Wo ist bitte Umtata?
Wo ist bitte Umtata? Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 1 game board
- 300 cards
- 1 card holder
- 5 game pieces
- 5 spinners
- 1 special "Tataaa—I know the answer" field (bottom of game box)
Object of the game
Figure out which European country is hiding behind the placeholder "Umtata". Submit your guesses and earn points. The first player to earn 16 points wins.
Here's what you have to know
The game board depicts all the European countries that are relevant for the game. They're displayed in four alternating colors and divided up into four regions: North, South, East and West. The borders of the four regions are marked by a solid white line. To help you distinguish them from one another, they have a differing background pattern:
- North: triangles
- South: waves
- East: dots
- West: stripes
Note: The grayed out countries are not relevant for the game. That means, there will be no questions relating to these countries.
Overview of regions and countries
(The overview prints the countries in four columns without printed headings; the column-to-region assignment below follows the column order and is consistent with the rulebook's example, where Italy and Greece are South and Spain is West.)
- North: Denmark, England, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, North. Ireland, Norway, Rep. of Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Wales
- South: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Croatia, Malta, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey
- West: Belgium, Germany, France, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, Czech Republic
- East: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, Belarus
Note: The countries were subdivided so that there would be four regions, each with 12 countries. The decision to group the countries in this way was made solely to accommodate the game. Absolutely no geopolitical aspects were considered.
Game setup
Before playing for the very first time, take the folded card holder out of the game box and fold it into shape as follows: Unfold the card holder into a cube and place it on the table with the foldable panels facing up. First fold the base tab "1" and then both of the panels "2" inward. Now fold the cover tab "3" inward and gently press it with your finger into the cube until it locks into place.
Remove all the contents from the game box, unfold the game board and place it in the middle of the table so that everyone has a good view of the whole board. The special "Tataaa—I know the answer" field is integrated in the base of the game box. Put it next to the game board within everyone's reach. Now shuffle all the cards and put more or less half of them in the card holder with the question side facing forward. The other half of cards will not be needed for this game and can be set off to the side somewhere. Each player receives a spinner. The back of each spinner has a different color. Take the game piece that matches the color of your spinner and place it on the starting position of the game board.
How to play
The last player to go on vacation gets the task of reading out the questions. The game is played in turns in a clockwise direction.
Draw a card from the front of the card holder, lay it face up on the table, and then read it aloud.
Tip: When drawing the card from the box make sure that nobody is able to read the back side of the card.
Guessing: My gut feeling is ...
Look at the map of Europe on the game board and think about which country Umtata could be. Any ideas? Then everyone, including the player who read the question, secretly makes his guess: Move the pointer on your spinner so that it points at the corresponding region and color of the country.
If you have no idea which country it might be, you can take a guess anyway. But talking is not allowed. Is everyone finished? Then lay down your spinners face down in front of you.
Keeping score
Once everyone has laid down their spinners, the player who read the question turns over the card and reads the correct answer so that everyone can hear it.
Check to see which of you got the right answer. Each player receives 1 point for the correct region and/or 1 point for the right color of the country. That means that each player has the chance to win up to 2 points per round.
For each point, move your game piece one space forward. Multiple game pieces are allowed to be on the same space at the same time.
Once everyone has received their points, the designated reader puts the card back into the card holder at the back. Then the player to his left takes over as the designated reader for the next round.
Know-it-all: Tataaa—I know the answer!
If one of you thinks he knows the correct answer without guessing, don't move your pointer to the right region and colour, throw it on the special "Tataaa—I know the answer!" field with the player's color facing up. But don't immediately reveal your answer. (If you'd like, you can shout out: "Tataaa—I know the answer!")
Note: More than one player can throw their spinners onto the special "Tataaa—I know the answer!" field. But only one of you will cash in on the bonus point.
The player who was the first to throw his spinner on the special "Tataaa—I know the answer!" field, gets to answer first. Only if he gets it wrong does the player who was next in line at throwing the spinner on the special field get to try his luck, and so on.
But, before you reveal if the answer was correct, everyone must first make their guess as described above.
Once everyone has made their guesses, the first player to throw his spinner on the "Tataaa" field now gives his answer. Then he takes the card from the reader and quietly checks his answer.
If he was right, he gets 3 points and moves his game piece 3 spaces forward. If he was wrong, he doesn't get any points, and he keeps the answer to himself. In that case, the second "Tataaa" player gives his answer.
Once all "Tataaa" players have taken their turns, the designated reader turns over the card and reads the correct answer so that everyone can hear it.
Example: Steven reads out loud the question: "Umtata won the World Cup 2006." Andreas knows the answer and throws his spinner onto the special "Tataaa—I know the answer!" field. Steven and Frank set their spinners and submit their guesses. Since Andreas' spinner is on the special field, he answers first and says "Italy". He picks up the card and checks his answer. He was right, and he receives 3 points.
Now Steven and Frank check to see how many points they get: Steven guessed Spain. Spain is in the region "West" and has the color "purple". The right answer is Italy. But, since Italy also has the purple color, Steven receives 1 point. Italy is in the region "South" and not West, so he doesn't receive any more points. Greece was Frank's guess. He receives 1 point for the right region, but zero points for the color of the country.
End of game
The game is over as soon as a player has reached the goal, which is 16 points. He is elected the next President of Umtata and has earned the respect of all his peers for his glorious victory.
If more than one player reaches the goal in the same round, then we have a polycracy! We have more than one winner. The victory is shared.