Umbra Via

About this board game

Umbra Via is a path-building and secret-bidding board game for 2–4 players, with games lasting about 45 minutes. Players compete to control and complete cunning paths across a 4×4 grid, seeking to reclaim all of their valuable double-bidding cubes.

At the start of each round, four path tiles are revealed. Each tile shows a different section of a route, such as a straight line, curve, or T-junction. Players secretly draw three cubes from their bags and place them on their personal boards, assigning them to the tiles they want most.

Choices are revealed and the cubes are moved to the selected tiles. Players then secretly place and reveal three more cubes. The tile with the fewest cubes is resolved first, with later tiles following in order. The player who bid the most cubes on a tile places it into the grid, keeping its revealed orientation.

• Secret planning: Choose where to commit cubes before revealing your intentions.
• Tile control: Win the right to place tiles by bidding the most cubes.
• Path rewards: Completed paths return double-bidding cubes from the reserve according to their length and players’ contributions.

Some cubes count as two during bidding, adding extra weight to crucial decisions, but they are removed from the tile and returned to the bag before placement. When a path’s open ends are closed by the board edge or neighboring tiles, players count their cubes on it and receive rewards based on their standing.

Completed paths are cleared from the grid and placed in a discard pile, opening space for future tiles. In Umbra Via, careful bag management, hidden priorities, and timely control of the winding network lead to victory: the first player to retrieve all of their double-bidding cubes from the reserve wins.