Great store, fast shipping! Will definitely shop here again!
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Designer | Matúš Kotry |
Publisher | Czech Games Edition |
Players | 2-4 |
Playtime | 120 mins |
Suggested Age | 13 and up |
Honors |
2016 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Best Expert Game Nominee 2016 MinD-Spielepreis Complex Game Nominee 2015 Scelto dai Goblin Winner 2015 JUG Adult Game of the Year Finalist 2015 Juego del Año Recommended 2015 Hra roku Recommended 2015 Goblin Magnifico Nominee 2015 Essener Feder Best Written Rules Winner 2014 Meeples' Choice Nominee 2014 Jocul Anului în România Advanced Finalist 2014 Golden Geek Most Innovative Board Game Nominee 2014 Golden Geek Board Game of the Year Nominee 2014 Golden Geek Best Strategy Board Game Nominee 2014 Golden Geek Best Board Game Artwork & Presentation Nominee 2014 Board Game Quest Awards Most Innovative Game Winner 2014 Board Game Quest Awards Most Innovative Game Nominee |
Expansion | Alchemists: King's Golem |
Accessory |
Folded Space - Alchemists |
Additional Info |
161970/alchemists
http://boardgamegeek.com/forum/1540108/alchemists/reviews
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Mandrake root and scorpion tail; spongy mushroom and warty toad — these are the foundations of the alchemist's livelihood, science, and art.
But what arcane secrets do these strange ingredients hide? Now it is time to find out. Mix them into potions and drink them to determine their effects — or play it safe and test the concoction on a helpful assistant! Gain riches selling potions to wandering adventurers and invest these riches in powerful artifacts. As your knowledge grows, so will your reputation, as you publish your theories for all to see. Knowledge, wealth, and fame can all be found in the murky depths of the alchemist's cauldron.
In Alchemists, two to four budding alchemists compete to discover the secrets of their mystical art. Points can be earned in various ways, but most points are earned by publishing theories – correct theories, that is — and therein lies the problem.
The game is played in six rounds. At the beginning of the round, players choose their play order. Those who choose to play later get more rewards.
Players declare all their actions by placing cubes on the various action spaces, then each action space is evaluated in order. Players gain knowledge by mixing ingredients and testing the results using a smartphone app (iOS, Android, and also Windows) that randomizes the rules of alchemy for each new game. And if the alchemists are longing for something even more special, they can always buy magical artifacts to get an extra push. There are 9 of them (different for each game) and they are not only very powerful, but also very expensive. But money means nothing, when there's academic pride at stake! And the possession of these artifacts will definitely earn you some reputation too. Players can also earn money by selling potions of questionable quality to adventurers, but money is just a means to an end. The alchemists don't want riches, after all. They want respect, and respect usually comes from publishing theories.
During play, players' reputations will go up and down. After six rounds and a final exhibition, reputation will be converted into points. Points will also be scored for artifacts and grants. Then the secrets of alchemy are revealed and players score points or lose points based on whether their theories were correct. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins.
Great game that tests your logical deduction skills as well as pushing your gambling luck.
This game is excellent. Randomizing the elements attributes via the app is an excellent idea and executed very well with the app.
This is a really funny game that makes fun of academia in an interesting way. This game uses worker placement to gather herbs, sell potions, buy items, publish/debunk research, and test potions (on grad students or yourself). It uses a very interesting system for deducing alchemicals and using that knowledge to publish papers. This game is has an app to assist it which is very useful.
A mid-level difficulty deduction game, with very limited resources (so, resource management as well). Few routes to victory, can depend on luck of the cards you draw. Plays well with 2 people. The "clock" runs out way fast to get all that you need in place.
The fiddly-bit (not well cut) cardboard construct can cause some frustration.
This is the most clever idea for a theme that I've ever seen in a game. It's basically a hilarious simulation of the world of academia and publishing. Even if this wasn't a game, the rule book could stand alone as a work of satirical art. Basically each player is a "scientist" (cough cough) mixing ingredients like toads, mushrooms, bird feathers, and mandrake roots to see what kind of magic potions each combination may or may not create. There are 8 ingredients and as you use more and more of your precious actions to acquire ingredients and conduct more experiments (mixing different combos), you learn more and more about the inherent properties of each ingredient by process of elimination. There's a sudoku-like logic puzzle as a game within a game, and one of the main ways to earn points is by publishing claims about each ingredient. But there's often an incentive to rush to publication even if you don't know what you're talking about, and if your theories aren't debunked too soon, it can be worthwhile to just b.s. your way all over the place and hope you nobody notices. If your bad theories last until the end of the game, at which point all ingredient properties are fully revealed, you don't lose as many points as you would have lost had they been debunked during the game - by another player, or even by you! There's a lot of pressure to publish, and you have to find the balance between rushing to publication without putting too many bad theories out there. It's just a hilarious satirical take on academia, but it's almost so accurate that you're not sure it's really a joke, which makes it even funnier. Beware that you will have to use an app on a phone (so that theories can be checked without any player gaining the correct properties about an ingredient before the end of the game). Also, the rules are pretty complex. It's pretty hard to teach and learn at first, but it's worth it. I got a lot of play out of it, but it has gotten to the point where I realize how much luck is involved that it's not as much fun anymore. I wish there was a way to make it a little less random or a little more accessible to medium gamers, but it still gets 5 stars because of the sheer genius of the concept and execution.
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Perfect - Exactly what I was looking for.
Great store, fast shipping! Will definitely shop here again!