''Ubongo'' is a board game developed by

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

-born

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

game designer

Grzegorz Rejchtman Grzegorz (german: Falkenstein) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Chełmża, within Toruń County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Chełmża Chełmża (german ...

.Game rules
at Kosmos It originally appeared as ''Pyramidens Portar'' by the Swedish publisher

Kärnan Kärnan (; da, Kernen, both literally ''The Core'') is a medieval tower in Helsingborg, Scania, in southern Sweden. It is the only part remaining of a larger Danish fortress which, along with the fortress Kronborg on the opposite bank of the Ø ...

and won the Swedish '' Årets spel'' prize in 2003.Pyramidens Portar
at BoardGameGeekWinners of the ''Årets spel'' prize
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123183423/http://www.leksakshandlarna.se/templ_n2_tabeller.php?m=1&w=2&pageid=17&pid=40 , date=2010-01-23 The game was later released in Germany in 2005 as ''Ubongo'' by the publisher

Kosmos The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...

and got 4th place at the German board game competition and was among the finalists in the International Gamers Award. The game is for 2 to 4 players of ages 8 and above, and takes about 20 to 30 minutes. ''Ubongo'' is an abstract

puzzle A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...

game, based on a

pentamino Derived from the Greek word for ' 5', and "domino", a pentomino (or 5-omino) is a polyomino of order 5, that is, a polygon in the plane made of 5 equal-sized squares connected edge-to-edge. When rotations and reflections are not considered to b ...

variant, reminiscent of a combination of Tangram and '' Tetris''. The game includes a simplified version with fewer pieces, for children and beginners. ''Ubongo'' is well suited for a game for the whole family, because its mechanics entertain both children and adults. Solving puzzles is entertaining by itself and provides excitement when combined with competition with other players. The word "ubongo" means "brain" in

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

, a language spoken in Eastern and Central Africa.

Theme

The cardboard player boards and the main board with the jewels are coloured in strong earthy colours, on a black and red background, with the simple, clear motives themed after African or

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n Aborigine culture, featuring animals found in the jungle and on the savanna. Jewels made of translucent, colourful plastic are used as prizes. File:Ubongo-board.svg, An example of a player board File:Ubongo-tiles.jpg, Playing pieces File:Ubongo-diamonds.jpg, Jewels

Rules

The game includes 36 cardboard pieces, of which four have to be used to completely cover the shape on the player board. On the other side of the player board is a simpler version, which has only to be covered with three pieces. Each player receives a player board, and a throw of a die decides which four pieces have to be used to cover the shape. The player must then use the pieces to completely cover up the shape without overlapping the pieces. An

hourglass An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) ...

is used to limit the time to cover the shape. Each player to manage to cover up the shape in time receives the right to take jewels from the main board. Where the player can take jewels from depends on his/her rank among the players to complete their shape. Then the player cards are redistributed for the next turn. At the end of the game, the player who has the most jewels of a specific single colour wins the game.

Theme

Rules

References

External links