- BGG rank
- BGG #168
- BGG rating
- 7.8
Planet Unknown
- 1–6 players
- 60–80 min
- Complexity 2.3/5
- 2022
- BGG rank
- BGG #7,260
- BGG rating
- 6.4
Umbrella
2024
Rules assistance for Umbrella
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 1–4 players
- 30 min
- 8+
- Complexity 1.6/5
For 1 player
Rules assistant for Umbrella
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
Umbrella is a board game released in 2024 for 1–4 players, 30 minutes per game, and ages 8 and up. It was designed by Benoit Turpin and Flavien Dauphin and its main mechanics are Tile Placement, Square Grid, and Grid Movement.
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About the game
A crowd of umbrellas throngs the streets of New York, and seen from the sky, the colors dance... In Umbrella, each player orchestrates a "dance" of umbrellas in a street crossing. You start with a 4x4 square of umbrellas, with four each of four colors. One umbrella of each color starts in a "waiting zone" to your left and right (with these being shared with the players sitting in those directions), a "waiting zone" in the center of play (shared by all players), and a "waiting zone" below your personal game board (shared by no one else). Start with two stacks of two figure tiles on your game board. Each figure tile shows you an arrangement of umbrellas in a single color that you want to create on your board. On a turn, take an umbrella from an adjacent waiting zone, then slide it onto your game board from the direction of that area, pushing out an umbrella into the waiting zone on the opposite side. If you've created a unicolor umbrella arrangement that matches a visible figure tile on your board, place a scoring token on an empty space of the matching color on your scoreboard, then pass the figure tile to the player on your left; they place this tile on their board in the first empty figure space, rotating the tile to match the depicted orientation. Continue taking turns in clockwise order until a player has no figure tiles in front of them, a player has ten scoring tokens on their scoreboard, or a player empties the pool of scoring tokens by taking the final one. Each other player takes one turn, then everyone scores their points: 2 points per scoring token, a variable number of points for groups of tokens (which differs per scoreboard), and points based on the number of umbrellas in their personal waiting zone.
Categories
Mechanics
Designers
Publishers
- HUCH!
- Pandasaurus Games
- GateOnGames
- Lumberjacks Studio
Questions and answers
Umbrella supports 1–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for Umbrella is 30 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists Umbrella for ages 8 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
Umbrella has a complexity rating of 1.6 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
Umbrella belongs to these categories: Abstract Strategy and Puzzle. Its main mechanics are Tile Placement, Square Grid, and Grid Movement. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of Umbrella are: Benoit Turpin and Flavien Dauphin. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists Umbrella as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.