Robert Abbott’s Games    

Recent news, August 10, 2008:


Diez Juegos is a new Spanish book that has almost all my games. It also has an Introduction titled Bob Abbott, ese desconocido, which translates to Bob Abbott, that unknown man. Marc Figueras, who worked on the English-to-Spanish translation for the book, did a Spanish-to-English translation for me of the Introduction, and I included it here. At first I was disconcerted to be that unknown man, but I had to admit it is true. I no longer create new games, I don’t even play games very much, and most game players don’t know about me.

The Introduction was written by Oriol Comas i Coma, who also put together this book. Oriol is, I believe, our foremost authority on games. He writes in Catalan, Spanish, and French, so he is not known here in America. He has long advocated my games, and even my mazes, with the result that I’m better know in Barcelona than anywhere in America. Oriol also advocates the games of Sid Sackson, Alex Randolph, and Claude Soucie. They were all part of what I see as a golden age of games.

Diez Juegos has all my old card games, but it isn’t just a translation of my 1963 card game book. It has the latest versions of the games, and it has Eleusis Express by John Golden. Oriol also included the rules to Confusion. I guess he figured his readers would be interested in the concept behind this game, even though they would have to build their own sets to play the game.

 



Recent news, July 21, 2008:


: This is a great two-player board game that was invented by Don O’Brien. He originally called it Robot Rampage. I became involved with the game, mostly to write the description and to act as agent (a task for which I am ill suited). However, the game is now available from Kadon under the name MANOOVER. You can read the rules on the Kadon site. Kadon also has a pointer to my description of the game, which is here.

 

  


Information about my games:

 

I thought that the best way to organize this page was to list the games I invented. If I have more information about any of these games, then the name of the game will serve as a link to the information. Following the list of my games, there are some other notes about games.

My eight card games, along with the board game Ultima, appeared in my 1963 book, Abbott’s New Card Games. Three of these games can only be found in that long out-of-print book, so they are pretty much unavailable (except for the Spanish versions in Diez Juegos). I indicate which these three games are. Some day I hope to at least copy their rules and put them on this site.

Eleusis and Variety both appeared in the latest edition of Hoyle’s Rules of Games; so I have a separate page about that book. That page also has a 1963 review of Abbott’s New Card Games.


Card Games I Invented:

 

Eleusis — and there is also Eleusis Express by John Golden

Babel:  Only in Abbott’s New Card Games

Leopard

Auction

Variety

Metamorphosis:  Only in Abbott’s New Card Games

Switch  (Milton Bradley did an equipment version of this called High Hand)

Construction:  Only in Abbott’s New Card Games


Board Games I Invented:

 

Epaminondas (also called Crossings)

Ultima (also called Baroque). Plus there are Ultima puzzles.

Confusion


An Equipment Game I Invented:

 

What’s That on My Head? (known in Germany as Egghead)


Games I Did Not Invent But Which Have My Name on Them:

 

This has been a source of some confusion. There are two games in this category: Code 777 and Genius Rules.


Visits to Jupiter:

 

No, “Visits to Jupiter” is not the name of a space-themed board game. Jupiter, Florida, is the town where my wife Ann and I live. There’s not a lot of intellectual stimulation here, so if someone from the world of games visits, I’m apt to take a lot of pictures and add a page about the visit to my web site.

During 2005 and 2006, we had visits from Kate Jones of Kadon.

In August, 2005, we had a visit from Oriol Comas i Coma, the game inventor and writer.


And What Else:

 

This site has an essay of mine from 1975 called “Under the Strategy Tree.” It’s about the concept of “clarity” in games.

Here is an interview that Oriol Comas i Coma conducted with me. After translation, it became part of an article he wrote for the French magazine Jeux sur un Plateau. It appeared in their February, 2006 issue.

There is an entry about me in the Wikipedia encycopedia.

For the last fifteen years I’ve mostly been involved with mazes or, more specifically, a concept I called “mazes-with-rules” or “logic mazes.” For more about these mazes, see www.logicmazes.com.

I have a game booklet you can order from me. See my mail-order page.

And, finally, there is a section of maze and game links.

To send me an e-mail, please use this address: