Jabuka
Jabuka Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 100 dark beans
- 8 light-coloured, blank beans
- The Jabuka twistable alphabet: yellow letter beans (twistable, see Twisting Letters) and white letter beans (may not be twisted)
From the how-to-play page: Ages 8 and up. 2 to 8 players, 1-on-1 or in teams.
Setup
Spill the beans. Some beans will land face down, some face up. Leave them as they land. Make sure that no beans are sitting on top of one another.
Each player picks up 2 light-coloured, blank beans from the pile. Blanks can represent ANY single letter. Toss all extra blank beans back into the bag.
How to Play
Choose how to play: 1-on-1 or in teams (maximum 8 players per game).
Making Words - The Brew
When all players are ready, someone says "GO" and all players race to first shout out, then grab any word they can make, by looking only at the letters on face-up beans. Players may also think of a word, shout it out, then try to make it. You can shout out and make words at any time.
From the how-to-play page: words must have three letters or more.
Taking Words - The Grind
At any time, players may first shout out a change to an opposing player's word and then take it. The new word can be made in any of three ways:
- Twisting letters (see Twisting Letters below)
- Adding letters
- Rearranging letters
When changing an opposing player's word, players must use ALL beans in the word. No partial words or extra letters are to be left over.
Flipping Beans Over
The first flip can happen at any time after the beans are spilled.
Players may suggest a flip at any time by saying "Flip?" (the rules page gives "Say 'Flip'"). All players must be in agreement for this to take place. Once agreed, each player then flips two face-down beans at the same time (with teams, only one player per team does the flipping). Play then continues, with words being made and taken, until all the beans are flipped.
Ending the Game - The Final Flip
The first player that makes OR takes any word after the final flip must shout "JABUKA!" No other words may be made or taken after this, and the game ends with players counting their beans.
If only one bean remains in the final flip, any player may flip it over.
Alternatively, if all players agree that no words can be made or taken after the final flip, the game ends and scores are added.
Bean Count - Winning the Game
Players count all the beans used in their words. The player that used the most beans wins!
If there is a tie, the players involved in the tie-breaker each take 10 random, face-down beans. The player that makes the longest words with their beans wins. If there is still a tie, repeat, and the best of three wins.
Word Rules
- Keep all your words neatly in front of you. No covering or hiding beans.
- You may add letters to your own words, but you may NOT twist or rearrange your own letters.
- To help change and take words, you may use either blank beans or any face-up beans you see, provided you shout out the change before taking the bean(s) from the pile.
Twisting Letters - The Twistable Alphabet
Jabuka uses a rotating alphabet. Only the yellow letter beans are twistable.
- Yellow letter beans may double or triple as other letters. Example from the rules page: d = p when twisted.
- Yellow double-letter beans may also be twisted. Example from the rules page: po = od when twisted.
- White letters may NOT be twisted.
Chart of twistable letters
Editor's note: the rules page shows this chart as images only. The stylised, partly rotated letters below were read from the archived chart images. Where a glyph is not clearly identifiable it is described rather than named.
Single yellow letters (the letter on the bean → the letter it becomes when twisted):
- b → g
- u → n
- n → u
- d → p
- r → j
- h → y
- w → m
- m → E
- E → W (the three-way cycle chart shows M → E → W → M; the how-to-play page gives the example M = E = W when twisted)
- A rotated L-shaped glyph → a rotated V-shaped glyph (not identified with certainty)
- A rotated t-shaped glyph → a tilted t-shaped glyph (not identified with certainty)
Double yellow letters (two letters on one bean; the chart shows the twisted face):
- nd → pu
- ng → bu
- ob → go
- od ↔ po (the rules page gives po = od when twisted)
- og → bo
- op → do
- oy → ho
- or → jo
- om → wo
Non-twistable letters
These white letters may NOT be twisted. The chart lists them as single non-twistable letters:
- a, f, i, k, o, q, s, z