Abducktion Review by E.V.

A Weirdly Strategic Duck Kidnapping Game. Abducktion is a game for grownups (and smart kids) that takes only 15-25 minutes to play but is still strategic enough to make winning feel really, really good. Ducks need to be abducted in specific formations, and you’ll take turns using spatial logic and cunning to rearrange your ducks before your opponents to win!

Review:

Abducktion is a simple game to set up and is easy to learn, it also engages your mind in strategic thinking. 

The objective is to re-arrange your ducks in their ponds to match formation cards, when all the formation cards have been collected the person to score the highest wins the game. It’s a quick set up, everyone randomly selects 10 ducks from the UFO and places them on their board, 1 duck per pond. Shuffle and randomly select 12 formation cards to create the formation deck and flip over the top 3 cards, visible for all to see. You start with 3 action cards in your hand and using these cards you can manipulate and re-arrange your ducks sometimes even messing with an opponents board and their ducks as well. Once you’ve played all 3 action cards or you’ve matched a formation card and you’ve collected it, your turn ends. All the ducks move downstream and you refill any empty ponds from the UFO. Make sure there are 3 formation cards flipped up, you draw up to 3 action cards in your hand and then the player to your left goes next.

This intergalactic abduction of ducks is a hilarious theme which is why it initially caught my eye, and I was not disappointed in the least. 

My boys enjoy collecting rubber ducks, and racing them for fun so I thought this would be a game enjoyable for the entire family. My 9 year old son is incredibly smart, his brain is wired to think logically and strategically so it was no trouble for him at all to pick up on the rules and to “see” which moves he must do and in what order to be able to collect a formation card. My 5 year old required assistance reading the cards, and planning out his moves in the proper order of operation to match a formation card, but he’s picking up on it quickly and soon enough he’ll have the cards memorized to be able to play on his own as well. I like the replay value to this game, there are 24 formation cards, and for normal game play only 12 are randomly selected for the game, this rule however can be altered, you can increase the number of formation cards to 16, 20 or even all 24 cards are for a longer game. You can also increase or decrease the difficulty of the game, removing all cards with a value of 4 or lower will create more of a challenge, and if you remove all point values 6 and higher it will decrease the difficulty level. The rules are clear and precise and your “supervisor” Dave has some added notations that create a more pleasant and interactive feel to the game. The artwork is fantastic and the materials and ducks are very durable. I also like how it’s a standard sized game box but the expansion pack fits perfectly inside as well. Overall this game is a “quacking” good time and when it comes to bang for your “duck” this game fits the bill.

Components: 10/10

Theme / Art: 10/10

Gameplay: 10/10

Fun: 9/10

Replay ability: 9/10

After reading E.V. ‘s review, if this sounds like a game for you at the time of this posting Abducktion is available for purchase. Check it out and get yours HERE.

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