Game Review: The Abandons

Small games get small intros. Today, let’s look at The Abandons. It’s a solo game that takes just minutes to teach and play.

The Abandons
Publisher: Puzzling Pixel Games
Designer: Michael Blascoe
Artist: Michael T. Schroeder

Gameplay:

The goal is simple: escape the labyrinth. You will make your way through the halls and corridors of the maze, flipping over new cards to enter new rooms. If you make it all the way through the deck of cards without getting trapped by dead ends, you win. Some paths will allow you to discard cards from the game before flipping over the next room. Taking advantage of those can bring you a bit closer to the end.

There are also item cards you can draw. I like the way items are used. There are 5 or 6 generic Item cards in the deck. You may use 1 item card to use the Map. If you come to a room with multiple paths, use the Map to flip over multiple cards, seeing which card would be revealed behind each doorway. You can do this to avoid dead ends, gain additional items, or simply go into a room that will allow you to discard more cards before flipping over the next room. You may discard 2 item cards to use a Bomb as your item. A bomb can blow a room up if you run in to a dead end with nowhere to go, flipping a new card in the dead end card’s place. You may use 3 item cards to use the Magic Mirror item. Using the Magic Mirror transports you back to the beginning of the labyrinth so you can take a different path down an unexplored doorway.

There are also Stairways you can find and choose whether or not to go up to the next level of the labyrinth. This allows you to remove all card previously played, so there is no danger of a path leading you back in to a loop, or the corridors running in to a card you already placed with no viable route. Sometimes this can be beneficial. There are Collapse cards that force this effect to happen, as if the entire labyrinth has crumbled around you, and you must remove everything from play. This is terrible if you have plenty of open space in a direction you are headed, with multiple unexplored paths within reach.

If you do reach the end, there is a way to calculate your score, by counting the face up room cards you have showing on the table and adding points for unused items. So, while there is just a win/lose element to this game, you can compare scores between multiple play throughs.

Theme:

One thing that I’m terrible at is finding ‘easter eggs’. Often times if I’m watching a movie or playing a game and something is a reference to another character or a hidden piece of information, it goes right over my head. I’ll see it and be like, “Oh, that’s a funny coincidence.” When, in reality, it’s no coincidence at all, and it’s meant to be an homage. I notice the easter egg, but don’t realize the easter egg. My mind just thinks it’s just a colorful rock sitting in the grass.

While playing The Abandons, I thought to myself, “Hm. That’s interesting. The Magic Mirror takes you back to the entrance just like in Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, one of my favorite video games of all time. And there’s even bombs you can use like in Zelda. Neat.” In chatting with the designer, I found out that this game is inspired from the top down exploration of dungeons as seen in early Legend of Zelda video games. No wonder the mirror and bomb use reminded me of Zelda. It’s such an obvious connection that I chalked up to a random coincidence.

The game works well. There is a feeling of stress when you keep flipping over rooms with only one doorway, knowing that a dead end at any moment could mean ‘game over’. When you have multiple item cards, you feel invincible. The stairway cards present an interesting option. It’s a very simple game mechanically that plays well within its theme.

For Parents:

The reason I got this game is because I wanted something light and easy to play after putting the kids to bed. It’s perfect in that niche. The game takes just a few minutes to play through, flipping over rooms and discarding cards. After you win or lose, it’s so easy to set aside the start and end cards, shuffle the deck, and play again.

I left this game sitting out one day. While I was cooking dinner, my 8-year-old daughter asked what it was. I briefly explained it to her, and she wanted to try it. I shuffled it up, set out the starting card, and walked her through the first few turns. She loved it. I came back and forth from the kitchen where I was cooking and the dining room where she was playing. I had to go over how to use the items and that any item card can be used for any item, it just depends how many item cards you discard that determines which item you use. Before long my 6-year-old son was playing too. They kept taking turns seeing if either of them could escape the maze. It was short enough they didn’t get bored, and engaging enough that they wanted to keep trying.

Final Thoughts:

The Abandons is a great little game. The simple mechanics keep it light, but the randomness of the cards keeps from being too easy. Sometimes you will lose and there’s nothing you can do about it. But sometimes you can retrace a loss back to one pivotal decision. I’m not prone to analysis paralysis as a board gamer. In games with tough choices, I’m more likely to just make my choice, and barrel ahead. This game embraces being able to make quick judgments on the board state, saying, “I have more table space to explore if I take the left doorway, whereas the right doorway leads me back towards rooms I’ve already explored and I could get boxed in.” Let’s go left.

I love the replayability I mentioned above. It’s just so easy to reshuffle the cards and play again. Every time I get this game out, I probably play it a half dozen times, and the same goes for my kids.

The Abandons will probably become a staple when selecting games to travel with. It’s easy to teach, easy to play, and has entertainment value well beyond the size of its box.