Umbra Via
OVERVIEW
Just beyond the towering vines lies an ancient pathway into the unknown. Push back the thorn-riddled stocks to discover a clandestine garden, blooming with mysterious vigour. Vivid colours mark the way to intricate tiles zigging and zagging through the green. Within the flowers lies the key to greater meaning. An explanation for all things unknown...
In Umbra Via, players compete to control and complete the most cunning paths. Reach into your bag to select wooden flowers, then place them on your secret board in the order of the paths you want most. But when players reveal their choices, things get delightfully tricky. Experience the magic of Umbra Via and find out why this award-winning design belongs on any table.
In more detail, at the start of each round four tiles are revealed from the deck, with each tile showing part of a path, e.g., a straight line, a curve, or a T. Players secretly draw three cubes from their bag and place them on spaces on their personal board corresponding to these tiles. They all reveal their choices, move their cubes to the chosen tiles, then secretly place three more cubes, then move those cubes to the tiles. Whichever tile ends up with the fewest cubes on it is placed in the 4x4 grid first, maintaining the same orientation, by the player who bid the most cubes on that tile. (Some cubes in your bag are worth two cubes during the bidding phase, but are then removed from the tile and returned to your bag prior to placement.) Then the next tile is placed on the grid, and so on.
When you place a tile, if all the "open" ends of that path are cut off — whether by the edge of the board or other tiles — you count how many cubes each player has on the path. The player with the most placed cubes retrieves "double-bidding" cubes from the reserve equal to the number of tiles in the path, adding these cubes and all other cubes to their bag. The player with the second most cubes on the path retrieves half this many "double-bidding" cubes, and so on. After removing and returning all the cubes on this path, remove the tiles from the grid, placing them in a discard pile.
As soon as a player has retrieved all of their "double-bidding" cubes from the reserve, they win!
Your payment information is processed securely. We do not store credit card details nor have access to your credit card information.
All online orders are processed from our dedicated warehouse. We take great care to ensure your ordered items are securely packed before shipment. Whenever possible, we reuse cardboard boxes from our suppliers, though we also utilise new boxes and wrapping materials when necessary.
For orders placed before 1:30 PM, Monday through Friday, we aim to dispatch them on the same day. If this isn’t feasible, they will be sent out on the next working day. Orders placed outside of our office hours (Monday to Friday) will be dispatched the following working day.
We offer free delivery on orders totaling £65 or more. For orders under £65, delivery charges are as follows:
• £4.50 for Royal Mail Tracked 48 (delivery within 2-3 business days)
• £6.00 for Royal Mail Tracked 24 (delivery within 1-2 business days)
Please note that shipping times are estimates and not guaranteed. Occasionally, unforeseen circumstances beyond our control may cause postal delays. In such cases, we cannot accept responsibility and will not issue refunds for shipping fees.
At this time, we do not offer shipping outside the UK.
At checkout, you will have the option to collect your order from our cafés in either Oxford or Bath, allowing you to avoid the shipping charge. We will notify you by email once your order is ready for collection. Please allow up to 3 days for orders to be available at the Oxford location and up to 7 days for the Bath location.
Orders will be held for a maximum of 21 days before being returned to our warehouse.
Take advantage of our Rewards Program and begin earning Meeple Stars for exciting savings!
How to Earn Meeple Stars
Collect Meeple Stars by participating in any of the following activities:
- +150 Meeple Stars: Create an account
- +3 Meeple Stars: For every £1 spent (VAT excluded – see notes)
Redeem Your Meeple Stars
Collect Meeple Stars to unlock real savings:
- 300 Meeple Stars: £5 Store Credit
- 500 Meeple Stars: £10 Store Credit
- 1000 Meeple Stars: £25 Store Credit
- 1500 Meeple Stars: £50 Store Credit
Important Notes:
1. Meeple Stars can be earned on retail merchandise purchased through both our webstore and café shop.
2. Most of our prices include VAT at 20%. Meeple Stars are not earned on the VAT
portion of the price. For example, if you buy a game for £50, you’ll earn Meeple Stars on the net amount of £41.67 (the remaining £8.33 goes to HMRC), which would give you 125 Meeple Stars.
3. Cover charge payments and food and drink purchases at the café do not qualify for
Meeple Stars.
4. Meeple Stars can be redeemed either during webstore checkout or when purchasing games
at the café. Each discount can only be applied to a single purchase. If the value of the item is less than the discount amount, the remaining balance will be forfeited.
5. Discounts cannot be used for shipping costs, only for merchandise.
Start earning and redeeming Meeple Stars today for fantastic rewards!