1-4 Players | Ages 14+ | 20-40 Minutes
Pronounced “oo-sol-lee”, the game thematically captures the experience of trying to do Salah (Islamic prayer) on time throughout the day.
In Usolli, your goal is to collect beautifully hand-drawn cards that represent each Salah, then strategically discard them to score. Get the most points to win!
Usolli is built on the idea that passing on Islamic heritage and tradition can be a fun and engaging family experience.
Goal of the game
In Usolli, players strategically collect cards to perform the 5 daily Salah and obtain points. Certain actions like performing them on time or using Khusyu’ (focus) cards grants additional points. The player with the most points wins.
3 Modes: Basic, Advanced & Solo
The Basic Mode is great for first timers and beginners. There’s still quite a bit to learn gameplay-wise but the end result is a satisfying and replayable experience.
Advanced Mode provides more in-depth choices suitable for older players or those more strategically-inclined. For example, Musafir cards that allow you to combine prayers, Sunnah prayer cards for bonus scoring, and special movement rules that block other players.
The Solo Mode mimics a 2-player experience, where you are trying to score more points that the Ustadh (teacher)! Playable using Basic or Advanced rules.
Playful yet mindful
Usolli features beautiful hand-drawn art with minimal text to create an immersive playing experience. Created using modern board game design principles, Usolli creates pleasant memories associated with Salah and provides an opportunity for parents and educators to talk about the importance of this pillar of faith.
Even if you are not Muslim or have no knowledge about Islam, you can play this game for its unique thematic experience and strategic depth.
Game Credits
- Designer: Ahmad Salahuddin
- Artist: Siraj Fakhri
A Tz –
A Meaningful and Engaging Way to Learn Salah – Highly Recommended!
As a first-generation person with parents from a Muslim majority country who weren’t very religious, I never really learned much about Salah growing up. I got this card set to educate myself, and it has been a fun discovery. It effectively teaches the five daily prayers, wudhu (ablution), Sunnah practices, and the importance of focus (khushu) during prayer. The beautifully illustrated cards make learning about Salah both informative and visually appealing.
I love that the game offers three modes: basic, advanced, and solo. This flexibility allows players of different ages and skill levels to enjoy the game, but solo mode is my favorite and perfect for personal study. It takes only about 20–40 minutes to play a whole game, so you can fit a round in whenever you like. It combines learning with play, making the process of understanding Salah both fun and memorable. An invaluable tool in my own journey to understand and appreciate the significance of Salah.
The above review originally appeared on Amazon.
Aerjorhn Nezari –
Good, educational game
Fun game! And its educational about praying Salah. Would pick it up again. It teaches players how to pray and have fun learning it. The cards are of good quality.
The above review originally appeared on Amazon.
GhostTech –
Love the artwork, great engaging gameplay, perfect for Muslims and Non-Muslims!
This Islamic board game is a lot of fun for younger children who are learning about the religion but also for parents who want to make it fun.
The component quality is fine, standard wooden cubes and meeples with wooden chits, but the artwork is beautiful and engaging. The game is easy to pick up and play but fun to play again and again with a nice level of complexity that’s easy enough for kids and engaging for adults. I love the box it comes in as the artwork reminds me of a few modern board games I own so it fits nicely on my shelf. I also LOVE the prayer mat reference sheets as they look so cute!
My daughter has enjoyed playing this and we’ve had fun too. A great way to engage young Muslims (and non-Muslims) into the religion whilst having fun. For this price, you get a lot of game and that for me is a huge plus and great value for money as it’s something you can go back to and play again and again.
The above review originally appeared on Amazon.
Ian –
That rare thing – an educational game that’s good
Most ‘educational’ games are rubbish: roll a die, move that many spaces, “Oh, I have landed on ‘foo bar’ – I miss a turn / go forward four spaces etc etc”. This one has an actual game behind it.
Your meeple piece moves around a tableaux of cards, with the choice of moving according to the symbols on the card you’re at or paying to move elsewhere, collecting resources. In multi-player games, other players will be after the same resources.
This is in aid of being able to say your prayers, and this is the educational aspect: the names, order, and importance of the Islamic prayers will seep into you while playing this. As time goes on, you can catch up with prayers you missed, but you can’t say one too early.
The components are mostly very good: the box is a good size, the bits are wooden, there are some good quick reference cards, the rules are well illustrated and have a link to a video tutorial etc etc. The exception are the cards: although they’re clear and nicely illustrated, they are both very difficult to shuffle and a non-standard size. The latter means than none of the sleeves I have (which would solve the former) really fit them. I ended up resorting to putting them face down on the table and mixing them that way.
There are better games out there – if you just want to move around a board of cards collecting stuff, get Istanbul – but not many better educational ones.
The above review originally appeared on Amazon.