A puzzle book by Blaž Urban Gracar
More than 70 mind-blowing
and page-transcending puzzles.
is a forgotten textbook about the writing system of the weird and elusive "Abb" creatures. Their typography resembles devilishly difficult packing puzzles. Due to a fire accident that burnt important pages in the book - the last remaining Abdec book in the world, which was also scanned for this reissue - players need to figure out how the Abdec writing system works completely on their own.
From the creator of the critically acclaimed puzzle book LOK, Abdec continues with the same design philosophy of making rules a part of the puzzle, but takes it to the extreme. Meant for thinky connoisseurs and those who want to explore ruleless puzzlescapes beyond LOK, it offers a challenging, but deeply rewarding solving experience.
BOOK
Abdec book is spiral-bound, printed in full colour and it includes a transparent sheet that can be placed over any page and drawn on with a dry erase marker. On 88 pages you will find more than 70 puzzles, multiple awe-inspiring secrets hidden in plain sight, plus hints, explained rules and solutions. PDF download link included. Buy the book here!
Abdec PDF is the digital edition of the book. Also available as separate JPG images. Buy the PDF here!
PREVIEW
Check out the first 15 puzzles:
MEDIA
Winner of "Best Pen And Paper Puzzle" Thinky award 2023
"... There’s nothing out there like Abdec. I sincerely hope there will be more. I hope Gracar continues to create these strange and evocative tomes — no, not even tomes, mere notebooks, and all the more enticing for their small size. Abdec broke my brain. And then it forced me to put it back together again. I’m left with no easy answers. The process, though, is one I’m glad to have journeyed."
(Timestamp: 32:35)
"... I'm also, though, just generally intrigued. The designer of these games, Blaž Urban Gracar, has also made another game, which he just made me aware of, called Abdec, and if you look at this on the website, it like, pitches itself as a textbook for the writing system of the Abb creatures. And some of the pages are burned, and it's going really ham on the, “I'm not gonna teach you any of the rules.” And I'm- Oh, I’m just fascinated to check it out ..."
"After Lok, it was apparent that Blaž Gracar has a head for crafting mind-busting puzzles. Abdec cements his reputation not only as a craftsman, but also as a sadist. The key to Abdec is that you have no idea where the key is hidden, or what it looks like, or indeed if it’s a key at all. In simpler terms, you don’t know the rules. Figuring out how to play is as much a part of the process as the actual playing, resulting in a puzzle book that demands careful attention, backtracking, and maybe even emailing Gracar to demand answers. And maybe a duel, too."
"... We fell in love with the adorable creatures from LOK and LOK Digital, and now creator Blaž Urban Gracar is back with his latest offering — Abdec, a forgotten textbook featuring the mysterious Abb. These are creatures who use a language that resembles packing-puzzle pieces ..."
Thinky Games best of 2023 list
"... Abdec builds upon the difficulty and mechanics of LOK, and introduces symbols alongside letters. I thoroughly enjoyed deciphering the secret language of the Abb. Where most puzzle games would teach you the rules, Blaž’s works make it about a process of learning the rules and then applying what you have just learned."
"Blaž follows up with Abdec, a devilishly difficult puzzle book in which the mysterious language of the “Abb” must be deciphered through packing puzzles with rather abstract symbols. Figure out what the Abb are saying, and how they are saying it — the very last copy of this scanned, partially-burnt book is now in your hands."
Competor's best of 2023 list (in Japanese)
Competor's video playthrough of Abdec (in Japanese)
COMMUNITY
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ABOUT
Abdec was made by Blaž Urban Gracar, a Slovenian artist. He is a musician (composing music for theatre, producing left-field electronica, playing keyboards in a rock band), writer (publishing poetry, prose and comic books), filmmaker (editing and animating short films) and game designer (mostly creating puzzly solo games). He lives by the sea with his partner, her daughter, three cats, a dog and a turtle.
