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Upthrust box art
1987 Ranked #19,336

Upthrust

This abstract jumping game has players move pieces up scoring levels and finish with the highest total when movement ends. The jump distance depends on the departing level’s occupancy, creating tightly constrained positional choices.

Abstract Abstract Strategy Grid Movement Square Grid

Players

1-4

Play time

Not listed

Age

8+

Complexity

1.25/5

Rating

6.04

Harder to teach Highly interactive Deep strategy

Overview

At a glance

Is this game right for my group?

ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.

Teachability 2.4/5

Harder to teach

Replay value 3.9/5

High replayability

Interaction 3.7/5

Highly interactive

Player scaling 4.1/5

Scales well

Strategic depth 4.7/5

Deep strategy

See all 5 specifications

How it plays

How does it play?

Upthrust is a jumping game where you try to jump your pieces into higher scoring levels. The board is a pegboard consisting of 4 columns and 11 levels.

Core mechanisms

Key systems that shape the decisions players make.

Read the full game description

Upthrust is a jumping game where you try to jump your pieces into higher scoring levels. The board is a pegboard consisting of 4 columns and 11 levels. Each player starts with 4 pieces each in a different column at the lowest 4 levels of the board. On your turn, one of your pieces can jump up the number of levels (while remaining in the same column) equal to the number of pieces on the level it jumps from. However: - Only one piece may occupy each space. - The highest piece of any color may not make a single level jump. - In the non-scoring levels, two pieces of the same color cannot be at the same level. The game ends when no player can legally move or if there 2 pieces left in the non scoring levels. Highest total score wins. This was originally published as a solitaire game titled Score Up, but the gameplay is almost identical. (In the original version two pieces of the same color can never be in the same row.)

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Type

1

Category

1

Mechanism

2

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Editions

Language and publisher variants currently recorded in the catalog.

Edition Year Language Publisher / Region
No editions imported yet.

Player resources

Rulebooks, player aids, FAQs, and solo resources.

No files imported yet.

Game and edition data

All specifications (5)

Play and group

Players
1–4
Best with
2–4
Play time
10 min
Age
8+
Complexity
1.3/5
Credits and catalog connections

Credits

Designers

1
Sid Sackson

Publishers

3
GAMES Magazine Great American Trading Company Lagoon Games

Linked items

No published linked games yet.