Kosmos native-art line

Keltis is a multi-player game based on Lost Cities, with some rules changes, later published with Knizia's original rules and theme as Lost Cities: The Board Game.

Players play cards to move their playing pieces along stone paths. Cards show one of five different colors/symbols, each corresponding to one path; in addition, each card shows a number (0-10, twice each). In each color, each player can play his cards in either ascending or descending order. As in Lost Cities, it's better to concentrate on a few paths since the final spaces on a path grant high points, but ending early gives negative ones.

The active player plays one card (out of a hand of eight) or discards one, then moves the corresponding playing piece on the path. Many of the spaces have a token that grants some bonus: either immediate points (counted on the scoring track), an extra move on a path, or wishing stones that are needed at game end to avoid negative points.

The game ends when five playing pieces (from any combination of players) have reached the seventh (or higher) space on their respective paths. Now, scoring happens:

Pieces that moved only 1-3 steps earn negative points (-4, -3, -2).
Pieces with 4+ steps earn points (1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10).
One piece of each player twice the height of other pieces scores double, either positive or negative.
Holding fewer than two wish stones earns negative points (-3 / -4), while a collection of five or more stones yields a bonus of 10 points.

All endgame points are added to any scored during the game. The player with the highest score wins!

Primary differences between Lost Cities: The Board Game and Keltis:

1. In LCBG you play 3 rounds, scoring at the end of all 3 for the monuments you collect. (Normal scoring occurs each round.) In Keltis, you only play 1 round, and score everything each round. This is not just a rule difference, as the scoring is different for the monuments/stones based on the number collected.

2. In Keltis, you may play your cards in either order, high to low, or low to high. In LCBG, you must go low to high.

Note: the rules for LCBG have the Keltis rules as variants, and have the board elements necessary for #1 above. Keltis does not have the rules nor board elements to play LCBG.

There are more differences that are non-substantive. (Art, points in LCBG multiplied by 5, etc.)

The board of this game consists of six rows. On each row, twelve gems (of several colors) are arranged. Each player places his pawn in front of one of those rows.

Each player receives a playing card on which a shape consisting of several squares is depicted. Each player also gets 12 tiles consisting of 2, 3, 4, or 5 squares in some shape. By means of a dice roll, each player is assigned three or four tiles that he has to use to fill the shape on his card.

The players try to solve their own "puzzle." The race is timed by a sand glass. The outcome of this race determines the play on the main playing board.

The player who was the first to solve his puzzle in time gets to move his pawn up to three rows, the player who came second may move two rows, and the player in third may move a single row. The players may collect two gems from the front of the row their pawn is on, so the more rows you can move, the more control you have on what color gems you can collect.

After collecting gems, each player receives a new playing card with a new puzzle to solve, and a new round starts. In total, nine rounds are played.

In the end, the player who has collected the most gems in a single color wins the game.

Re-implemented as:

Ubongo BMM
Ubongo extrem
Ubongo - Das Duell
Ubongo - 3D (2009)