Demanding puzzle – review of the board game “Ubongo Extreme”

Simple rules and challenging gameplay

Ubongo Extreme is a very simple game. Each player chooses his color and chooses the correct pieces and cards. Then all players take one card and try to arrange the selected blocks so that all white spaces are covered. Whoever does it first screams Ubongo! and scores one point. Then it starts the countdown to twenty and scores extra points if the others have not completed their puzzle by then. The game is over when the cards are exhausted.

Sixty-four puzzles

There aren’t too many puzzles here. Previous versions of Ubongo contained quite a large number of variants, because not only were there double-sided cards, but also six variants of solutions (using different figures) were assigned to each puzzle. Unfortunately, in this respect, Ubongo Extreme fails – only sixty-four puzzles, divided into two levels of difficulty (the easier setup requires three pieces, and the more difficult one more). And now I must admit that I underestimated this version. I thought it would be a reheated cutlet that would bring little new to the Ubongo series, in addition, a mediocre number of cards will not encourage you to invest in this title. It turned out otherwise – hexagons are so fancy that you really have to think carefully to arrange them properly. It’s just a brilliant puzzle. Putting together a more difficult system, consisting of four figures, may take even several minutes. For me, Ubongo Extreme is not exactly a board game, because I don’t really care about winning – I just want to solve the mystery. It does not matter if you play it alone and treat it as, for example, sudoku, or if you play a game in a larger group – the impressions are still positive, and the satisfaction with solving the puzzle is guaranteed.

It’s time to get the gray cells going

The workmanship is decent. The figures are hard cardboard, the cards are also of good quality, and the box, although it could be smaller, will easily fit into a backpack or purse. The main drawback is the lack of an hourglass, which was in previous versions. For me it is downright frivolous that I have to count to twenty after shouting Ubongo! Besides, you can only complain about a small number of puzzles. The replayability seems to be low, although remembering the layouts is not that easy. As long as Ubongo Extreme is properly dosed, it will be enough for a long time. This part has its own unique character and even if someone already has any version of Ubongo, they will still find a lot new in the Extreme version.. It seems to me more difficult than the base, but it cannot be denied that the most demanding version of Ubongo is the 3D edition .

Is there beauty in simplicity?

Ubongo Extreme surprised me with its otherness. There aren’t many puzzles in it, but despite this drawback, it can easily be compared to larger relatives, because it really does the job. If someone likes puzzles and puzzles, he should definitely be interested in this series. It’s brilliant – it’s worth having at least one Ubongo on your shelf. It is definitely one of the best games that Egmont has in its portfolio.