want and take the next two. Understandably, this can result in a good bit of chaos but I enjoy that added aspect to playing the game.

Thread: Re: Piece colors?

Barticus88 — 2008-04-13T19:47:49+00:00

rockhpi wrote:
In a game where speed is of the essence, having to distinguish white from off-white in a hurry is a bit of a problem.
Two hands simultaneously reaching toward the board trying to quickly move pieces and grab gems is a problem. Many people play that the puzzles are timed, but then players grab their gems off the clock, in the order they finished the puzzles.

Thread: Re: Piece colors?

larryjrice — 2008-04-13T15:23:39+00:00

The rulebook lies... I never noticed that before. In my Kosmos edition, the instructions show the same but the four player pieces are black, blue, white and tan/off-white.

Thread: Piece colors?

rockhpi — 2008-04-13T13:38:29+00:00

In the rulebook, in addition to black and silver, the photograph shows a sort of brown and green player-piece. In the box, I got a white and sort of off-white piece - did I get the wrong components? In a game where speed is of the essence, having to distinguish white from off-white in a hurry is a bit of a problem. I can always paint one, but I was wondering if this was a mistake or if it was just this edition (Z-Man).

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monikad — 2008-04-02T13:30:45+00:00

Thread: Re: Ubongo - A Light Review

Pinhead — 2008-03-28T02:42:08+00:00

Neil,

Your reviews are realy awesome, thanks for your excelent work and keep them coming .....

Thread: Re: Ubongo - A Light Review

stormseeker75 — 2008-03-27T14:46:15+00:00

Great review of one of my favorite games.

Thread: Re: Ubongo - A Light Review

Neil Thomson — 2008-03-27T06:52:43+00:00

Barticus88 wrote:
Neil Thomson wrote:
However like Tigris & Euphrates, a player’s score will be determined by their highest total of any one gem colour.
You are playing Tigris & Euphrates way wrong. In T&E you are judged by your lowest color.

And if this is your idea of a light review, please do not post a heavy review, ever.

Yep - brainfade on my part. Probably highlights that I haven't played T&E in about 3 years. Edit made.

On the length - don't check out my Memoir Review then.

Thread: Re: Ubongo - A Light Review

Barticus88 — 2008-03-27T06:29:25+00:00

Neil Thomson wrote:
However like Tigris & Euphrates, a player’s score will be determined by their highest total of any one gem colour.
You are playing Tigris & Euphrates way wrong. In T&E you are judged by your lowest color.

And if this is your idea of a light review, please do not post a heavy review, ever.

Thread: Ubongo - A Light Review

Neil Thomson — 2008-03-27T04:43:02+00:00

All of my 'Light Reviews' aim to offer a brief overview that allows people to get a good feel for what the game may offer them, the options involved and general flow of play.

Summary

Game Type - Puzzle Game
Play Time: 15-30 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Mechanics - Puzzle Solving, Set Collection
Difficulty - Pick-up & Play (Can be learnt in under 10 minutes)
Components - Excellent

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Image Courtesy of Lobo

Overview

The aim of Ubongo is to collect as many gems as possible. However a player’s score will be determined by their highest total of any one gem colour. This lends Ubongo much of its strategy as the players must strategically position themselves in such a way as to maximise their gem collecting activities.

Where’s the puzzle element I hear you ask? Well the more successful (faster) a player is in solving their puzzle, the more options they will have when moving in order to collect gems. If it sounds interesting then I’m not really surprised, because Ubongo is a cool little game.

Components

I suspect that the designers were aware that some people (gamers even) would perceive puzzles to be dry or dull affairs. To help counteract this possible perception, Ubongo uses an African theme for the components. This allows for some nice iconic illustrations and eye-catching colours that really make the game stand out. Not surprisingly the theme has no impact on the play in any way.

Gem Board – Two pieces fit together to create the board or track where the gems are located. The board is rectangular in shape and comprises of 72 small holes arranged in 6 columns where the gems are placed (12 holes per column). The board is festooned with various images from Africa. At one end of the board is an area for the player’s pieces.

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Image Courtesy of liebewanze

Gems – Sometimes the style and quality of components can make or break a game. In Ubongo, it is the gems and they look spectacular. They are made from see-through acrylic and shaped like gems. They tend to catch the light and almost glow at times. They really help bring the game alive and give it a small wow factor. They also tend to catch the eye of passers by. I’d like to buy these for use in other games as replacement currency. Nexus Ops would be a great example as these little beauties would be a great replacement for the cardboard Rubium Tokens the game offers.

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Image Courtesy of rseater

There are 12 gems in each colour, of which there are 6 in all. This makes for a total of 72 gems. This allows for every hole in the Gem Board to be filled at the start of the game.

Playing Pieces – This are simple but very tactile, leaving you with a positive memory of holding them. They are essentially just vertical pieces, but they have almost been ergonomically designed so that they offer natural holding positions for a person’s fingers. Stylistically they remind me of an African woman, perhaps with a basket on her head. I’m sure that’s just me though – I need to get out more.

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Image Courtesy of Verti

Puzzle Boards – These are by far the most important component found in the game. There are 36 in all and each board offers a puzzle area on both sides. A puzzle area consists of a series of squares that together form an irregular shape. It is this shape that must be solved or filled in (see below). The Puzzle Boards are thick and highly durable.

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Image Courtesy of Noaceyet

Beside each puzzle, there are 6 icons and each icon has a series of Puzzle Piece icons associated with them. These indicate, which Puzzle Pieces must be used to solve the puzzle on that board (based on the icon rolled on the dice).

On one side of each Puzzle Board there are 3 Puzzle Pieces per icon. On the other side there will be 4 Puzzle Pieces listed per icon. These represent a skill or complexity level of sorts.

Dice – The dice is a D6 and features 6 African themed icons. They include the Elephant, Warrior Mask, Snake, Antelope, Shield & Spears Hand. These match the icons on each of the Puzzle Boards. When the dice is rolled, each player checks that icon on their Puzzle Board and this tells them which pieces they must use to solve their puzzle.

Puzzle Pieces – Each player receives a set of 12 pieces, these are used to solve each puzzle. The pieces are shaped like those from Tetris, with a surface area of between 2 and 5 puzzle board spaces each (4 being the most common). They are vibrantly coloured and each player gets an identical set of pieces.

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Image Courtesy of lclaudius

Sand Timer – A plastic sand timer is also included and allows each round to offer a time limit restriction. The length of the timers differs slightly from game to game (I’ve done some research), but they range from 45-50 seconds. For the record mine lasts for 47 seconds. That will be a +1 to my Geek Rating.

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Image Courtesy of Verti

The use of the timer can be optional. This is often a good idea when first learning the game, but experienced players usually like the added pressure of time.

Rules – The rules are very clearly written and offer full colour examples.

Box – This is the first time I’ve ever included the box in a review but I felt I had to. It really is gorgeous to look at, using a vibrant orange, which I suspect was chosen to represent the colour of desert earth.

In summary, the components of Ubongo are top quality and far surpass that of your average abstract or puzzle game.

The Set-up

Each game lasts for a total of 9 rounds, in which each player must try to solve a puzzle per round. So each game will see 18, 27 or 36 Puzzle Boards used. Put aside any Puzzle Boards that are not used.

The gems are mixed and randomly placed in the holes located in the Gem Board. Some players may like to mix up the gems after they have been assigned if they feel that too many gems of the same colour are in close proximity.

Each player then selects a Playing Piece and selects 1 of the 6 possible starting locations on the Gem Board. It is possible to have multiple players start in the same location.

Finally each player takes a set of Puzzle Pieces and spreads them out in their play area ready for quick pick-up and use.

The Play

Get New Puzzle Board - Each player is given a random Puzzle Board to begin. Because each board has a 3-piece side and a 4-piece side, the game essentially offers two skill levels, as generally speaking the 3-piece boards are easier.

This allows for handicaps by giving experienced players the harder boards. Once all players are experienced, random boards are the way to go.

Roll the Dice – Any player can roll the dice. The icon rolled will determine which set of pieces must be used by each player to solve their puzzle. Each player can see this by referring to their Puzzle Board.

Set the Timer – As soon as the dice stops rolling, any player can turn the Sand Timer and set it in motion. Each player now has an added pressure in solving their puzzle. I like it.

Solving Puzzles – Finally we get to the core of Ubongo. The aim is to solve each puzzle as quickly as possible. To solve a puzzle, each player must use only the pieces listed against the icon/symbol rolled (on their board). These pieces must be used to completely fill the Puzzle Area on their board. To do this each piece will likely need to be flipped, turned and rotated until a possible solution is found.

When a puzzle is solved, the player should call out ‘Ubongo’. This now allows the player to collect gems.

Collecting Gems – Solving a puzzle is the goal as it allows a player to collect 2 gems. However the speed with which you solve the puzzle is also important. If a player is 1st to finish, they are allowed to move up to 3 spaces left or right of their starting position. Once they stop they can take the two closest gems in that column. These gems are added to the player’s pool of gems.

The player who finishes their puzzle 2nd, is only allowed to move 2 spaces before collecting their 2 gems.

The player who finishes their puzzle 3rd, is only allowed to move 1 space before collecting their 2 gems.

In a 4-player game, you don’t want to finish last as you will not be allowed to move at all, but you can still collect 2 gems in the column you are presently in.

This movement and collection mechanic is a really nice addition. It still allows all players to collect the same amount of gems (thereby keeping all players in the race), but the greater flexibility of movement for finishing quicker means that faster puzzle solvers have a greater chance to move and acquire the gems they desire.

The Pressure – But that is not all, oh no there is far more pressure than that. Already the players are in a race against all other opponent’s to complete their puzzle first. Then there is the pressure of doing it in roughly 47 seconds or so. But there is also another rule that states the players must also perform any move they make and collect their 2 gems within that time limit.

So that means it is possible to complete a puzzle but fail to move and collect gems before the sand runs out. If I can channel the Seinfeld Soup Nazi Character for a moment, “No gems for You!”

End Game – Once a round is concluded, each player has the chance to review the relative totals of their opponent’s gems. Each player discards their Puzzle Board and is issued with another one ready for the next round. This madcap madness continues until the 9th Puzzle Board is issued, solved and gems collected.

Scoring – Each player now identifies which coloured gem they have the most of. This represents each player’s final score. The player who possesses the most gems in any 1 colour is declared the winner.

If two players tie for their highest gem total in a given colour, those players must identify the gem colour that represents their 2nd best total in order to break the tie. This continues until the tie is broken.

The Final Word

A Unique Experience - I really love Ubongo for its uniqueness. It is part puzzle, part game and the challenge is excellent. When played solo the game offers little challenge at all. Each of the puzzles could be finished within a few minutes, but of course Ubongo doesn’t play that way. Cue point two.

The Challenge - It is the challenge of playing against other opponents and the added time pressure that make Ubongo really shine. With experience the average player can probably solve about 80% of the puzzles.

But then there is the whole meta-game of moving and collecting gems from the Gem Board. Identifying the locations of desireable gems (long before they are attainable) and planning long term moves are all addictive. With a little experience strategies such as collecting other player’s gems as a defensive tactic and delaying a gem claim (in the hope that other player’s take gems first, thereby leaving more desireable gems), are all options that can be discovered.

The Experience - Ubongo is able to conjure up moments of intense tension and anticipation. This is most common when two players realize they are going after the same gem colour and a particular column has 2 gems of that colour sitting adjacent to each other. If both players are within reach of that column, then the next puzzle board represents a showdown. The fastest player will claim the spoils.

Flexibility – I really like the open nature of Ubongo. At times it may be evident that two players are after a given gem colour. This does not have to spell disaster and clever acquisition of gems can leave a player’s options wide open, with 2 or 3 paths to victory. Ubongo can reward the player with all their eggs in one basket, but it doesn’t have to.

Educational Merit – The concepts of slides, turns, flips and rotations are all important parts of most Maths Curriculums. For this reason Ubongo makes for an excellent game both in the classroom and as a family game. Add to this the strategic nature of gem collection and Ubongo reveals itself as a wonderful little educational game as well.

Difficulty – It is not uncommon to hear someone talk about how they don’t want to play a certain style of game because they feel they are no good at it. I think the puzzle variety falls strongly in this category. What I have found in my playing of Ubongo with many different people, is that Ubongo is a great leveler. I consider myself a pretty good puzzle solver, but I have been stumped many a time by puzzles that others have found easy. The point here is that no one player will continually find the game easy or hard. It is how a person mentally approaches a puzzle that will determine their success. I really like this aspect and think it allows players of all ages and abilities to compete on a fairly even level.

Summary

Over the last 12 months I have endeavoured to find games that venture out of the classic Euro mold as I search for games that don’t simply mirror the feel or mechanics of games already in my collection. For this reason I am so happy that I discovered Ubongo and so is my wife. It is a really fun game for anyone who likes a challenge.

It is possible that some people will still find the puzzles too simple. For those that want some real shtick in their puzzle solving, they should check out Ubongo Extreme, which has just been released I believe. But for me the skill level required in basic Ubongo is perfect for the average gamer and non-gamer alike.

Thread: Ubongo - Reseña en Español (Review in Spanish)

ponchera69 — 2008-03-12T18:50:51+00:00

Ubongo - Grzegorz Rejchtman (Kosmos, 2003)

Ubongo bongo de los mondongos borongos. Este ágil party game mezcla la destreza con la histeria y habilidad, además de la rapidez mental, en un solo juego. Su creador de nombre impronunciable no es de aquellos que llenan las páginas de las críticas jueguísticas. No es un creador de moda ni menos conocido. Y Ubongo pareciera pasar desapercibido entre los que merodean el BGG, como que el nombre no logra pescar a la gente y más bien parece alejarlas. Para aquellos que juzgaron sin saber, aquí una pequeña reseña para levantar este alicaído juego.

Ubongo es un juego de destreza: la habilidad manual y mental es vital. Si eres lento, no tienes dedos o eres ciego perdiste, porque acá no tienes posibilidad alguna. El juego consta un dado con símbolos, 36 tableros individuales, cada uno con una forma irregular cuadriculada impresa y 6 combinaciones distintas de fichas tipo tetris más un símbolo coincidente con el dado, y donde deberás colocar estas fichas a lo tetris y que son la base de la entretención.
A cada jugador se le reparte un set de 9 tableritos (que son reversibles, un lado apto para niños, otro lado para adultos), un set de fichas tetris y nada más. Al centro de la mesa hay un montón de diamantes en varios colores colocados en 5 largas pistas con agujeros, donde quedan atrapados estos diamantes. Además en el juego se incluye un reloj de arena.

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Gran imagen de David Pugh que muestra todos los materiales del juego.

El juego es simultáneo, todos juegan al mismo tiempo. Un jugador se encarga de tirar el dado y otro se encarga de dar vuelta el tiempo... tic tac tic tac tic tac (bueno, este reloj no suena porque es de arena) y en ese tiempo todos ven el símbolo del dado y luego ven su tablerito: tendrán que sacar las fichas coincidentes con el símbolo del dado y tratar de colocarlas perfectamente dentro de las formas cuadriculadas ¡todo contra el tiempo!

El estrés empieza a corroerte, te tratas de apurar lo más posible, cuando escuchas a alguien decir ¡Ubongo! lo que significa que ya terminó de poner todas las fichas en su lugar. Se te resbala una ficha y no la puedes pescar y ves que todos ya están a punto de terminar... no puedes copiarles porque todos los tableros son diferentes y tic tac tic tac.... hasta que uffff! lo lograste. ¡Ubongo! gritas.

Con tu tiempo restante debes sacar dos diamantes de las pistas y guardártelos. Además tendrás la posibilidad de cambiarte de pista (3, 2 o 1 espacio dependiendo si fuiste el primero, segundo o tercero en decir ¡Ubongo!) y así poder elegir mejor tus diamantes. Nosotros cuando lo jugamos lo hacemos fuera del tiempo y ha resultado muy bien también. Quien al final del juego tenga más diamantes de un solo color gana. En caso de empate se ve quien tiene más diamantes de su segunda mayoría y así sucesivamente.

A estas alturas ya estás con colon irritable.

Encuentro que el juego está muy bien logrado. Las piezas son baratas y podría haberse abaratado a un más el costo, pero así y todo por el juego en sí vale la plata. Lamentablemente el juego aguanta hasta máximo 4 jugadores, por lo que para grupos grandes no sirve. De hecho, el juego debería sacar pronto una expansión para más jugadores, porque sino va a envejecer muy pronto. Quizás comprando dos sets puedas hacer que funcione con 8 personas, habría que intentarlo.
El juego es liviano, tenso, entretenido y fácil de entender y explicar, por lo que puede ser usado con cualquier audiencia y aseguro que funcionará muy bien. No es un juego que se pueda considerar como introductorio, porque está más cerca del Jenga que del Carcassonne, lo que lo hace un juego perfectamente masivo, ultra versátil.

Conclusión: Vale la pena, aunque un poco caro. 8.1/10

ChileGameGeek
www.chilegamegeek.foros.st

Thread: Re: Ubongo - [session report]

garry_rice — 2008-03-06T12:47:25+00:00

It sounds like you felt you had to wait until the player before you picked up their gems before you picked up your gems. I don't think you have to wait - in our games, the first player retains the privilege of moving 3 spaces, but if he/she hasn't selected their gems and someone else goes out, they can move and select their gems awhile and so on. I've already gone out first, but had no gems I was interested in, so I've waited until another person or two have gone out and picked their gems before I've picked mine.

Thread: Ubongo - [session report]

ackmondual — 2008-03-06T08:27:10+00:00

A spatial logic game with blocks. That certainly brings back memories. On the minus side, I never excelled at these types of puzzles. Much trial and error was performed, and even then, success was hardly garaunteed. On the plus side, I practice spatial logic puzzles several times a year, so it's not like I'm COMPLETELY out of it. This game would be just that in board game form, but with 4 players.

Despite the rush of solving these puzzles as quickly as possible invokes, I gotta say it was fun just to work your brain for the game. Some of them were frustrating, and deemed "impossible". As a fun excercise, we saved and set aside some of our "impossible" puzzles and tried them later on. We didn't have enough time to reattempt all of them, but some of the "impossible" ones of course did have a solution. Otherwise, you get lucky or "in the zone" that when the round begins, you look at the few puzzle pieces and it all clicks together like how you hit every green light while driving, at the right time.

Being the first to get the puzzle correctly was more important than usual for our group. I've noticed some of my opponents, after triumphantly being the first to complete their puzzle would take 10 to 15 seconds or more to decide how they're gonna move along the gem track. Like getting held up in traffic because one guy is driving too slowly, yet you can't pass him. This kind of decision should've been done BEFORE starting the turn. Those extra seconds have caused me as well as those who finish behind me with a finished timer and no opportunities to collect gems along the track.

That said, I gotta admit, the scoring path was grim at times. I would rack up enough purple gems, only to realize there aren't anymore of them within the next 4 to 5 turns or so. This forced me to choose a 2nd color (red) to collect as much of. In the end, I lost because of this. If the score were based on the highest balance of at least 2 colors, I would've fared MUCH better. Still though, next time this game gets pulled, I'm gonna see if we can give the advanced, larger puzzles a go. May not work if there's too few players, but couldn't hurt to ask

Thread: Re: Ubongo: The Duel?

stormseeker75 — 2008-02-11T19:58:43+00:00

I'm trying to get my hands on Extrem right now. Importing games sucks.

Thread: Re: Ubongo: The Duel?

jtakagi — 2008-02-11T19:24:21+00:00

By looking at the pictures of the box, I don't see the normal "Game for 2" thing on the side, and the box looks a little thicker than the normal 2-player box. Of course, the pictures lack perspective, so I could be wrong.

Thread: Re: Ubongo: The Duel?

stormseeker75 — 2008-02-11T19:20:54+00:00

I totally love Ubongo so I would certainly be buying it. Looks like its a Kosmos game again, so it will probably be part of the 2-player series which I'm trying to collect as well.

Thread: Ubongo: The Duel?

jtakagi — 2008-02-11T18:52:54+00:00

It looks like there is a 2 person version of Ubongo in the works, from the pictures I've seen posted from Nurnberg. It looks like you roll a d20 to determine which pieces to use, and the pieces are still rectangular (not hexagons like Ubongo Extrem), but slightly different in shape. I still wonder though if this would merit a purchase, since Ubongo as it is seems to work fine for two players.

See:
http://www.reich-der-spiele.de/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=3...

Thread: Re: Newbie loves it, orders her own that same night!

pigeoncamera — 2008-02-04T07:35:59+00:00

We had a similar experience. I brought Ubongo to a family New Year's party and it was a huge hit. Two people wanted to order it the next week. And it was played more over the holidays than any of my other games.

Thread: Newbie loves it, orders her own that same night!

jadzianess — 2008-02-03T14:04:28+00:00

My gaming group is pretty much limited to my family, husband and 2 girls, although I have a local friend who comes over once in awhile and she is always willing to play something. My recent order containing Ubongo had come in and I had a few games under my belt and my family all liked the game, so when she was over, we bombarded her with demands to play it.

Rules are so easy that it takes no time to explain it, and the young daughter loves to set the jewels up on the track.

For some reason every time I taught this to someone in the family, they thought it was a turn taking game, that only the roller of the dice would play their board. Finally, we got it so everyone started at the same time, but we would let my 7 year old play the 3 tile side and allowed her to get her tiles ready before the timer was turned.

We had let my friend try a practice board first, and she easily completed the 4 tile side within a minute. No doubt that got her confidence up, but on the first round of play, she couldn't complete her board in time. The 7 year old held her own during the game, but couldn't ever get a lead. My husband started out strong, but then couldn't complete his puzzles. I managed to stay pretty steady in completing puzzles and was collecting a nice number of similar colored jewels. In the end I managed to win the game, and I then gave up my seat to my 12 year old.

A second game ensued and during the rounds there was total silence, but when the timer ran out, there were groans of dismay. I believe my husband won that one by a close margin.

My friend, a 40 something single mother LOVED the game. We played a round of Tsuro after it, but that was not as exciting to her. She asked where I got it, and I passed on the good ole Thoughthammer name and Boardgamegeek reference. That night she ordered it herself...without telling me so I couldn't add on what I also want..Kingsburg! Argh. She doesn't understand the shipping cost thing yet. In time.

Overall a great game, one of my better buys, and oh-so pretty too.

Thread: Re: Getting the "I will not play games" guy to play a game

coxy_fc — 2008-01-18T03:42:57+00:00

But why did you win? You should have let someone else win and that way they'd like the game even more!

Thread: Swedish edition differences

Barticus88 — 2008-01-03T03:43:32+00:00

Looking at the images, the Swedish edition is different. Most of the changes are probably not affecting game play (eg, the set of symbols), but this game board is clearly different.

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Is there anyone who has played both and can comment on the differences?

Thread: Re: Z-Man Games Edition

Barticus88 — 2008-01-02T21:47:06+00:00

mitnachtKAUBO-I wrote:
Zman wrote:
***No, there shouldn't be any.
Heh. Seems a little late for "shouldn't" ... I assume this means "aren't".
He means he will sell whatever Kosmos is shipping. Any language independent game parts will be the same in all countries (which for this game is everything but the rules). If Kosmos makes a change, that's what he will get.

Thread: Re: Travel Version? Easier Puzzles....coming soon

Barticus88 — 2008-01-02T21:33:45+00:00

Werbaer wrote:
Ubongo "Mitbringspiel" has been announced by Kosmos. Don't know how to call it in english - "small gift game"?. It's a complete game in a small box; i assume without the board and with less puzzles. 1-4 players, age 7+, 20 minutes.
In America we call that a "travel edition".

Thread: Re: Timer length

Barticus88 — 2008-01-02T20:36:26+00:00

If there is a quality control issue with the timers, that's a problem. I can see they would vary by a few seconds, but 25 to 60 is too big a range. They might be affected by humidity. I hadn't thought to check the time we used last night, but next time I'm at this friend's house, I check it. I wonder how long was intended. I think about 40 seconds would be good.

Thread: Re: Harder boards?

Barticus88 — 2008-01-02T20:21:05+00:00

kimbo wrote:
I've played the game more than a few times and each board is different for me. Some come easy, some never get completed in the time allowed. My observation is that most people have this same experience with Ubongo.
The three piece boards are too easy for most people I would play with. We find most of the four piece boards can be done within time, though you can start off with a wrong assumption and be flummoxed. Six piece boards would require a long time to solve, but five piece boards make sense. If anyone would like to make some and upload them to BGG it would be appreciated.

Thread: Re: A tip for color-blind players

Barticus88 — 2008-01-02T20:13:32+00:00

Just get rid of the timer for the gem grabbing part of the game. Color-blindness aside, two hands reaching for the gems at the same time, colliding, and knocking the gems all over the table does not make for a good game. Just solve the puzzles (within time), then let the first to solve grab gems, then the second, etc.

Thread: Re: WHat does "Ubongo" mean?

Wulf Corbett — 2007-12-31T19:51:54+00:00

harris_family wrote:
Oops, sorry - I thought you said Um Bongo!
Ah, thank you! I was hoping that still existed somewhere

Thread: Re: WHat does "Ubongo" mean?

Thosw — 2007-12-31T19:42:03+00:00

It's a conjugation of a verb, isn't it?

Ibongo, Ubongo, He/She/Itbongos?

Thread: Re: WHat does "Ubongo" mean?

harris_family — 2007-12-31T15:25:52+00:00

lclaudius wrote:
zefquaavius wrote:
It seems to be Swahili for marrow and brain. I suspect the latter is what they were going for.

Probably, yes. Thanks!
Oops, sorry - I thought you said Um Bongo!

Simon

Thread: Re: WHat does "Ubongo" mean?

DarkCelt — 2007-12-31T15:01:09+00:00

Mmmmmm... marrow.

Thread: Re: WHat does "Ubongo" mean?

lclaudius — 2007-12-31T14:55:31+00:00

zefquaavius wrote:
It seems to be Swahili for marrow and brain. I suspect the latter is what they were going for.

Probably, yes. Thanks!

Thread: Re: What does "Ubongo" mean?

zefquaavius — 2007-12-31T14:48:11+00:00

It seems to be Swahili for marrow and brain. I suspect the latter is what they were going for.

Thread: WHat does "Ubongo" mean?

lclaudius — 2007-12-31T14:38:31+00:00

WHat does "Ubongo" mean? What language is it?

Thread: Excellent family game

ZyronEnder — 2007-12-15T19:33:37+00:00

Based on the BookshelfGames video tutorial/review I picked this up thinking it would be fun to play with my daughters (9,8 and 5). I WAS RIGHT! THEY LOVE IT! I think we've played 7 full games now in the last couple of days alone.

I'm not going to spend alot of time reviewing the rules here - please refer to the BookshelfGames video for all the details. I'll simply sum it up as this: on each round, every player must solve a a unique Tetris-ish puzzle. If you manage it in the time given, you get to collect 2 coloured jewels. Being first to solve the puzzle increase the choices you have when selecting jewels. After a number of rounds, the game ends and the player with the most jewels of the same colour wins.

So here's why its been successful in our house:

(1) the puzzles in the game are genuinely fun to solve. There's the odd time you just won't see the solution but for the most part the challenge is will you complete the puzzle in 30 seconds? 1 minute?

(2) my five year old in particular was willing to try it only because of the "jewels look so pretty!". But the overall appearance of the gameboard and pieces are tastefully attractive and colourful too. I'm certain that the girls' interest was piqued because of this.

(3) the difficulty of the game is easy to scale and that helps to moderate the frustration level that for some kids can take the fun out of puzzle solving: (a) Right out of the box there are 2 difficulty levels on all the puzzles (3 or 4 pieces). My youngest uses 3 and my oldest uses the 4 piece puzzles. (b) sometimes the timer creates stress that is fun for my 8 and 9 year olds but too much for my 5 year old sometimes, so we often skip the timer. (c) if we go with the timer, we will sometimes let everyone gather up the pieces that they are to use before starting the time. So, all this to say, the skill level is highly tweakable to adjust to the age of the players.

(4) as a Dad I really like the educational value (spatial reasoning) that goes hand in hand with playing this game.

Most importantly though, the gameplay seems to be lively and everyone seems to have fun when we play it. As the kids get older, I find it harder and harder to compete with TV, Webkinz, etc. I love when a game like this shows up that helps bring us together as a family and have fun. Right now it is the most requested game in our house (taking the place of Zooloretto, Ingenious and TransAmerica.)

Thread: Re: How to pick the gems by the rules in UBONGO

davidme — 2007-11-05T05:27:31+00:00

My question is, if I'm sitting on space #2, can I move 3 spackes (1, 6, then 5) by wrapping around the edge of the board? I assume not unless I find official word otherwise....

Thread: Microbadge Now Available for Ubongo

maksum — 2007-10-22T21:11:07+00:00

I love this game, so I submitted and purchased a microbadge. Feel free to purchase for yourself if you're so inclined.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/microbadge/3439

Thread: Re: Gem choosing and scoring variant

Roliander — 2007-10-20T14:21:42+00:00

We line the gems up by color horizontally and then place gems of the same color below the ones we have already collected. You score 5 points for each complete horizontal line and score variable points for each vertical line that has at least three of a kind.

So yes, the short answer is that scoring overlaps and you can score twice for gems if you have a full set of colors and also multiple copies of a gem. In your example of three sets of each gems you would get 21 points as you indicated.

You can use this scoring method with the original rules of pawn placement as well as my variant if you feel the variant makes gem selection too easy. Have fun!

Thread: A tip for color-blind players

BrenoK — 2007-09-26T18:08:37+00:00

Being a timer-based and color-dependant game, Ubongo is pretty much anti-colorblind people. It's impossible to ask in the heat of the moment which gem is of which color, and it's the colors that decide the game, so it makes for some pretty frustrating moments for a friend of mine that loves the puzzle-solving part of the game yet always comes in last place ("what do you mean these gems aren't the same color? You're just trying to trick me!"). We've come up with a small solution:

Before the game we separate the gems that are tougher for him to tell apart and we substitute them with beans and corn (or any other easily available gem-sized thingie). I'll post pictures of it as soon as I can. It messes a little with the beauty of the game (and a pretty game it is!), but it's better than leaving him out of the match. I even keep the (properly counted) beans in a ziploc bag inside the box, now.

The only other detail I can think of on this is that to pick something big enough that will be easy to grab in the desperation of the last seconds of the sandglass, yet small enough to fit in the holes of the board.

Thread: Re: Getting the "I will not play games" guy to play a game

tommynomad — 2007-09-24T14:10:55+00:00

Great story! This and your initial review have put Ubongo at the top of my must-have list. Only 5 more days 'till I go to the game store....

Thread: Re: Ubongo - Mebongo - Webongo!

shebby — 2007-09-24T06:16:46+00:00

This is a fabulous review! I will definately be buying it now. Thanks for the attention to detail. Well Done!

Thread: Re: Gem choosing and scoring variant

BrenoK — 2007-09-08T23:33:00+00:00

So, let's say I have 3 gems of each kind. Do I score 21 points? Does it add up like 5 + 5 + 5 (3 complete sets) + 6 (1 for having 3 of each of the 6 colors)? Or do I have to choose between getting points for the complete sets and getting for having more of the same colors (between 15 and 6)?

Thread: Re: Timer length

Doomfarer — 2007-08-24T08:38:33+00:00

Weird, my timer go for 60s, I must have gotten the kids version.