Umami
Umami Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 81 Ingredient Cards: 9 of every number, each including: 3 Blossom Cards, 3 Star Cards, 3 Steal Cards
- 18 Favorite Cards (1 Star each): 9 High-Preference Favorites, 9 Low-Preference Favorites
- 1 First Serving Card (Japanese for "Open for business")
Setup
- Player hands: Shuffle the Ingredient deck and the Favorites deck separately. Deal each player a private set of 4 Ingredient cards and 1 secret Favorite card (may keep the Favorite in hand or rest it face-down on the table for now).
- Count out a deck of Favorite cards: 7 for two players, 9 for three players, 10 for four and 11 for five players. Put leftover cards unseen back in the box. Favorites area: Lay the Favorites deck in the center area and deal 4 cards face-up, side by side.
- Ingredients area: Lay the Ingredient deck below the Favorites and deal 4 cards face-up, side by side.
- Choose a starting player and hand them the First Serving card. The fest can begin!
The setup example in the rulebook shows a three-player game, with a Trash pile placed beside the Ingredients area.
Favorite Cards
Favorite cards represent soul-filling meals. Create a column of 3 Ingredients matching a Favorite to win it! At game end, every Favorite earns 1 point for the Star icon on the card and 1 point for each Star icon on the Ingredient cards below it.
Most Favorites show three colored cards. If two same colors are shown with an unequal sign (≠) between them, those two Ingredients must be different numbers.
Favorites showing a +1 indicate runs of numbers (like 1-2-3). Favorites showing a +2 indicate runs with single gaps between them (like 1-3-5). For these, color is not relevant.
Ingredient Cards
The Ingredient cards are the foods items you need to earn Favorites. Each number is always just one color: all 1-3s are green, all 4-6s are yellow, and all 7-9s are red.
Every Ingredient card shows one of three special icons:
- Steals let you take Ingredients from other players.
- Blossoms break ties when claiming Favorites.
- Stars in Set Dishes are points at game end.
Play
Play proceeds clockwise. On your turn, play 2 Ingredient cards: one from your hand and one from the face-up Ingredients area. Do these in either order.
Place the chosen card face-up in front of you. Ingredient cards go into columns called Dishes. You may add to an existing Dish or start a new one, up to 5 total Dishes. The order of the cards doesn't matter and can be adjusted. If a fourth card would be added to a Dish, immediately discard any one of the cards in the Dish to the face-up Trash pile.
After playing both cards, your turn is over. Refill the Ingredients and Favorites areas to 4 cards each. Lastly, refill your hand from the Ingredient deck so that you have 4 Ingredients.
Note: If the Ingredient deck is ever empty, shuffle the Trash to make a new deck. The Favorites deck is not refilled once empty.
The turn example in the rulebook shows a player playing one card from the Ingredients area and one card from their hand onto their Dishes.
Winning Favorites
Anytime you have a Dish whose Ingredients match a card in the Favorites area, you win it immediately! Place the Favorite card above your matching Dish. As long as the Favorite is there, the Dish is Set: no Ingredient or Favorite can be added to it and no Ingredient can be stolen from it.
To win a Favorite from any player's Set Dish (even your own), you must have a tastier version of it! Each Favorite shows an arrow, up for preferring high sums and down for low. Compare the total Ingredient values (like 9+7+1 = 17) on both Dishes; then take the Favorite only if your sum is better (higher or lower) in that direction.
The example in the rulebook shows a Favorite that is red, red, green, with arrows indicating a lower sum preference. A player may either win it from the Favorites area, or make a tastier Dish to win it from a Set Dish.
If the sums are the same, count the Blossom icons on the two Dishes. If you have more, you win the Favorite. But if both sums and Blossoms are the same, it's not yet tastier!
Timing: Win Favorites at any time, even during other players' turns and as Favorites are revealed. If multiple players claim at once, resolve (and win complete ties) in turn order. If a Dish can win several Favorites at once, that player chooses which one to take.
Stealing
Once per turn, you may perform a Steal:
- Discard a card with the Steal icon from your hand or the Ingredients area to the Trash. This counts as your action for that area.
- Steal: Take a card from another player's unset Dish and add it to your own. If this wins you a Favorite, take it.
- The player who was stolen from restocks: they take one Ingredient from the Ingredients area or the top card of the Ingredient deck and add it face-up to their Dishes. (The card cannot be used to Steal.)
The example in the rulebook shows a Steal: find an unset Dish, and steal a card from it to add to your own Dish. Some candidate Dishes are marked as invalid in the example, and the stolen card goes into your Dish.
Don't forget, you have two actions!
Secret Favorite Phase
When the last Favorite is taken from the Favorites area, or when any player has 12 Ingredient cards in their Dishes area (10 in a 5-player game), regular play starts to end. Finish the round, continuing to take turns until the player with the First Serving card would take their next turn. Then:
- Flip all claimed Favorites face-down. They can no longer be won by others.
- Discard all cards from the Ingredients area.
- Add your secret Favorite face-up to the Favorites area. (There may still be Favorites there from regular play.)
- Starting with the player with the First Serving card, check if anyone qualifies for a Favorite now. If so, take it!
- Play one final round in turn order with these changes:
- The Steal action is no longer allowed.
- Play any number of cards from your hand — up to all four, or even none if desired.
Then proceed to Scoring!
Scoring and Winning
In turn order, players total their points.
- Earn 1 Point per Star icon on a Favorite.
- Earn 1 Point per Star icon on Ingredients in Set Dishes (Stars not under a Favorite do not score).
Count only Stars on or under Favorites!
The player with the most points wins! In a tie, the tied player with more Blossoms on Set Dishes wins. Still tied? Those great chefs win UMAMI together!
Scoring example (as printed): the example shows Stars on the scoring columns with check marks, and a column marked with a cross that does not score. The totals shown are 3 Stars + 4 Stars = 7 Stars (3 Blossoms).