Base price: $15.
1 player.
Play time: ~10 minutes per puzzle.
Buy on Amazon (via What’s Eric Playing?)
Logged plays: 26
Full disclosure: A review copy of Ubongo: The Brain Game To Go was provided by KOSMOS.
Back with more puzzle games! I’ve been doing a lot of escape rooms, mysteries, puzzles, and the like lately. It’s been a lot of fun, but I’ll try to sprinkle some more board game-y game reviews in here for y’all. It’s mostly me trying to clear through a bunch of games before I move, which is relatively soon (or I already did; depends on when these reviews release). More on that at some later point. In the meantime, we’ve got Ubongo! The Brain Game to Go, from KOSMOS, so let’s check it out!
Ubongo! The Brain Game to Go repackages some of the speedy puzzle goodness of the Ubongo! series into a more compact form factor and removes the timer and competitive elements. Instead, you’re now left with a puzzle game at your own pace! Each card has a few puzzles on it that indicate which pieces you’re supposed to use. Fit all the right pieces into the right spots and you’ve solved it! Try again with a different set of pieces and a different puzzle. With 200 puzzles to solve, it’s all about moving at your own pace and solving what you feel like. Can you get through them all?
Overall: 7.75 / 10
Overall, I enjoyed Ubongo! The Brain Game to Go. I think this is probably the part where I could wax about the distinction between a “toy” and a “game”, but I’m largely over taxonomy arguments. There’s something to be said about having a fun little puzzle you can just mess with from time to time, and I enjoy the Ubongo system quite a bit, having already tried a few other games in the series. If I’m looking for something more inherently competitive, I’ve got the other games. This is more a meditative exercise where I’m just looking to pass a bit of time with a puzzle, since there’s no actual time pressure or racing other players. That may not be what you’re precisely looking for from your Ubongo experience, and that’s fine! There are plenty of games in the series, so you can tailor what you get to what you want.
As far as the physical device goes, I was pleasantly surprised. It reminds me of those travel-size board games of my childhood where you’d try to play Monopoly in the back of the car with tiny money and then, years later, when your dad goes to trade in the car there’s still Monopoly money in the backseat in some nook or cranny because there was no way to effectively remove it once it got dropped. Something like that. In lieu of a mess, however, they’ve smartly made bright and vividly-colored pieces that slot into the spaces on the lid pretty well to limit overall movement while still making the pieces easy to pop off and spin around. It would be … more annoying if the pieces were more secure, because then you’d have to spend a ton of time and energy prying them loose every time. Still wouldn’t recommend playing this in a moving vehicle, but I’m not sure you come to my site for that kind of critique. There’s a little drawer for the pieces and the cards sit under the plastic lid; it’s very all-in-one. The box itself is a bit hard to open, but that really only matters if you’re a board game photographer desperately trying not to tear it, I suppose.
Beyond all that, I think I’m just glad to have another modality for Ubongo that I can interact with. This is kind of the thing that makes a pretty good coffee table game. Very limited explanation required (you just kind of make the specific pieces fit), low commitment (you’re done when you’re done), and no competitive element just leaves something that my friends can doodle with between games or while we’re watching a movie if they’re fidgety. Sure, it shaves some things I like off of the core Ubongo experience, but it’s trying to pitch a new modality, and I think that it’s largely successful. If you’re looking for more Ubongo, you want a portable travel version, or you’re just interested in a small take-anywhere puzzle game, I’d recommend checking out Ubongo! The Brain Game to Go! It’s been fun.
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