Robert Abbott (game designer)
Robert Abbott | |
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logic mazes and creation of several games |
Robert Abbott (March 2, 1933 – February 20, 2018[
Two of his more popular creations include the
Biography
Abbott was born in
Abbott created all of his card games during the 1950s, starting with Babel in 1951,
After that time, Abbott created various mazes, most of which appeared in the books SuperMazes and Mad Mazes.
Logic mazes
Abbott was the inventor of a style of
Traffic Maze in Floyd's Knob
The first
The maze looks like a street grid, with arrows pointing down various roads at each intersection. When one comes to an intersection, only arrows leading from the road you are on to another road can be followed. One must continue in this fashion, following the arrows at the intersection, until the end is reached. When you come to an intersection from one direction, you have different options for which road to take than you would coming into the intersection from another direction; therefore, this can be defined as a "multi-state" or "logic" maze.[9]
Where Are the Cows?
Where are the Cows? was one of Abbott's most difficult mazes. It first appeared in his book SuperMazes. Abbott warns readers that it "may be too difficult for anyone to solve."[24] Since then, it has also appeared as the titular maze in the book Cows in the Maze.[20]
The complexity in Where are the Cows? includes self-reference, changing rules, and flow charts. It is also worded so as to provoke confusion between an object (such as red text), a reference to an object (such as the word "red"), and even more subtle references (the word "word"). The maze ends up being so complicated that it can even be difficult to work out the next move, let alone the end. In this maze, you have to use two hands, each starting at a different place. The instructions in one box might have to do with the box that the other hand is in, boxes you have already left, or complex combinations of the two.[25]
Theseus and the Minotaur
Theseus and the Minotaur is another of Abbott's better-known mazes. It first appeared in his book Mad Mazes. Like Where are the Cows? in SuperMazes, Abbott said that this "is the hardest maze in the book; in fact, it is possible that no one will solve it."[10] Since then, several different versions of it have appeared, made by others, following the same theme, both on paper and in electronic forms.[26]
Games
Abbott has created several games, including card games, board games, and one equipment game. As a whole, his games are not of particular fame, although they have some unique elements that set them apart from mainstream games.[13] For instance, the card game Metamorphosis is a complex trick-taking game. As you play the game, the rules change three times, so it is as if you are playing four different games that are threaded together.[27]
Baroque chess
Baroque chess, or Ultima, was the only board game in the book Abbott's New Card Games. Abbott's reasoning for including this non-card game in a card game book was that chess pieces are as plentiful as playing cards, and in this book, he wanted to introduce new games that did not require special equipment. Abbott's friends, once he started teaching it to them, began to call the game "Abbott's Ultima," which he did not like at all.[28] However, the publisher, Sol Stein, preferred the name "Ultima," so that is the title that was used in the book.[16]
Eleusis
Confusion
Abbott initially created the game Confusion in the 1970s, and had it in finished form by 1980.
Published work
- Four New Card Games (1962)
- Abbott's New Card Games (1963, again in paperback in 1968)
- The New Eleusis (1977)
- Mad Mazes (1990)
- SuperMazes (1997)
- Auction 2002 and Eleusis (2001)
- Diez juegos que no se parecen a nada [Ten games that do not resemble anything] (2008, translated by Marc Figueras)
Notes
- ^ a b Saxton, Cliff (Fall 2008). "Simply A-MAZE-ing". MICDS Class Notes. 16 (2): 11.
- ^ a b Abbott 1962, p. 53
- ^ a b Morehead 2001, p. 67
- ^ a b Schmittberger 1992, p. 74
- ^ a b c Abbott 1963
- ^ a b Abbott, Robert. "Robert Abbott's Games". Retrieved 26 July 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Pegg, Ed. "Ed Pegg's Math Games". Retrieved 16 September 2010.
- ^ .
- ^ a b c d e Abbott 1997, pp. vii-ix
- ^ a b Abbott 1990, pp. 34-35
- ^ a b c "GAMES Games of the Year". Games Publications. Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
- ^ Buxbaum, David E. (May 1979). "A Genius for Games". Mensa Bulletin (226).
- ^ a b c d Abbott 2001, p. 1
- ^ .
- ^ Abbott 1968, pp. 121-138
- ^ a b Abbott, Robert. "Ultima". Retrieved 19 September 2010.
- ^ Abbott 1997
- ^ Abbott 1990
- ^ a b Abbott 2008
- ^ a b Stewart 2010, pp. 179-193
- ^ a b Abbott, Robert. "Confusion". Retrieved 28 October 2011.
- S2CID 239633118.
- ^ Abbott 1997, pp. 18-19
- ^ Abbott 1997, p. xiii
- ^ Abbott 1997, pp. 42-43
- ^ Abbott, Robert. "Theseus and That Pesky Minotaur". Retrieved 17 October 2010.
- ^ Abbott 1963, pp. 55-59
- ^ Abbott 1963, p. 121
- ^ .
- ^ a b Abbott, Robert. "Eleusis and Eleusis Express". Retrieved 19 September 2010.
- ^ Abbott 1962
- ^ Abbott 1977
- ^ a b Martin, Eric W. "Interview: Robert Abbott Clears the Air about Confusion". Retrieved 28 October 2011.
References
- Abbott, Robert (1962). Four New Card Games. Self-published. ASIN B000WDSW7S.
- —— (1963). Abbott's New Card Games. Stein and Day. ASIN B0018KQA46.
- —— (1968). Abbott's New Card Games. Funk & Wagnall. ASIN B000GRSA1S.
- —— (1977). The New Eleusis. Self-published. ASIN B000K7BCU0.
- —— (1990). Mad Mazes. Bob Adams, Inc. ISBN 978-1-55850-142-3.
- —— (1997). SuperMazes. Prima Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7615-0701-7.
- —— (2001). Auction 2002 and Eleusis. Self-published.
- —— (2008). Diez juegos que no se parecen a nada [Ten games that do not resemble anything] (in Spanish). Translated by Marc Figueras. RBA Libros. ISBN 978-84-9867-185-8.
- ISBN 978-0-521-75610-5.
- ISBN 978-0-451-20484-4.
- ISBN 978-0-471-53621-5.
- ISBN 978-0-19-956207-7.