Abraca Who?

The premise for Gary Kim's Abraca Who? is that the 3–6 players have been cursed while partying in a haunted house. The curse means their identities have been scrambled. The premise tho' is a thin thematic veneer for this novel card game from Korea Boardgames where players have a card with a number 1–6; there are six 1 cards, five 2 cards and so on, with just one 6 card. Players also have a dial initially showing five lit candles. When you lose health, you turn the dial to extinguish a candle and when all five are snuffed out, so is the player - you're eliminated from the round.

Players are dealt one card but they don't get to look at it. Instead, they hold it up so that all the other players can see it. That means you can see everyone else's cards but your own.

On your turn you can try to Investigate (guess or deduce) your own identity (card number) or you can Duel another player. You lose 1 health if your Investigation is unsuccessful; you activate your character's ability as your reward if your Investigation is successful. The rewards include earning 'mysterious stones', healing, damaging other players and, if you're the Ghost (the single card value 6), immediate elimination of all the other players.

If you Duel, you choose another player to challenge. If they accept, you simply both reveal and compare your cards. In most cases, the highest card wins, with the loser taking damage equal to the difference between the cards (and each losing 1 point of health in the event of a tie) but there are a couple of exceptions: the Cleaner (1) eliminates the Ghost (6), and the Cook (2) eliminates the Vampire (5). In either of these instances, the Cleaner or Cook also gains a 'mysterious stone'. Duellers who aren't eliminated draw new identity cards. Revealed cards remain on the table so can help inform players' deductions about what their own card might be, except that the Ghost is always shuffled back into the draw deck.

The last player left standing earns 3 mysterious stones and play continues with a new round and all players back in until a player has 7 mysterious stones and can claim the win.

Games where you can see everyone else's cards except your own always puts us in mind of Hanabi (Abacus Spiele) but the ranking of characters in Abraca Who? is more reminiscent of AEG's Love Letter microgame and it distinguishes Abraca Who? from Gary Kim's previous similar spell-themed Abraca...What? (Korea Boardgames) aka Abracadabra...What? (Z-Man Games) which were published in 2014. Abraca Who? games inevitably start off being mostly push-your-luck gambles but it becomes increasingly a game of deduction rather than guesswork as you see how other players interact with your card and what Investigation guesses they make. As more cards are revealed, so players have increasing open information to narrow down what card they might potentially be holding...

Abraca Who? plays quickly as a brisk party game filler. From our plays at Board's Eye View, it works best at higher player counts but even with a full complement of six players you can expect to play in just 15-20 minutes.

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