UMATAKA 2024

UMATAKA is a board game themed around the Jomon period in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, a region known for its distinctive "flame pottery" artifacts. Players take on the roles of family leaders among the Jomon people, competing through the four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—to earn points by crafting pottery, hunting, and cooking nuts. The region's historical trade value of jade also plays a crucial role, as players must also gather this precious material.

UMATAKA utilizes a worker placement system where players use human and dog pieces as workers, placing between one and four workers in designated spaces. Dogs, which are relatively easier to acquire during the game, must work alongside humans due to several restrictions. After placing workers and taking actions, the number of workers influences the advancement of a piece on the "Exploration Track." The action located at the space where this explorer piece stops is also executed. This mechanism forces players to think strategically about the number of workers they deploy, and sometimes strategically placing extra workers can provide an advantage in the game.