UWO
UWO Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
With your army of Gnorfs or Pnorfs, you must try to destroy all of your opponent's UMOs.
Game Components
- 40 Gnorf cards (green)
- 6 Gnorf energy cards (green)
- 40 Pnorf cards (purple)
- 6 Pnorf energy cards (purple)
Beginning the Game
The diagram shows the starting layout of the playing area. Each player chooses a colour of cards. Player A places his 6 energy cards in front of him (horizontally). Player B places his 6 energy cards vertically. In this way the playing area is 6 by 5 squares. Both players choose and place their 10 UMOs in the first two rows of the playing area; then they take the remaining cards and shuffle them. Each player has his own deck, which is laid out in front of him. After this, each player takes 3 cards from his deck into his hand. The Gnorfs begin the game first.
[The starting diagram from the source is not reproduced in this text.]
Course of the Game
Players take turns. On your turn you may play a card (perform a morph) and carry out one action. Or the other way round: carry out an action and perform a morph, or choose just one of these. It is also possible to do nothing on your turn. At the end of your turn you may draw cards up to 3 in your hand.
Morphing
a. Players may play a UMO card from their hand, placing it on top of one of their UMOs on the board. This process is called morphing. Such a UMO suddenly takes on a new form with different characteristics. During the game a UMO may morph an unlimited number of times, gradually building up a stack of cards on top.
A player may morph his UMO during his own turn or during an attack by another player. A UMO that was morphed during its owner's turn may move, but it may not yet attack.
b. Instead of morphing, you may discard one UMO card from your hand, placing it at the bottom of your deck, and draw a new card from the top. After using this option your turn ends immediately, so any action in the turn must be carried out before using it.
Types of Action
There are two types of action: movement or attack.
- If you choose movement, you move one of your UMOs to another square on the board. This may be done horizontally or vertically.
2a. If you choose attack, you may try to attack an opposing UMO. You may attack only those UMOs that lie horizontally or vertically within the line of sight of your attacking UMO. There must be no other UMOs on the line of sight between the attacking and the opposing UMO. If you attack successfully, the opponent's UMO is removed from the game.
2b. The opponent may defend himself against the attack by morphing, or by playing an evasion card. If a UMO is morphed during an attack, it may acquire only those properties that protect it from the attacker.
2c. Each player has 9 evasion cards bearing a picture of a crawling UMO. If you play an evasion card during an attack, the attack counts as failed. Playing an evasion card does not cost energy. A played evasion card is removed from the game immediately.
2d. If a defence was played successfully, the defending UMO may immediately try to counter-attack the attacking UMO. If you defend successfully against a counter-attack, you may attack again, and so on. A duel ends when one of the players stops attacking the other, or when his UMO is eliminated. A duel is considered finished during the turn of the player who began the attack.
2e. In some cases a UMO may be temporarily out of play during an attack (see the special UMO cards). This means that such a UMO loses its defence, is unable to attack, and no evasion card may be played against it. Any attack on this UMO may be fatal. To show that a UMO is temporarily out of play, you may turn its card sideways or place a marker on it.
UMO Cards
There are many kinds of UMO card. Each card prints the UMO's parameters.
- The footprint picture gives the movement parameters. The black figure "1" printed beside the footprint picture means that this UMO may move one square horizontally or vertically each turn.
- The bazooka picture gives the attack parameters. The black figure "1" printed beside the bazooka picture means that this UMO may attack no further than one square from its position, horizontally or vertically.
- The red figures show how many units of energy the players must spend to carry out a movement or an attack with the UMO.
- Beside the shield on a UMO card you can see small pictures of other UMOs. These are the kinds of UMO against which your UMO can defend itself; that is, it cannot be attacked by any of the UMOs pictured.
Energy Cards
Players must always spend energy to morph or to carry out an action. Morphing costs one unit of energy. The amount of energy that must be spent on an action is printed on the UMO card, and it differs for each particular UMO. Players must spend energy before carrying out the action. The picture at the bottom shows how the cards shift when 2 units of energy are spent.
On your turn you must pay energy. If a player decides not to carry out any action, in any case he pays one unit of energy. If a player runs out of cards in his energy row, his opponent may keep playing until his own energy row is also empty, even if this takes several turns in a row. In that case the other player may only respond by playing an evasion card, and he is not even allowed to draw cards into his hand.
If both players have no energy cards left face up in their energy rows, they take their energy cards back. After this the turn passes to the player whose energy row ran out first. If a player considers that he does not have enough cards in his energy row to achieve anything useful, he may decide to spend all of his remaining energy without carrying out any action.
End of the Game
If a player's deck runs out, the game continues. The player must play with cards from his hand and with the cards on the playing area. If a player has no cards left in his hand, the game still continues. A player is considered the winner only when he destroys the whole army of his opponent.
Special UMO Cards
Special UMO cards are divided into 3 kinds, each with its own rules. These cards carry a red exclamation mark.
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Bazooka UMO. The Bazooka UMO is extremely powerful. Unfortunately, its weapon, the bazooka, is very large and dangerous. Each time it fires, the Bazooka UMO is temporarily out of play until the end of your next turn.
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Rider UMO. Rider UMOs travel on Vlorfs, which are famous for their large feet, capable of crushing everyone in their path. A Rider UMO may trample over enemies, but it must stop on an empty square. It may move a maximum of 3 squares, which always costs 2 units of energy. It does not have to move only in a straight line, but it never moves diagonally. After a ride, the Rider UMO is temporarily out of play until the end of your next turn. When a Rider UMO has trampled over a UMO that was temporarily out of play, the time it is out of play starts counting again.
Rider UMOs cannot attack, so during a duel they can avoid an attack only by playing an evasion card. The duel then ends. The opponent's evasion card is not effective against this UMO. A Rider UMO cannot attack the Bazooka UMO, so it may not ride across that square. A Rider UMO also may not ride across friendly UMOs.
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Dynamite UMO. When a Dynamite UMO attacks, it explodes together with all UMOs that are located on the 8 squares around it, so it can be used only once per game. Regardless of others, a Dynamite UMO may attack immediately after morphing, if it has not moved in that turn. Evasion cards are not effective against this UMO.
Tip for the First Game
It is wise to play your first game with 8 UMOs instead of 10. In that case it will be easier to learn the rules and the possibilities. To do this, do not place UMOs in the corners of the starting position of the playing area.