Ubongo: Fun-Sized edition game review

Ubongo Fun-Size board game — Ubongo now has a fun travel version!

Sharpen your speedy, Tetris-puzzle solving skills because it’s time to play Ubongo: Fun-Size edition.

It’s not exactly Tetris, but whenever we’re playing with polyomino pieces, we can’t help thinking of that addictive shape-placing game.

In 2015, we reviewed Ubongo and talked about why it’s such a hit in our family. One of the key reasons is that it’s a game that mom loves. And when mom loves a game, you know you’re set.

There have been various versions of Ubongo published over the years. And last year, Thames & Kosmos released the Ubongo: Fun-Size edition.

And the good news is that it’s just as fun.

How to play Ubongo: Fun-Size

Ubongo: Fun-Size is a super simple game to learn and play. It’s also a very quick game.

The objective is to get the most points over 8 rounds.

Players earn points by completing their individual puzzle in time as well as being the first to do so.

Before beginning, players decide which side of the puzzle cards they want to play. There are 32 different puzzle cards that are double-sided. One side requires 3 puzzle pieces to complete while the other side requires 4 pieces.

Each player gets a set of eight polyomino pieces and they’re ready to go.

At the start of a round, each player takes a new puzzle card and must race to fill in the blank spaces as quickly as possible with their pieces. The challenge is that players aren’t told which pieces to use! Each player must figure that out for their own puzzle.

However, there are at least 3 ways to solve each puzzle.

The pieces can be rotated or flipped any way. The white area must be covered completely and pieces can not stick out over the borders nor overlap other pieces.

As soon as one player has filled their board, they start counting down from 20 and everyone else must complete their puzzle before time is up.

Whoever completes their puzzle in time keeps the card for a point. The player who finished first also takes a gem token to represent another point.

After 8 rounds, the player with the most points wins!

It’s as simple as that.

Can the whole family enjoy playing Ubongo: Fun-Size?

The great thing about Ubongo: Fun-Size is that everyone in the family can enjoy playing together.

Well, we should throw in a caveat. There are only 4 sets of polyomino shapes. So if your family has more than 4 people, you’ll have to take turns (or buy two copies of the game).

The age on the game box says 7+, but kids younger than that will still enjoy playing the game too.

We really like the simplicity of Ubongo: Fun-Size.

Just grab the deck of cards, pick a side and start playing.

Because each puzzle only uses either 3 or 4 pieces, we’ve found that they’re not too challenging. So what that does instead is make it a short race game.

And as such, those who are quicker with spacial reasoning will lead the pack.

There are a couple ways to even the game between players. The rules suggest one way is to have older players (or those with better skill) limit themselves by not using the yellow piece — a straight line that covers three spaces. All of the puzzles can be solved without this piece, but doing so will be more difficult than normal.

The other way we even things out is for quicker players to play the 4-piece side of the card while the others use the 3-piece side of the card.

And if you’re a Tetris-puzzle solving fiend, you can also play the game solo if you’d like.

In the original Ubongo game, at the start of each round players roll a die which then shows them which pieces to use to solve their puzzle for that round.

One of the things we like about Ubongo: Fun-Size is that players discover which pieces to use for solving their puzzle as they experiment. It’s a nice twist to the challenge.

Ubongo: Fun-Size is a great game for families that also helps developing minds with spacial reasoning. You’ll be able to watch your kids improve their spacial abilities with repeated plays of the game.

And it’s also a great way for older minds to stay sharp.

How does Ubongo: Fun-Size score on our “Let’s Play Again” game meter?

Ubongo: Fun-Size scores high on our “let’s play again” game meter because of how quick each game goes by. It’s so easy to just shuffle the puzzle cards again and keep playing.

So we do.

We also love that it comes in a very compact box. This makes it super easy to take along with us and play almost anywhere.

We’ve seen people asking about games they can play on airplanes and this would even fall into that category. Of course, if you’re going to do that, you’ll have to watch out for knocking a piece off the airplane tray table as you play, because we all know how hard it is to pick something up off the floor of a plane.

Anyway, Ubongo: Fun-Size is a quick and fun game that’s great to have as part of your family game collection.