Lab Notes Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Round Order
  • Roll Dice
  • Select Element Dice
  • Notate Elements
  • Connecting Elements
  • Earning & Using Tool Cards
  • Score & Claim Notecards
  • Refill Notecards
• Lab Fires
• Bunsen Burners
• End Game
• Final Score

Components

• 6 Dice (3 white, 3 yellow)
• 1 Lead Player Token (Pencil Sharpener)
• 30 Tool cards (6 per player)
• 20 Notecards (tarot sized cards). Lab Fires are also considered Notecards.
• 100 Note Sheets (1 pad)
• 5 Pencils

Setup

1. The first player is whoever most recently mixed multiple liquids together. Give that player the Lead Player Token and the dice for the game.

The number of dice is dependent upon the number of players:

• 2 players - 2 white dice, 1 yellow die.
• 3 players - 2 white dice, 2 yellow dice.
• 4 players - 3 white dice, 2 yellow dice.
• 5 players - 3 white dice, 3 yellow dice.

White dice faces: Hydrogen, Hydrogen, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Oxygen, Nitrogen

Yellow dice faces: Carbon, Carbon, Bunsen Burner, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Oxygen

2. Each player receives 1 pencil and 1 Note Sheet.

3. Assemble the Notecard deck. Shuffle the Notecards & Lab Fires together in a single deck and place the deck face-down in the center of the table, in view of all players. Flip 2 Notecards face-up next to the deck. If a Lab Fire card is revealed during setup, set it aside and draw a new Notecard to replace it. Once 2 Notecards are face-up, shuffle any Lab Fires back into the deck.

4. Randomly choose 1 LIQUID, 1 SOLID, and 1 GAS Tool card. Ensure all players have the same tool cards in front of them, face-down with the Compound side facing up. For your first game, we recommend using CENTRIFUGE (Liquid), RETORT FLASK (Solid), and FIRE SUPPRESSANT (Gas). These cards remain face-down, beside each player's Note Sheet until the compound on the back is built.

Tool card reference for the recommended first-game cards:

• Centrifuge (Liquid; compound Water - H2O): Before you select your die, reroll any number of available dice up to 2 times.
• Retort Flask (Solid; compound Carbon Trioxide - CO3): If it is an element, ignore the final die and notate your die again.
• Fire Suppressant (Gas; compound Dinitrogen - N2): Ignore a Lab Fire.

Round Order

Roll Dice

The first player rolls all available dice.

Select Element Dice

The first player then selects 1 die to place beside their Note Sheet. The second player then selects a die from those remaining and places that next to their Note Sheet, and so on in turn order. The last player chooses from 2 dice. One die goes on their Note Sheet and the last die becomes the Community die, which all players have access to.

Notate Elements

Once all players have taken their die and know what the Community die is, they Notate those elements on their Note Sheet. These elements can be played on any empty space on their Note Sheet. They do not need to connect to previously notated elements.

When notating your elements, you can do this in the following ways:

• NOTATE the element on the compound field in any empty element space. To do this you write the abbreviation of the element (H = Hydrogen, O = Oxygen, N = Nitrogen, C = Carbon).

  • If a player wants their element to connect to a previously placed element, the new element must be placed adjacent to the previous element and a legal number of covalent bonds drawn between them to connect them.
  • If a player wants to notate their element without connecting it, they may place it in any empty spot in their compound field, and simply do not add any covalent bond lines. They may add those later when adding an element adjacent to it.

  Players can only create bonds to or from a newly placed element.

• TRASH the element within the Trash spaces on the right of the Note Sheet. Ignore notating the selected element and just fill in the highest empty trash can on the right side of the Note Sheet.

  • If you trash enough elements, you receive a free Bunsen Burner action. Take this action immediately - it is NOT optional. You may not ignore the Bunsen Burner action on the Trash column to cause a Lab Fire.
  • DON'T FORGET! Filling in this trash can will immediately trigger the Bunsen Burner!

  (When the trash is full, you can no longer trash any elements.)

Connecting Elements

To create compounds, individual elements must be connected with bonds. Each element in LAB NOTES (Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogren, and Carbon) has a maximum number of bonds it can have, or a number of elements it can be attached to.

• Hydrogen (H) has only 1 available covalent bond and can never have anything more connected to it than a single bond.
• Oxygen (O) has 2 covalent bonds. This means it can connect to a maximum of 2 elements with single bond connections, or 1 element with a double bond.
• Nitrogen (N) has a maximum number of 3 covalent bonds. It can connect to a maximum of 3 elements via a single covalent bond, or 2 elements with a double bond to one and a single to the other, or to 1 element with a rare triple bond.
• Carbon (C) has a maximum number of 4 bonds. This is the most versatile of the elements in the game. It can connect to 1-4 elements via triple, double, or single bonds. Note: Carbon cannot connect to itself with more than a triple bond.

When connecting elements, the covalent bonds drawn must be legal for all elements connected. For example, you cannot double bond Oxygen and Hydrogen since Hydrogen can only ever take 1 bond.

• Illegal bond: Oxygen double bonded to Hydrogen.
• Legal bonds: Hydrogen - Oxygen - Hydrogen, with a single bond on each side.

Earning & Using Tool Cards

Below we have a completed Water compound (H2O). The player has circled the completed compound, denoting no more elements can be attached to it, and placed its value in the center for end game scoring (A).

The completed compound can be used towards the tool "Centrifuge" (B). This means they get points for the created compound as well as the ability to use the tool for the rest of the game. When using a tool the player marks available spaces under "Tools" on the left side of their Note Sheet (C) equal to the number of icons (D) shown on the bottom of the Tool Card (B).

Score & Claim Notecards

This is where players circle any compounds that are completed and note the score for the bonds in that compound.

Players count the number of SINGLE bonds within their compound field, and score 1 point for each of those. Then they repeat this scoring 3 points for each DOUBLE bond, and, lastly, repeat this again scoring 6 points for every TRIPLE Bond.

• SINGLE BONDS * 1PT
• DOUBLE BONDS * 3PTS
• TRIPLE BONDS * 6PTS

Example: If players have created a compound that matches a face-up Notecard (A), they check the appropriate box on the left side of their Note Sheet (B) and mark the point value (see "Refill Notecards") of that Notecard next to the checkbox (C). Multiple players can claim the same notecard during a turn.

Refill Notecards

At the end of every turn's scoring phase, if any Notecards were completed discard the third Notecard (if any) from the track. Reveal a new card from the top of the Notecard deck and shift the others away from the Notecard deck. The new card, closest to the Notecard deck, is always worth 6 points, the middle card is worth 3, and the oldest 1.

When a Notecard is completed by a player, they check off the highest available box on the left side of their Note Sheet. They record the number of points they got from that Notecard (6, 3, or 1). They also unlock additional tool usage for the first 4 Notecards they complete.

Lab Fires

If any Lab Fires are revealed during the end of round refill, they remain in the card line. Players may choose to use their fire suppression (if available), or fill in 2 empty spaces on their Note Sheet, rendering them unavailable for the rest of the game. Lab Fires cannot be discarded from the line until they fall off the end. If there are more than 1 Lab Fire cards in the line, discard all visible Lab Fire cards and refill the Notecard line. It is possible to have multiple Lab Fires happen in a single round!

Once any Notecards or Lab Fires have been resolved, the dice are all passed to the next active player (person on the previous active player's left) and the turn order begins all over again.

If the Notecard deck is ever empty, shuffle the discard pile and place it face-down to form a new deck.

Bunsen Burners

As in all labs, the chance of a fire is always possible. The yellow dice in this game are the only dice which contain the Bunsen Burner tool. When it is rolled (with the other dice) one of two outcomes can occur.

A player can take the Bunsen Burner die in lieu of any element die. They burn 1 space on their compound field - but in return gain any 1 element of their choice to immediately notate in their compound field. If they do this, they may NOT use a tool, or ability, to prevent burning a space for this purpose.

If, by the end of the round, the Bunsen Burner is the Community die then it was left unattended and turns into a Lab Fire. Each player burns 2 spaces on their Note Sheet or uses a fire suppressant to prevent the burn for themselves. An unattended Bunsen Burner does not give players an element.

End Game

The game is over at the end of a turn in which a player's Note Sheet is full and they have no more spaces available for elements.

If any player has any elements in their compound field that are not connected to any other element(s), those elements burn (fill in the space and treat it as a Lab Fire space). Players may not use any tools or abilities to prevent this.

If a player has any incomplete Compounds (meaning elements that do not have their maximum number of covalent bonds) then subtract 1 from that compound's total for each missing bond. Example: If you have a compound with C=N-H, that compound would be worth 4 points minus 2 points for the missing 2 bonds in Carbon (requires 4 bonds), and score a total of 2 points.

Final Score

1. Players add up the score for all their compounds and put it in the first box in the scoring section.

2. Players add their total Notecard points, from the left side of the Note Sheet, and place that total in the second scoring box.

3. Players each lose 2 points for each burned space on their compound field. This number is put in the 3rd space of the scoring section.

4. Add the first two scoring boxes together, then subtract the value shown in the third box. Put the final number in the TOTAL/GRADE box. Whoever has the highest grade is the winner.