Cost:$24.95 + 3.00 shipping From: The Incredible Game Company, 12413 Cullman Ave., Whitter CA, 90604 Players: 2 or more teams Playing Time: 30-60 minutes Type of game: Party Complexity: 7 Skill level: 9 Chance Level: 3 Overall: 8 Reviewed by: Peter Sarrett, Issue 1.1, June 1992 NOTE: This game is now out of print.
Abstracts lives up to its name, requiring players to make abstract connections where none seem to exist. Players try to identify people, places, and things based on clues given by their teammates. One person on each team gives clues and the rest of the team tries to guess what the clues are referring to. The catch is that each team has three Clue Cards that contain questions of the form, "If you were a ______, what would you be?" The blank might be FOOD, SONG, COLOR, STORE IN A MALL, CARTOON CHARACTER, etc. Without any prompting from the clue-giver, the team must select a question to ask the clue- giver, who then answers with a clue that he hopes will lead his team to the correct person, place, or thing. If the team guesses incorrectly, the next team gets to ask their clue-giver a question for the same person, place, or thing. Teams earn a token of the appropriate category for correctly identifying the answer. If no tokens are available, the team may take one from another team. The first team to acquire tokens for all three categories is the winner. Abstracts is not a fast game (each team gets a minute per turn) and because of that works best with only two or three teams-- although these teams may be of any size. The game encourages creative thinking, and I've been in some games with absolutely brilliant clues. For example, trying to get his team to guess CHUCK BERRY, a friend answered the question, "If you were a brand name, what would you be?" with Maybeline. And, for THE SISTINE CHAPEL, I once answered, "If you were a toy, what would you be?" with "a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle doll (Michaelangelo)." Admittedly not for everyone, Abstracts is a great game for people who don't mind doing a little thinking. It may be pretty hard trying to find a food for "Venus" or a piece of furniture for "Humphrey Bogart," but it's a lot of fun to try.