Mr. Robert Abbott This is Me

 View all 15 references Web References

1. 1. Chessvariants.com -- What's New?

   www.chessvariants.org/whatsnew - [Cached]

   Published on: 8/18/2005   Last Visited: 6/24/2006

   Interview with Robert Abbott, inventor of Ultima.
   ...
   Logic Mazes (Robert Abbott's Webpages) (Link.) Chessapawn.

2. 2. Puzzle Monster: Interview: Robert Abbott: Page 1

   www.puzzlemonster.com/intervie - [Cached]

   Published on: 11/15/2004   Last Visited: 11/20/2007

   Interview: Robert Abbott
   ...
   Interview: Robert Abbott
   ...
   Robert Abbott has been designing games, mazes and puzzles for decades. He's the inventor of Ultima, which was ChessVariant.org's Recognized Variant of the Month in 2001 (only 39 years after it was originally released). He's also the inventor of Eleusis, a card game that he considers his greatest achievement, and the author of Abbott's New Card Games.
   
   He's also an authority on a genre of puzzle known as "mazes-with-rules" or "logic mazes," his most famous creation being Theseus and the Minotaur. He's the author of SuperMazes and Mad Mazes and has a website devoted to the subject. We had a nice long talk with Mr. Abbott about his mazes and his history - including the unusual luck of being discovered in 1959 by a man named Martin Gardner.
   ...
   Robert Abbott: I should say that I wouldn't have gotten anywhere if Martin Gardner had not discovered me. In 1959 I sent him a letter about my card game Eleusis.

3. 3. Mad Mazes

   www.logicmazes.com/mad.html - [Cached]

   Last Visited: 9/8/2007

   by Robert Abbott
   ...
   Robert Abbott is one of those rare individuals who has the knack of creating such puzzles. How he does it is a mystery.
   
   I first met Bob when I was writing the Mathematical Games column in Scientific American. He had invented a card game called Eleusis that had the remarkable property of simulating induction, the process by which scientific laws are discovered and theories formulated. My two columns on Eleusis were among the most popular. They led to other induction games, and even to some interesting research on induction. In 1963 Bob wrote Abbott's New Card Games (alas, now out of print) that included Eleusis among other unusual games.
   
   No one has been as creative as Bob in devising bizarre mazes that are unlike any you have seen before.
   ...
   When all the presents are opened and you're stuffed with plum pudding, settle down with Mad Mazes by Robert Abbott (Bob Adams, Inc. $14.95), a book of 20 mind- bending puzzles.
   ...
   Mad Mazes by Robert Abbott, published by Bob Adams, Inc., 1990, $14.95, hardback, (also paperback, $7.95, published 1992)
   ...
   Bob Abbott, inventor of such games as Eleusis, Epaminondas, Ultima, and Construction, has created a fascinating collection of 20 mazes,but not the conventional kind which fill most maze books. These are what might be called 'sequential movement' puzzles,the solver travels through each maze, constrained by rules which limit possible moves. In many cases rules change DURING a maze,sometimes you will find yourself back in a spot you have been before, but a change in the rules may have altered the situation to allow you to break out of an apparent loop. The final maze of the book, Theseus and the Minotaur, may be the most difficult maze ever created. Abbott says that only one other person has ever solved it, and only with a great deal of help.
   ...
   Mad Mazes - Intriguing Mind Twisters for Puzzle Buffs, Game Nuts and Other Smart People, by Robert Abbott.
   ...
   In this book, you see the genius of Robert Abbott at work and at play! We call him the O. Henry of puzzles as his solutions often have a surprise or twist to them. Each maze is preceded by a fun story which gives the rules for traveling through the maze. So, whether you are 7 or 107, if you enjoy challenging puzzles, this treasure of a book is for you. The good news is that Robert Abbott has written a wonderful sequel to Mad Mazes. It is called SuperMazes.