Abracadabra

Last updated: January 11, 2026

Overview

Abracadabra is a Spanish text adventure game developed by Odisea Software and published by Proein Soft Line in 1988 for the ZX Spectrum, MSX, and Amstrad CPC platforms¹. Created using the Professional Adventure Writer (P.A.W.) engine—one of the most popular adventure game development tools for the Spectrum at the time—the game features a sophisticated text parser comparable to Infocom’s renowned adventure games, supporting chain commands, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions, and adjectives². Released exclusively in Spanish, Abracadabra became one of the most acclaimed adventure games in the Spanish market during the late 1980s³.

The game distinguishes itself through its presentation, featuring hand-drawn location pictures that occupy approximately two-thirds of the screen, with the lower portion dedicated to text input and output¹. Set in the year 1209, Abracadabra immerses players in a medieval fantasy world filled with magic and mystery¹. Spanish gaming publications of the era praised it extensively, with the magazine CAAD declaring it “among the adventures existing on the Spanish market, this one is definitely the best”³.

Note: There are multiple unrelated games titled “Abracadabra” across different platforms and eras. This article focuses on the 1988 Spanish text adventure. A separate Atari 8-bit action game titled “Abracadabra!” was released by TG Software in 1983⁴, and Coktel Vision released a children’s game called “Once Upon a Time: Abracadabra” in 1991⁵.

Game Info

Developer: Odisea Software¹ Designer: Jorge Blecua³ Publisher: Proein Soft Line¹ Engine: Professional Adventure Writer (P.A.W.)² Platforms: ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC¹ Release Year: 1988 Series: None Protagonist: Medieval adventurer Sierra Lineage: Spanish Independent

Story Summary

Abracadabra is set in the year 1209, placing players in a medieval fantasy setting rich with supernatural elements and mystical encounters¹. The narrative unfolds across a two-part structure, with the second section loading automatically upon completion of the first part². This division was common for adventure games of the era due to memory limitations on 8-bit home computers.

According to MobyGames, the game presents a knight named Clus d’Eledorf who falls in love with Princess Violeta⁶. The jealous witch Saligia, who harbors unrequited love for the knight, places a terrible curse upon the lovers. Under this curse, the knight must remain haunting Castle Burgenfels as a ghost, while the princess is forever lost in the enchanted woods surrounding the castle⁶.

The player must navigate this supernatural predicament, exploring the cursed castle and surrounding wilderness to break the witch’s spell and reunite the star-crossed lovers. The fantasy adventure provides “all the elements necessary to satisfy even the most demanding fans of this genre,” according to contemporary reviews in MicroHobby magazine³.

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

Abracadabra utilizes a text parser interface built on the Professional Adventure Writer engine, which was the predominant adventure game development tool for Spanish developers working on the ZX Spectrum platform². The parser system is notably sophisticated for its era, supporting multiple input features including chain commands that allow players to string together multiple actions, pronouns for referring to previously mentioned objects, adverbs for modifying actions, prepositions for spatial relationships, and adjectives for specifying particular items².

The game is controlled entirely through keyboard text input, with players typing commands in Spanish to interact with the game world². The visual presentation divides the screen into two primary sections: hand-drawn graphics depicting the current location occupy approximately two-thirds of the display, while the remaining lower third serves as the text area for displaying game responses and accepting player input¹.

Structure and Progression

The game is divided into two distinct parts, a common structural approach for adventure games on memory-limited 8-bit platforms²:

• Part One: The initial section of the adventure, introducing the cursed castle setting and establishing the supernatural mystery surrounding the knight and princess.
• Part Two: Upon completing the first section, the game automatically loads the second part, continuing the narrative to its conclusion.

Puzzles and Mechanics

As a traditional text adventure, Abracadabra features exploration-based puzzle solving where players must examine their surroundings carefully, collect useful items, and deduce the correct sequence of actions to progress through the story². The game’s parser sophistication allows for relatively complex command structures compared to simpler text adventures of the era.

The fantasy setting provides opportunities for magical elements within the puzzle design, though specific puzzle mechanics are not extensively documented in surviving sources. The game was distributed on cassette tape as commercial software².

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

Abracadabra received strong reviews from Spanish gaming publications upon its release in 1988. MicroHobby magazine described it as an “excellent game with a high level of graphic quality and more importantly a stunning setting and realization,” further noting it as a “fantasy adventure game that provides all the elements necessary to satisfy even the most demanding fans of this genre”³.

Micromania magazine awarded the game an 8 out of 10 score³, reflecting the high regard Spanish critics held for the title. Perhaps most significantly, the adventure game magazine CAAD (Club de Aventuras AD) declared in their April-May 1989 issue that “among the adventures existing on the Spanish market, this one is definitely the best”¹.

Modern Assessment

Modern retrospective reception has been more mixed. On MobyGames, the game holds a critics’ average of 83% based on one archived review⁷, reflecting its strong contemporary reception. However, user ratings paint a different picture, with an average of 1.9 out of 5 from three player ratings⁷. This discrepancy may reflect the game’s language barrier for international players or changing expectations for text adventures over the decades.

Aggregate Scores:

• MobyGames Critics: 83% (1 review)⁷
• MobyGames Users: 1.9/5 (3 ratings)⁷
• Micromania: 8/10³

Development

Origins

Abracadabra was developed by Odisea Software, a Spanish development studio active during the 1980s home computer boom¹. The game was designed by Jorge Blecua, who crafted the medieval fantasy narrative set in 1209³. The development utilized the Professional Adventure Writer (P.A.W.), created by Aventuras AD, which had become the standard tool for Spanish text adventure development on the Spectrum and compatible platforms².

Production

The choice of P.A.W. as the development engine allowed Odisea Software to create a parser system comparable in sophistication to the industry-leading Infocom games from the United States². This technical foundation enabled the complex command structures that reviewers noted as a highlight of the game. The visual presentation featuring hand-drawn location artwork was praised by MicroHobby for its “high level of graphic quality”³.

Development Credits:³

• Designer: Jorge Blecua

Technical Achievements

The Professional Adventure Writer engine provided Abracadabra with advanced text parsing capabilities unusual for Spanish adventure games of the period². The parser’s support for chain commands, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions, and adjectives created a more natural interaction model than simpler two-word parsers common in budget adventure titles.

The game’s graphical presentation, with hand-drawn images occupying two-thirds of the screen, represented a visual sophistication that reviewers specifically highlighted³. This graphical approach helped distinguish the game in a market where many text adventures offered minimal or no visual accompaniment.

Technical Specifications

Cassette Version:²

• Media: Cassette Tape
• Input: Keyboard
• Players: 1 Player
• Perspective: First-person
• Business Model: Commercial

Display:¹

• Screen Layout: Graphics (upper 2/3), Text (lower 1/3)
• Art Style: Hand-drawn location pictures

Version History

Version	Date	Platform	Notes
1.0	1988	ZX Spectrum	Initial release, Spanish only1
1.0	1988	MSX	Simultaneous release1
1.0	1988	Amstrad CPC	Simultaneous release1

Easter Eggs and Trivia

• The game was released exclusively in Spanish, limiting its international audience but making it highly significant within the Spanish adventure gaming community¹
• The two-part game structure required loading the second section from cassette after completing the first part²
• The game’s setting in 1209 places it during the medieval period, specifically during the early 13th century Albigensian Crusade era in European history¹
• The name “Abracadabra” itself derives from ancient magical traditions; the word appeared as early as the second century in Serenus Sammonicus’s medical text Liber Medicinalis, where it was prescribed as a healing charm⁸

Legacy

Sales and Commercial Impact

While specific sales figures for Abracadabra are not documented in surviving records, the game’s reception as “the best” adventure on the Spanish market according to CAAD magazine indicates significant cultural impact within Spain’s gaming community¹. The game was distributed through Proein Soft Line, a Spanish publisher active in the 8-bit home computer market¹.

Critical Perspective

Abracadabra represents a significant achievement in Spanish adventure game development during the late 1980s. While the international adventure gaming scene was dominated by American companies like Sierra On-Line and Infocom, Spanish developers working with tools like the Professional Adventure Writer created a parallel tradition of text adventures tailored specifically for Spanish-speaking audiences².

The game’s critical acclaim from Spanish publications demonstrates that quality adventure games emerged from markets beyond the English-speaking world, even if these titles remained largely unknown internationally due to language barriers. The sophisticated parser system and praised visual presentation show that Odisea Software understood what adventure game enthusiasts expected from the genre³.

Today, Abracadabra serves as an important artifact of Spanish gaming history, representing the creative output of a national development scene that produced distinctive content for local audiences during the 8-bit era. The significant gap between contemporary critical acclaim (83%) and modern user ratings (1.9/5) illustrates the challenges of preserving and appreciating region-specific gaming history across language barriers and changing player expectations⁷.

Related Games: Name Disambiguation

Several unrelated games share the “Abracadabra” name:

Abracadabra! (1983, Atari 8-bit) Developed and published by TG Software, this action-adventure game released in July 1983 tasks players with facing “the ultimate test underneath the wizard’s castle”⁴. The game bears similarity to Konami’s 1982 arcade game Tutankham⁹. User reviews note issues including invisible walls, touchy controls, and time limit frustrations¹⁰. MobyGames users rate it 3.0 out of 5¹¹, while German magazine Zong found it “worth buying” in their November 1992 retrospective⁹.

Once Upon a Time: Abracadabra (1991, DOS/Amiga/Atari ST) Developed by Coktel Vision, this children’s adventure game targets 8-10 year olds and features a young hero or heroine battling an ogre who has stolen a magic bracelet⁵. The game was designed by François Nédélec with illustrations by Kaki Chapoullié, Pierre Gilhodes, and Pascal Pautrot, and music by Frédéric Motte¹².

Downloads

Purchase / Digital Stores

• Not currently available for digital purchase

Preservation Archives

• MobyGames Entry - Database listing
• GameFAQs Entry - Basic information

References

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia – Abracadabra (video game) – release dates, platforms, setting, screen layout, language, CAAD review quote ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸

2. MobyGames – Abracadabra – P.A.W. engine, parser features, two-part structure, technical specifications ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

3. Alchetron – Abracadabra (video game) – Jorge Blecua designer credit, Micromania 8/10 score, MicroHobby and CAAD review quotes ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

4. GameFAQs – Abracadabra! (Atari 8-bit) – TG Software developer/publisher, 1983 release, action-adventure genre ↩ ↩²

5. Metacritic – Once Upon a Time: Abracadabra – Coktel Vision, children’s game description, target age ↩ ↩²

6. Consolidated Research Data – MobyGames description of plot involving Clus d’Eledorf, Princess Violeta, and witch Saligia ↩ ↩²

7. MobyGames – Abracadabra MobyRank – 83% critics average, 1.9/5 user average ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

8. Magician Masterclass – Abracadabra Etymology – historical origin of the word, Serenus Sammonicus reference ↩

9. Wikipedia – Abracadabra! (video game) – Tutankham comparison, Zong magazine review, Creative Computing description ↩ ↩²

10. Atarimania – Abracadabra – user reviews noting invisible walls, controls, time limit issues, 7.4/10 rating ↩

11. MobyGames – Abracadabra! (Atari) – July 1983 release, 3.0/5 user rating ↩

12. MobyGames – Once Upon a Time: Abracadabra Credits – François Nédélec designer, illustrators, Frédéric Motte composer ↩