Game Board and Matches
AbraTabia is played on a 14 square by 14 square chess board, which adjusts its size based on the number of players who start the game. In all 4 corners of the board, there are 9 squares missing, to create a 3 row “Player Base”, which is where that players starts the game. The missing squares make it impossible to sneak up from the sides to attack a player’s home base.
A player’s base is therefore, 3 rows of 8 squares each and the board pieces are set up in the same way they are in standard chess. Player 3 and Player 4 are on the left and right sides of the board, so will be sitting next to players 1 and 2. The home base protects these players from an enemy on their side from invading their base without first moving in front of it, giving them a chance to react on their next move.
It is also not possible to attack if both the attacker and the defending piece are both in their own home bases, i.e. within the 3 rows they start the game in. There are also certain spells which only affect pieces that are inside their home base, and the Archer’s spell “Teleport”, which sends the Archer back to it’s home base on the square the Archer started the game on. When player 3 or player 4 are not in a match, their 3 row home base is removed from the board.
Since AbraTabia can be played with up to 4 players, teams are possible. You can still play against someone 1 vs 1, but there are also 2 vs 2 matches and “Free For All” matches. In a Free For All match, there are no teams and the last player standing wins. In a team match, if either player on the team is still in the game when both enemy teams are defeated, then both players on the team win the game.
When playing against the AI, any possible team combination is possible, including 3 vs 1. The same is true when in a party of up to 3 of your friends, you can create any team combination. These private matches are not ranked, but still gain player experience. A party of 2 people can either play an unranked private match against each other, or team up and play against another team in a ranked online match.