Tabletop Game Review: Abducktion – A Weirdly Strategic Duck Kidnapping Game

It’s been a while, but I have a fun new game to review and recommend for those of us who use table top games in our programming or circulate games.

Abducktion came to my attention through a targeted ad because I buy a lot of rubber ducks for my oldest child; it’s her “thing”. We all have a thing, and rubber ducks are one of hers. And after seeing this game for a while, she was gifted it this past Christmas. This is one of our favorite games to play now. Please note the basic concept is: what if ducks were abducted by UFOs? You can’t go wrong with that starting premise.

The basic premise is this: A UFO has come and abducts the ducks – abducktion, get it? – and your goal is to use the Action Cards to rearrange your ducks to match a pattern on a totally different card, called Formation Cards. Each time you match the pattern first, you get the card. Each Formation Card has a point value; harder formations have higher point values. When all 12 formation cards are pulled from the center of the game, the person with the most points is the winner. So you have to pay attention and make some strategic choices along the way.

Now, let’s talk basics . . .

Each player is given a “pond”, a handful of ducks, and 3 Action Cards to start their game play.

In the middle of your game space, you will make a pile of 12 Formation Cards and turn the first 3 over for everyone to see. These cards are your goal. The Action Cards are how you move your ducks to achieve said goal.

Below you see 2 ponds with ducks set up and ready to play, a draw pile of Action Cards, and the Formation Cards set up and ready to begin.

When it’s your turn, you can use your Action Cards to do things like rotate your ducks counter clockwise, for example, to try and get them into position to match one of the formations on the Formation Cards. You can use all 3 of your cards if necessary. Some of the cards allow you to move your ducks. Others allow you to sabotage opponents by removing certain color ducks, for example. Some sample Action Cards are below for you to see.

After you finish your turn, if you complete a formation and take that Formation Card, you put those ducks back into the UFO and get new ducks to place on your pond. You also draw new Action Cards. The duck/UFO combo is a lot of fun. Stellar concept. You can read the complete rules and game play here: https://content.cmpl.org/bg/AbDucktion.pdf

I highly recommend this game. We bought the expansion pack so we can have a few more players. We played with people from ages 15 to 75 and everyone agreed it was quick, easy and – most importantly – fun. This would make for fun programming, to just have available in a space where you do gaming, or for circulation.

Thank you for ignoring my old and cracked table that we play games on.

Filed under: Board Games, games