Robert Abbott (game designer)

After that time, Abbott created various mazes, most of which appeared in the books SuperMazes and Mad Mazes. In 2008, RBA Libros published a Spanish version of his book Abbott's New Card Games, under the title Diez juegos que no se parecen a nada, which translates to Ten games that do not resemble anything. This version was not just a Spanish translation of the original, however; the most up-to-date rules for the various games were used; in addition, the rules for Eleusis Express and Confusion were included. In 2010, his Where are the Cows? maze was published by the Oxford University Press in the book Cows in the Maze. In 2011, his game Confusion was published by Stronghold Games. The game was named "Best New Abstract Strategy Game" for 2012 by GAMES Magazine.

Abbott initially created the game Confusion in the 1970s, and had it in finished form by 1980. The game was published in Germany by Franjos in 1992; Abbott was not satisfied with this version, however, due to several flaws in it. The rules were published in the Spanish translation of his book Abbott's New Card Games in 2008, but the game did not get published in North America until 2011. This Stronghold Games version was named "Best New Abstract Strategy Game" for 2012 by GAMES Magazine. The game is based on the idea of not knowing what your pieces are or what they do at the beginning of the game. His game Eleusis uses a similar idea, in that you do not know how cards are to be played at the beginning; George Brancaccio, someone Abbott worked with at the Bank of New York, commented on this, saying "In your game Eleusis, you don't know what cards can be played. Why don't you make a board game where you don't know how pieces move?" This is what gave Abbott the idea, and he began work on it soon after.

Two of his more popular creations include the chess variant Baroque chess (also known as Ultima) and Crossings, which later became Epaminondas. Eleusis was also successful, appearing in several card game collections, such as Hoyle's Rules of Games and New Rules for Classic Games, among others. In 1963, Abbott himself released a publication, Abbott's New Card Games, which included instructions for all of his card games, in addition to Baroque chess. Abbott also invented logic mazes, the first of which appeared in Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games column in the October 1962 issue of Scientific American. One of the more prominent of these is Theseus and the Minotaur, which was originally published in the book Mad Mazes. His game Confusion was named "Best New Abstract Strategy Game" for 2012 by GAMES Magazine.

Abbott was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and attended St. Louis Country Day School. Abbott went to Yale for two years, then attended the University of Colorado for another two, but never graduated. Soon after, Abbott moved to New York, where he and his games were discovered by Martin Gardner. In 1963, after Abbott's book, Abbott's New Card Games, received only moderate success, he "got tired of being poor" and moved back to St. Louis. There, he became a computer programmer at the Washington University Computer Research Laboratory. In 1965, he moved back to New York, where he continued to work as a computer programmer, mostly with the IBM 360 assembly language.

The first logic maze ever published, Traffic Maze in Floyd's Knob, appeared in the October 1962 issue of Scientific American in the Mathematical Games column.

Eleusis is probably Abbott's most prominent game, due to its metaphors and its suitability for use as a teaching tool. He invented it in 1956, and it appeared in his self-published book Four New Card Games. It was also published in the book Abbott's New Card Games a year later. Martin Gardner wrote about it in his Mathematical Games column in the June 1959 issue of Scientific American. Basically, the gameplay consists of the dealer choosing a secret rule dictating how cards are to be played, and the players playing cards in an attempt to figure out the rule through inductive reasoning. In 1973, Abbott decided to improve Eleusis; the result was considered to be far better than the original, with various improvements to the layouts and gameplay making it work quite a bit better. Martin Gardner wrote about this version in the October 1977 issue of Scientific American. Abbott also self-published a pamphlet in 1977 with the rules for the improved version, titled The New Eleusis. It has appeared in several card game collections, such as Hoyle's Rules of Games and New Rules for Classic Games, among others.

Abbott created all of his card games during the 1950s, starting with Babel in 1951, and ending with Auction in 1956. Soon after, he moved to New York City, where the rules for his game Eleusis were first published by Martin Gardner in his Mathematical Games column. Motivated by the article, Abbott self-published the rules for four of his card games in the book Four New Card Games in 1962, which he sold by mail. In 1963, the book Abbott's New Card Games was published by Sol Stein of Stein and Day, containing the rules for all eight of his card games and the rules for his chess variant, Baroque chess. In 1968, the publisher Funk & Wagnalls published a paperback edition of Abbott's New Card Games, in which Abbott slightly modified the rules of Baroque chess, but these changes never became popular. Around the same time that Abbott's New Card Games was published, Abbott sent his maze, Traffic Maze in Floyd's Knob, to Martin Gardner. This was the first logic maze to be published, appearing in Gardner's Mathematical Games column.

Robert Abbott (March 2, 1933 – February 20, 2018) was an American game inventor, sometimes referred to by fans as "The Official Grand Old Man of Card Games". Though early in his life he worked as a computer programmer with the IBM 360 assembly language, he began designing games in the 1950s.