Fire up your stalls under a full moon in a rustling forest! Ramen, takoyaki, miso soup, and more sizzle as you race to serve dishes packed with umami — that savory taste that makes mouths water and crowds gather.
In Umami, you will whip up the tastiest dishes possible of just three ingredients each. Spot a better bite? "Borrow" it off a rival's plate! Forest denizens have special tastes, so match your ingredients to their appetites to win them over!
In more detail, start with four ingredient cards in hand; ingredients range from 1-9, with each card also having a star, steal, or blossom icon. Four ingredient cards are in a face-up market. Each player has a secret "favorite" card, with four favorites in a face-up market; each favorite shows three cards that make up the dish they want, e.g., two medium (4-6) and a high (7-9), with the highest total possible.
On a turn, play one ingredient from your hand and another from the market, creating over time at most five dishes of three cards each. (You can replace a card in a dish, if desired.) Once per turn, you can discard a card with a steal icon to take an opponent's ingredient and add it to your dish; they draw and play a replacement card. As soon as you qualify for a favorite on display, place it in front of that dish, which keeps others from stealing your ingredients...although they can still steal the favorite by having a dish that better meets their tastes or has more blossoms in it.
When the last favorite is claimed or someone has a full table, everyone reveals their secret favorite, then run through one more round, after which the player with the most stars — summed from ingredients played and favorites claimed — wins.
