Abducktion
Abducktion Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Abducktion: Quickstart Guide
Welcome to Abducktion! We recommend you read the full instructions, but here's the idea:
Objective
Rearrange your ducks into same color formations to match a Formation Card. Harder formations are worth more points — whoever scores highest at the end of the game wins!
Setup
Everyone pulls 10 random ducks from the UFO and places them randomly on their Boards.
Create a deck of 12 shuffled Formation Cards and flip over the top three, placing them on the table so they're visible to all.
On your turn, you'll try and rearrange your ducks to match one of these three Formation Cards — if you do, you get to collect it!
On Your Turn
- Start with a hand of three Action Cards
- Use your Action Cards to manipulate the positions of your ducks in order to exactly match a Formation Card
- If an Action Card removes ducks, put them back in the UFO. Shift your Board's remaining ducks downstream, then refill empty ponds
- If your ducks match a Formation Card, abduct this duck group off your Board, and collect that Formation Card
Once you collect a Formation Card or run out of Action Cards, your turn is done.
After Your Turn
- Place any abducted ducks back into the UFO
- Shift all remaining ducks on your Board clockwise downstream, and refill empty ponds with new random ducks from the UFO
- Flip over a new Formation Card if one was collected
- Draw new Action Cards until you have a hand of three total
The player to your left goes next!
How to Win
Once the final Formation Card is collected, the game ends.
Add up all the points on the Formation Cards you collected. Whoever has the highest score wins!
"Quack!"
Tools and Components
Property of Abducktion Labs Intergalactic
4 Quantum Pond Boards
The Quantum Pond Board provides each intern with their own access to Deep Space for optimal duck harvesting. Each Board can hold 10 ducks.
After ducks are abducted, any new ducks entering the Board will start at the beginning of the Quantum Pond Board (top left) and flow clockwise downstream, following the directional comet arrows.
UFO
The Abducktion Labs Intergalactic spaceship has state-of-the-art Abduction technology and also serves to keep research subject ducks in stasis while experiments are being conducted.
24 Formation Cards
Your daily duck collection assignments will be given on Formation Cards, each showing the specific shape a group of ducks must form in order to abduct them. Each Formation Card also includes a point value corresponding to difficulty.
60 Action Cards
Available in 11 different varieties, interns submit these Action Cards to remove, reorient, and otherwise manipulate the ducks into the Formation Card shapes they're assigned.
80 Ducks
While adorable, these waterfowl (DUCKS) make invaluable research subjects and are instrumental to our mission and profit margins.
Our scientists require their capture in specific formations in order to optimize their research, making your job as an intern crucial to our success!
Abducktion Labs Intergalactic: Full Orientation Manual
Stock the Ponds
Place all ducks in the UFO. (Don't worry, they like how cozy it is in there.) Give all players — known as interns — a Quantum Pond Board and make sure the entrance to your Board is in the top left.
Fill each Pond on your Board with a random duck from the UFO, starting as far downstream as possible (bottom left) and moving upstream. (The directional comet arrows on each Board show the direction the stream flows.)
"Look, you can take out multiple ducks from the UFO at once, but you better still place them down without peeking at them first, my dude!" —Dave
Display Formation Cards
Thoroughly shuffle the Formation Cards, then count out 12 and place them facedown in a stack. Flip over the top three Formation Cards and place them face up so all interns can view them — these are your current assignments.
Interns will compete to be the first to collect ducks in these Formations — ones with higher points will be worth more in your final performance review! Once a Formation Card has been collected, a new Formation Card will be immediately flipped over for all to see (there should always be three Formation Cards visible, until they run out).
Get to Work!
Shuffle the Action Cards deck and place it in the middle. All interns draw three cards into their hand to begin, and the intern who most recently saw a real duck takes the first turn.
During your turn, you will attempt to collect the highest point value Formation Card you can from the three currently assigned. You may use up to all three of your Action Cards to remove, replace, and reorient ducks on your Board to exactly match the image on a Formation Card. Some Action Cards may even be used on your fellow interns' Boards!
Once an Action Card is used, discard it face-up in a pile next to the Action Cards deck. (If the supply of Action Cards is ever exhausted, simply shuffle the discard pile, place it facedown and continue working.) Do not pick up more Action Cards until the very end of your turn.
"No takebacks! If you've started touching a duck to move it, gotta follow through. I deal with enough commitment issues already!" —Dave
Example: An effective intern might use their Action Cards like this to collect the Duckfoot formation: play Swap (switch the locations of two ducks that are next to each other on your Board, horizontally or vertically), then Orbit (rotate any square group of four ducks on your Board clockwise or counterclockwise, rotate as much as desired), then Shape Shifter (rearrange the order of a straight line of three ducks on your Board) — matching the Duckfoot Formation Card (four same color ducks in this shape and orientation).
NOTICE: If an intern is unhappy with the ducks on their Board for any reason, on any of their turns, they can discard three Action Cards to abduct all ducks off their Board and replace with 10 new ducks.
Collect Formations
Three Formation Card assignments from your Supervisor will be available at all times, showing the specific formations of ducks that are currently in highest demand by our research team.
Formation Cards will instruct you to arrange ducks in the following ways:
- Purple ducks represent a group of same color ducks (yellow, white, blue, or pink) that must be arranged in a specific Formation.
- Orange ducks represent a second color of ducks that must be present in the formation. (This second group of same color ducks cannot be the same color as the first group.)
"Hey buddy, better match exactly the shape AND orientation of a Formation Card — don't make me fix any upside-down or backwards assignments." —Dave
When an intern creates a Formation of ducks on their Board that exactly matches a Formation Card (both in shape and orientation), they may abduct this group of ducks from their Board and collect that Formation Card, which also earns this intern the number of points on the top left of the card.
Collecting a Formation Card ends your turn — no Action Cards can be played afterwards! Keep any Formation Cards you collect facedown next to your Quantum Pond Board.
Restocking Your Ponds
Often, ducks will be abducted off your Board, either while collecting a Formation Card or by playing certain Action Cards, like Abducktion or Dubaducktion.
Each time a duck(s) is removed from a Board, all remaining ducks shift downstream following the directional comets on your Board! Move all remaining ducks downstream until there are no empty ponds, and place all removed ducks immediately back into the UFO. Shake the UFO to remove any residual quantum energy, and then refill remaining empty ponds one at a time with new random ducks from the UFO, starting downstream and working back towards the beginning.
Example: If a Formation of white ducks was removed, all remaining ducks would shift downstream. Then, refill any empty spaces with new ducks from the UFO, starting with the space farthest downstream.
Ending Your Turn
Your turn ends when you collect a Formation Card, use all three of your Action Cards, or decide to pass your turn after playing only some of your Action Cards.
Once your turn ends, take these steps:
- If you successfully collected a Formation Card, flip over a new Formation Card
- Place any abducted ducks back into the UFO, move remaining ducks on your Board downstream, and replenish any empty ponds with random ducks
- Draw more Action Cards until you have three total in your hand (you should never have more than three)
"Not only is playing an Action Card after you've collected a Formation illegal, it's just rude. Be a team player." —Dave
Now, the intern to your left begins their turn!
Ending the Game: Final Performance Review
All interns take turns collecting Formation Cards until all 12 have been collected. This tends to get more difficult (especially for underperforming interns) near the end of your internship.
"Can't wait to be best work buddies, my dude! Be on the lookout for notes from me on Formation Card assignments — I love to gossip!" —Dave
When all 12 Formation Cards have been collected, each intern calculates the total combined point value of their collected Formation Cards and reports this amount to their supervisor. The intern with the highest points wins and is awarded an immediate performance review!
We look forward to hiring one of you for a full-time position with Abducktion Labs Intergalactic. (Note: you will be hired on as a contractor; this position does not include a benefits package, health insurance, or your own desk.)
Adjusting Internship Difficulty and Length
Seeking a longer internship, or participating with a more advanced group? Try making these adjustments for a more challenging experience:
Increased Difficulty: Remove all Formation Cards with point values of 4 or lower. Beware: this will create a more strategic, slower-moving experience — for advanced interns only!
Decreased Difficulty: For a group of Junior interns, remove all Formation cards with point values of 6 or higher.
Increased play time: Simply increase the number of Formation Cards in the deck to 16, 20, or even all 24 for an extended internship. (Extra snacks are recommended for interns extending their work experience.)
General FAQ
1. Do I have to collect a Formation Card if I have the matching formation on my Board? No, you may choose to not collect it (you may be saving your ducks for a higher value Formation Card, for instance.)
2. What do we do if there's a tie?
- Put the highest value card from the whole round back in the middle.
- Tied players continue playing with their boards and hands from the original game, replenishing ducks and Action Cards as usual. The player who collected the final card goes first.
- First player to collect the tie breaker card wins.
3. Is there any advantage to any of the duck colors? Nope. All ducks behave the same and are of equal amounts in the UFO. (Though, this changes with GLITTER DUCKS in the expansion game — you should totally buy it.)
4. Are the ducks harmed when being abducted or during the research process? We are in full compliance with Intergalactic Ethics Code 34.8b; all duck research subjects are treated humanely throughout our research. Once complete, subjects are memory-wiped and returned unharmed to their habitat.
Action Cards FAQ
1. Can I affect the ducks on other interns' boards? You may use an Action Card on another intern's ducks only if the card says it may be played on an opponent's Board, but you may still only do this during your own turn. You may only claim Formation Cards using the ducks on your own Board.
2. What does "Next to" mean? "Next to" means ducks that are in adjacent ponds, either horizontally or vertically. Diagonally doesn't count!
3. How does the Body Snatcher card work? Select any three ducks on your Board (they don't have to be next to each other) and place them back into the UFO, but don't move your remaining ducks downstream. Randomly select three new ducks from the UFO at once, and then choose on which of your empty three ponds you'd like to place each duck (you don't have to place them randomly). Nifty!
Solo Career Development: Single Player Version
Interns interested in continuing their professional education are permitted to conduct research individually on their own time and without pay.
Setup
Shuffle the Formation Cards deck and place the entire stack of 24 cards facedown. Then, flip over the top three Formation Cards to reveal the first assignments. Populate your Board with 10 random ducks. Because individual research is more difficult, you may take five action cards to start.
Get to Work!
Conduct research as usual, spending Action Cards to rearrange ducks and collecting Formation Cards by exactly matching the ducks on your Board to the Formation Cards.
NOTICE: All Action Cards are used in their usual way, except for Wormhole Cards. Instead, use these cards to pick a duck of your choice from the UFO and exchange it with any duck currently on your Board.
After collecting each Formation Card, you may draw two more Action Cards, up to an overall hand limit of five cards. (E.g., If you have four cards in hand, you may only draw one additional.) If the supply of Action Cards is ever exhausted, simply shuffle the discard pile, place it face-down and continue working.
Your Solo Career Development opportunity concludes immediately if you run out of Action Cards and are unable to collect a Formation Card.
Scoring
Once your research round is finished, please refer to the scoring chart for promotional opportunities and to see how you rank against other solo researchers. Collecting all Formation Cards during one research experience is possible, but incredibly rare. Doing so will result in an immediate promotion to CEO (assuming, of course, the intern is able to best the current CEO in hand-to-hand combat, as is standard policy.)
| Score | Promotion |
|---|---|
| 0 - 14 | Intern |
| 15 - 30 | Associate |
| 31 - 50 | Supervisor |
| 50 - 99 | Manager |
| 100 - 128 | Vice President |
| 129 | CEO |