Abluxx

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Abluxx
Game data
author Wolfgang Kramer , Michael Kiesling
graphic Oliver Freudenreich
publishing company Ravensburger Spieleverlag
Publishing year 2014
Art Board game
Teammates 2 to 5
Duration 20 minutes
Age from 10 years on

Awards

Abluxxen is a card game by game designers Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling . The game for two to five players, ages ten and up, was published by Ravensburger Spieleverlag in 2014 and in the same year won the Austrian Spiel der Spiele prize , the à la carte card game prize for the best card game of the year and the Essen spring for the best game instructions.

Theme and equipment

The game is a classic card game with a hand of 110 cards. There are 104 colored number cards of eight cards each with the numerical values ​​from 1 to 13, five black jokers ("X") and one colored Luxx card. All cards with the exception of the joker are illustrated with a portrait of a lynx on the front and labeled with the corresponding numerical values.

Style of play

In the game Abluxxen , the players try to lay out as many cards as possible and at the same time have as few cards in their hand at the end of the game. Cards that are laid out give you plus points at the end, cards that remain in your hand minus points. During the game, however, the players can "luxx" each other already laid out cards and take them into their own hands and play them again later. As soon as a player discards the last cards, the game is over and it is settled. The player with the most points wins.

Preparations

At the beginning of the game, a starting player is determined who receives the Luxx card as a marker. The dealer shuffles all remaining cards and distributes 13 cards in hand to each player. The remaining cards are put in a draw pile in the middle. Then the top 6 cards are placed face up next to each other next to the pile.

Course of the game

Move
  • Play cards
  • if possible, remove cards

Starting with the marked starting player, all players play in turn in clockwise order. In his turn, each player places any card or several cards with the same number in front of him; the joker can be used as a substitute for any card or as a separate card with a value of 14 and thus the highest card. If there are already cards there, the new expenses are placed on top of the older ones, regardless of the value and number of cards. The player then compares his new display in turn with the top displays of the other players and checks whether other players have top displays with the same number of cards but lower value. In this case he may “abluxx” the cards, otherwise his turn is over and the Luxx card is given to the next player.

Abluxx
  • Active player picks up the cards or
  • Cardholder picks up the cards or
  • Cardholder discards the cards,
  • then the cardholder draws the corresponding number of cards

If other players have expenses with the same number of cards with a lower value, these are definitely "paid out" to them. The active player decides whether to take the respective cards on display into his own hand or leave them to the owner of the display, who in turn can take them back into hand or discard them. If the active player takes over the display or if the player discards the cards, he must draw the same number of cards of his choice from the open draw cards or from the draw pile and take them into his hand, after which the display is increased to 6 cards again. If the active player can “abluxx” cards with several players, this happens one after the other in a clockwise direction.

End of game and settlement

The end of the game can be reached in two ways. It ends immediately when a player plays the last cards in his hand or the draw cards are completely used up. After the last display there is no longer any “luxxt”.

In both cases there is an evaluation. The number of all cards in the display of the respective player is counted and counted as plus points, the number of cards in hand is deducted as minus points. This can also result in a negative value. The winner is the player with the highest score. If several rounds are planned, the values ​​can be noted and added up at the end.

Abluxx for 2 players

When playing with two players, the variant Abluxxen Duel can be played, which differs from the standard variant through the addition of a shadow player, i.e. an imaginary third player.

At the beginning of the game, both players get 2 jokers in hand and add 11 more cards to the cards in hand. The shadow player receives 13 cards, which are laid out face up and sorted by value. All 13 cards and jokers from the hand of the shadow player are placed on the lowest cards of the open supply and pairs are formed, after which the shadow hand is replenished to 13 cards. Again, 13's and jokers are transferred to the supply or, if this already only contains pairs, removed from the game. If a player draws cards from the supply in the game, pairs count as single cards.

As in the basic game, the players play cards or combinations one after the other, the shadow player does not play anything and luxxt, according to the others, does not play any cards. If a player "abluxxts" cards from the open hand to the shadow player with his display, he must take them into his own hand. If several cards or combinations are possible, he has to choose a combination to pick up. Then the shadow hand is replenished to 13 cards. If a player can “abluxx” cards from both the shadow player and the other player, he always starts with the shadow player.

The end of the game and the scoring correspond to those of the basic game.

Reception and evaluation

reviews
Meta page rating
BoardGameGeek 7.1 out of 10 points
brettspielbox.de 8.2 out of 10 points
brettspiele-report.de 17 out of 20 points

Abluxxen was developed by Wolfgang Kramer and Michael Kiesling . In 2014, the game won the à la carte card game award for the best card game of the year and the Essen spring for the best set of instructions. In addition, Abluxxen won the Austrian game of games prize in 2014 , according to the jury it is "the game that the game committee considers to be particularly modern and entertaining, every interested player should have played it!" Internationally, the game will go under the name Linko! expelled.

The game was mostly positively discussed in various reviews. In the BoardGameGeek game database , Abluxxen has a rating of 7.1 (out of 10) with more than 2,400 reviews (as of January 2017). The portal brettspielbox.de rated the game with 8.2 out of 10 points and rated the feel of the game and the long-term fun very highly (9 points each). According to the criticism, the game is "a lot of fun" and is "a complete success, especially in larger groups (from 3 - rather 4 players) [...]." At brettspiele-report.de the game achieved an overall rating of 17 out of 20 points and here, in addition to the very good game instructions, the long-term fun and the strong interaction between the players are emphasized.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ a b c d e f game instructions at brettspiel-magazin.de; accessed on January 9, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b c game instructions for Abluxxen duel at brettspiele-report.de; accessed on January 10, 2017.
  3. ↑ À la Carte Price 2014: Abluxxen. Blog of the games magazine fairplay; accessed on January 10, 2017.
  4. ↑ Austrian Games Prize 2014 awarded. spielepreis.at, June 30, 2014, and The winning games 2014: Austrian Games Prize 2014. spielepreis.at; both accessed on January 10, 2017.
  5. ↑ Ratings & Comments for Linko! / Abluxxing in the board game database BoardGameGeek (English)
  6. ↑ Abluxxen on brettspielbox.de, March 10, 29014; accessed on January 10, 2017.
  7. ↑ Abluxxen on brettspiele-report.de, November 27, 2014; accessed on January 10, 2017.

Web links