Ubongo!: 3-D Family Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• What It's About
• Game Material
• Game Setup
• Game Play
  • Each round of play proceeds as follows
  • Second-Chance Round
  • Reward
  • End of Round
  • New Round
• End of Game
• Solo Variant

What It's About

Each of you gets a set of 8 puzzle pieces. At the start of every round you also each take a new puzzle board. A roll of the die determines which task is played on every puzzle board. Then you turn the hourglass. All of you now try, at the same time, to cover the light-colored playing area on your puzzle board with the given three-dimensional puzzle pieces so that the area is completely covered "two stories high." Everyone who manages this within the hourglass time calls out "Ubongo!" and draws a gem from the bag — the two fastest players even each get an extra gem. Whoever has the most valuable gem collection after 9 rounds wins.

Game Material

• 4 x 8 puzzle pieces (with 2 shapes per color each)
• 72 puzzle boards (with 671 different tasks)
• 58 gems
  • 19 sapphires (blue)
  • 19 amber stones (brown)
  • 10 rubies (red)
  • 10 emeralds (green)
• 1 cloth bag
• 1 die
• 1 hourglass

Before your first game, fill all the gems into the cloth bag.

Optional: puzzle fun with a solution aid! Would you like to use the Ubongo timer or look up solutions to the tasks? Then download the free KOSMOS Erklär app and select Ubongo 3-D Family in it.

Game Setup

• Each of you gets a set of 8 different puzzle pieces. With fewer than 4 players, the puzzle pieces that aren't needed go back into the box.
• Decide which puzzle boards you want to play with. There are 4 different difficulty levels. Each board shows the task number, the required puzzle pieces, the playing area, the difficulty level, and the board number.
• You can all play the same difficulty level, or different ones. We recommend that younger children play Level 1 first and adults play Level 2, 3, or 4 (depending on skill). This way you can easily ensure equal chances for everyone.
• Each of you gets a set of 9 puzzle boards at your chosen difficulty level and places them as a personal draw pile in front of you. Make sure the puzzle-board sides you want to play with are face down. Put the remaining — unneeded — puzzle boards back in the box.
• From the bag, pick out 9 sapphires (blue) and 9 amber stones (brown). Arrange these 18 gems into two rows in the middle of the table — one row of the 9 sapphires and one row of the 9 amber stones. These 2 x 9 gems form the display and also serve as the round counter. The gems have different values: red = 4 points, blue = 3 points, green = 2 points, brown = 1 point.
• Set out the hourglass and the die.

Game Play

The game runs over 9 rounds.

Each round of play proceeds as follows

• All of you take the top puzzle board from your stack and place it in front of you so that your chosen level is visible.
• The youngest player rolls the die. The number rolled tells you which task must be solved as fast as possible on your puzzle boards. Note: on some puzzle boards, several numbers are assigned to the same task.
• Another player now turns the hourglass.
• All of you search, as fast as possible, through your 8 puzzle pieces for those shown next to the rolled number on your own puzzle board.
• As soon as you have found the needed puzzle pieces, you try to cover the light-colored playing area of your puzzle board with the pieces exactly. This means the area must be completely covered on two levels. Nothing may stick out sideways beyond the light-colored playing area, and nothing may extend into the third level. You may turn and flip the puzzle pieces as needed.

Example: A puzzle board's light-colored playing area, shown empty and then exactly covered on two levels with puzzle pieces.

• As soon as you manage to solve your task, you call out "Ubongo!"
• The others keep trying to solve their own task before the hourglass runs out.
• Whoever notices first that the hourglass has run out immediately calls "Stop." Then everyone must stop at once.

Second-Chance Round

Has the hourglass run out and nobody managed to solve their own task? Then there is a second-chance round. Turn the hourglass again and keep trying to cover your playing area. If nobody manages to cover their own playing area within the hourglass time again, the round is finally over.

Reward

Everyone who has solved their task receives a reward:

1. Whoever covers their own playing area exactly the fastest and calls "Ubongo!" takes 1 blue sapphire from the display and additionally draws 1 gem at random from the bag.
2. Player number 2 receives 1 brown amber stone from the display and additionally draws 1 gem at random from the bag.
3. Player number 3 draws 1 gem at random from the bag.
4. Player number 4 draws 1 gem at random from the bag.

Everyone who could not completely cover their playing area before the hourglass ran out unfortunately goes away empty-handed this round.

End of Round

The display of 9 sapphires and 9 amber stones also serves as the round counter. After every round played, there must be exactly 1 blue sapphire and 1 brown amber stone fewer in the display.

It can happen that only one player, or nobody at all, managed to solve their own task within the hourglass time. Then the display must be reduced further at the end of the round:

Did only one player manage to cover their own playing area exactly in a round? Then the remaining 1 brown amber stone for that round is removed from the display and thrown into the bag.

Did nobody manage it? Then both the blue sapphire and the brown amber stone for that round are removed from the display and thrown into the bag.

Put all the puzzle boards that were just played back into the box.

New Round

Now all of you each take a new puzzle board from the stack. The next player in clockwise order rolls the die to determine which task is played, and so on.

End of Game

The game ends after 9 rounds — that is, when no gems remain in the display. Now add up the values of the gems you have collected. The gems have different values: red = 4 points, blue = 3 points, green = 2 points, brown = 1 point. Whoever among you has the most points wins.

Should several players have the highest point total, a "tiebreaker" takes place: everyone tied takes a puzzle board. Determine who rolls the die. The hourglass is not used. Whoever solves their own task first wins the game!

Example: At the end of the game, Finn has 1 red ruby, 1 blue sapphire, 3 green emeralds, and 3 brown amber stones. This gives him 1x4 + 1x3 + 3x2 + 3x1 = 16 points.

Solo Variant

If you want to play Ubongo by yourself, you need a clock. You try to solve as many tasks as possible in 5 (or 10 or 20) minutes.

Another solo variant is to time how long it takes you to solve 5 (or 10 or 20) tasks.

If you get stuck on a task, you can set it aside and draw a new puzzle board.

Write down your results and try to set new records.