Günter Burkhardt is a renowned, European game designer who resides with his family in the Swabian Alb, a low mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Professionally trained as a teacher for social studies, geography, and math at the secondary school level, he began designing games in the early nineties. In 2004 he dedicated himself completely to the development of games while raising his children fulltime. He enjoys driving throughout the European countryside in his travel trailer, is an avid cyclist, and is particularly fond of table tennis. He also invests much of his time in his community, having co-founded Pro-ASLY, an office responsible for advising refugees and their relatives. They provide political advocacy and participate in policy-making bodies to safeguard these members.

Our favorite game of Günter’s has always been the simple, but intricate Vom Kap bis Kairo. An auction- bidding game about building train lines, it mixed old and new mechanics in a fresh manner. When we were presented with the opportunity to co-publish his latest game, Ulm, it was a pretty easy decision. Ulm similarly brings out a unique and clever mechanic that we believe helps this game stand apart. It allows each player to select choices each round that have a direct cause and effect with the actions they receive and what is subsequently made available to the other players. Essentially, you choose an action to perform and gain two other actions based on the placement of your action tile in a 3 x 3 grid. As a result, one action tile will be pushed out making it no longer available. So the grid of available actions is quite fluid and changes each turn, making this game very interesting.

When Günter was asked how he came up with a game relating to the historical city of Ulm, he alluded to living nearby and becoming friends with a local merchant within the city. It was important to this merchant that he could offer in his store a historically accurate game relating to his beloved home, Ulm. In exploring the rich history of this vibrant hub of merchants, he quickly saw the potential to share information about such a diverse city while introducing a new game mechanic.

Ulm is a city known in medieval times for processing textiles, salt, wood, wine, and iron, but it was also a central hub for religious works of art. Ulm is quite an enchanting city, with beautiful historic buildings, a lively port with many docks along the Danube, a gorgeous Cathedral in the center of town, and an impressive wall that encompasses the city proper These aspects all help give a diverse and vibrant background for the game. Curiously, there’s also a piece of the rich history of Ulm that plays a key part in this game — the famous Ulm sparrows!

The legend of the Ulm sparrows evolved around the development of the massive Cathedral. Here, the builders were posed with a problem of how to transport a massive support beam through the City Gate. One worker happened to observe a sparrow carrying a twig in its beak, and suddenly the answer was apparent. The architects credited the tiny birds with providing the solution, and since the sparrows have been synonymous with the story of Ulm, they were included in the game, as well.

The game Ulm is designed for 2-4 players and takes about 60-minutes. In this exciting strategy game, you will find yourself sending goods down the river on barges for trade and collecting sets of goods for victory points. You’ll attempt to control neighborhoods to gain trade advantages, and curry favor with various characters in the city to gain privileges and prestige. The opportunities available to you are extremely fluid, changing rapidly from turn to turn. Will you be able to rise to the top and become the most successful merchant in Ulm?

We are very excited to publish this game for the English-speaking market and look forward to many new fans discovering this interesting and fresh work of Günter Burkhardt.