Ulataksi

ULA is a Finnish acronym meaning "ultra-short wavelength" in relation to radio waves; the English equivalent is VHF or "very high frequency". The game name Ula-taxi (or Ulataksi) refers to the mode of communication between the taxi drivers and the central taxi station. The players are taxi drivers in an unnamed city. They draw assignment cards from a deck, take money (the amount depends on which city zone they are in and where they are going) and drive to the address on the card using movement points rolled with a six-sided die. Players decide beforehand whether the game ends for example when someone has completed five assignments or when the last card in the deck has been drawn and the action completed. During the game, the players are free to choose their routes in the streets, but movement has some restrictions: right-hand side traffic, stop signs, one-way streets etc. Violating the no-stopping sign or speed limits results in a ticket and the player loses money (for example rolling a 5 on a street with a speed limit of 3 means that the player pays 2). There are also tunnels and a ferry which give additional choices. If cars of two players collide, both go to the repair shop and the player who was moving at the time must pay a sum equivalent to the remainder of movement points on the die. Among the assignment cards there are a few cards on car maintenance, vehicle inspection and insurance which require payments and movements to appropriate locations. When the end conditions agreed upon are met, the player with the most money wins. The rules were written in May 1968. The original game board is a paper sheet glued on a thick two-fold cardboard. The city zone payment chart is thin cardboard as are the 70 cards and the small square ferry. The game includes 100 paper banknotes with denominations of one and five. For each player there is a small plastic car and an assignment marker. The first paragraph of the rules (translated from Finnish): "Ula-taxi is an interesting, surprising and educational game with which you will surely find entertainment. The basic idea of the game is simple, although the abundance of rules may at first feel discomforting. Once the players have become accustomed to the instructions, they will notice that the majority of them is based on general traffic regulations, the knowledge of which is nowadays common among the citizenship."