Game 127: Ubi

I'm posting lots of pictures of this game since it gets no respect at my house - and also not much respect on the reviews on Board Game Geek - and I think this game deserves some respect!  The "project" of this blog is to count the games on our shelves (because I really am curious about how many games we own) and, normally, to do so by posting when we PLAY a game from our shelves (posting only once - only the first time we play a game since I began this blog in April 2018).  Well, since I don't think anyone will play this game with me ever, EVER again I am going to go ahead and post about it now because it is on our shelves despite having pretty much 0 probability of ever being played again here in our family group.  I love this game, but it might be because I love trivia enough to have once been a contestant on Jeopardy!.  I bought this game 5 or 6 years ago after I had been at a gathering of some colleagues who are gamers.  Kathleen mentioned this game as a favorite of hers and went on to describe it, and as she did, I knew it was a game I HAD TO have.  I went home and immediately bought it online.  My family (just my sons, I think) played a partial game with me when I first bought it, and that was the end of that.  It's such a great game, though with so many fun instruments, like the "reticle."  It has so many cool trivia elements too.  First, the clues are rather cryptic, but then each clue also has an associated geographic location that you have to find on the world map that is included.  ("Ubi" means "where" in Latin.)  You have the option to find the location somewhat generally (in the hexagon of the reticle) or rather more specifically (in a triangle of the reticle).  The goal is somewhat like that of Trivial Pursuit, but rather than building a pie you build a pyramid here.

Above is the piece that you try to build your pyramid on (and below are the pieces).  There are four regions: Americas, Europe, Water, and Universal (which is Asia, Africa, and "the other 3 zones").

The game board is a MAP OF THE WORLD!!!  (Who doesn't like maps?!?!)

Plus there are lots of really cool details on the map that are easy to miss unless you look carefully.  I know that at least one of these has to do with game-play, but I didn't get to play long enough to run into it!

There's a Red Herring in the midst of the Indian Ocean; how cool is that?!?!

And there's an entrance to the London Underground just below South Island, New Zealand.  Count me in!

Not sure what's happening here east of Greenland, but OK.

You place the reticle on the board in order to give your answer (generally, in a hex, or specifically, in a triangle).  Placement might be on land or on sea.

To illustrate sea I, of course, chose an area containing the Azores.

Here are a few examples of questions and answers.  (My intention is not to ignore copyright nor to give spoilers but rather to promote this game, for which there are multiple hundreds of cards.)  These are in front/back order.  See how many you can answer (remembering "ubi" means "where?") before you scroll down.

So, yeah, the game is dated.  Note the copyright date of 1986.  My first son wasn't even BORN until 1992, whereas I REMEMBER CLEARLY watching the 1976 Olympic games and seeing Nadia Comaneci earn the first perfect 10 in gymnastics in the history of the Olympics, so, obviously there are things in this game which are much easire for me than for them.  One option is to play teams!!

For fans of musicals, I know you know the repeated refrain in The Music Man is "Gary, Indiana, Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana"  .  .  .  but then there's that second layer of whether or not you can locate Gary, Indiana on a map!

A card that I couldn't find while flipping through the boxes is one that is also mentioned on Board Game Geek in which a reviewer writes, "A typical/actual question would be 'Ubi Oddjob offed?'  Then, you make the jump to 'In the James Bond movie Goldfinger, where was Oddjob killed?' Then, you must locate the answer (Fort Knox, KY) to one of two precision levels on a world map." So, again, you translate the cryptic question to it's understandable meaning, then you find the location in your memory, and then you locate the place on the map - multiple layers!

So, here's the whole layout.  Yes, for some of us the cover does have a creepy look, and the reticle does look a bit like a planchette.  I read on Board Game Geek that one person wasn't allowed to play this as a child back in the 1980s since his mom though that the upside-down eye looked evil.  I'm pretty discerning about not touching evil things (for example, I would NEVER use a Oiuja board - never, ever, ever - in fact, I don't even walk down the aisle where they keep those things in any game store I'm in - am pretty sensitive to that).  This is simply creepy, atmospheric imagery - not evil.  Also on Board Game Geek I read that some of those who dislike this game have taken the drawstring back with the "eye-in-a-triangle" symbol and put it with their Arkham Horror game in order to keep the monster tokens in (due to the creepiness factor).

As I was packing this up, I noticed something on the box I hadn't seen before.  It seems that the closer you look the more you see.

So  .  .  .  anyway  .  .  .  if there are any other trivia-loving Gen-Xers out there who'd like to play this game, please let me know.  I'm sad that it is just sitting there gathering dust.  Also, if there are any Baby Boomers, Gen Y/Millennials, Gen Z, whatever, who are major trivia buffs across all generations who would like to play, please let me know!

(I just noticed that, after well over 100 games, this is my second game starting with a U, and it was just two games before that I posted my first U game at #125.  I feel like I'm on Sesame Street:  "The games this month have been brought to you by the letter U."  Or is that something people can't relate to these days either?)