In a small local tavern, it’s easy to find some hero and palm off a couple of mediocre potions as miraculous elixirs for a handful of clinking coins. But beware—promise too much, and you might lose your payday.

The Game Alchemists

“Alchemists” is a deductive strategy game in a fantasy setting for 2-4 players, where you’ll brew potions and dabble in science while trying to profit from your game-earned knowledge. Ranked in the Top 200 best games worldwide, it’s a nominee for Game of the Year and a winner for its well-crafted rules. A special app for potion-mixing adds vibrant colors and magical sounds to your sessions.

Gameplay

Each alchemist gets a lab screen to brew potions, shielding your research from prying eyes. At the start of each round, players set the turn order. The later you choose to act, the more useful bonuses you’ll snag.

Next comes the planning phase. Players take turns placing action cubes in various locations: gathering ingredients, transmuting excess ingredients into gold, selling potions, buying artifacts, proposing theories, debunking others, and—most crucially—brewing and testing potions. Once all actions are planned, it’s time to resolve them.

Brewing Potions

You hold ingredient cards in hand. Send two to the cauldron and scan them with the app, and out comes a potion. What kind? That’s up to the laws of alchemy.

Eight ingredients, eight formulas. The app generates new combinations each game. To figure out what potion emerges from two ingredients, find the matching circles by color and symbol.

Record the result behind your lab screen with a token. You’ll narrow down possibilities, crossing off unlikely formulas on your deduction sheet. Through patterns, eliminating the impossible, and scribbling notes, you’ll eventually deduce the truth. Then it’s time to publish.

Place a formula token on the theory board next to one of the eight ingredients and back it with your seal. You can propose your own theories or endorse others’—just don’t forget to pay the original authors for the rights.

Some rounds end with conferences, rewarding players who actively research and theorize while penalizing the idle. Aim to make your theories correct—they’re your main source of victory points, though not the only one.