Potion Explosion: The 6th Student
Potion Explosion: The 6th Student Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
(Habemus plasticam)
- 1 Plastic Dispenser (with a drawer to store marbles between games)
- 2 Desk boards
- 8 Skill tokens
- 30 Mandragora Leaf marbles
- 9 Little Help tokens
- 16 Potion tiles of 2 kinds (Potions of the same kind have the same power icon)
- 1 Bell tile
New Rules
(Duplex dispenseribus dominandum est)
In addition to the new Potion tiles that you can use along with the ones from the base game (see page 8), this Expansion also introduces new Wild Ingredient marbles that act as wild cards when placed into Potions, but that only explode when colliding with each other (see below). It also introduces a new way to play with 5-6 players that requires playing with these new Ingredient marbles and 2 Dispensers on the table (see page 4).
The Sixth Ingredient
(De mandragoris leafibus)
This expansion introduces you to a new kind of Ingredient—a green-colored, Wild Ingredient marble: Mandragora Leaves. When brewing Potions, this arcane vegetal substance can be used in place of any other Ingredient (basically, they act as wild cards). There's a catch, though: they can't be mixed with the other Ingredients!
The use of this new Ingredient is mandatory when playing with the new game mode for 5-6 players (see page 4), but with a few adjustments to the game setup procedure, you can also use it during a regular game with 2-4 players (see below).
Game Setup for 2-4 Players
(Preparatio modificata)
During Step 7 of the setup procedure, remove 5 regular Ingredient marbles of each color and 10 Mandragora Leaf marbles, then put them back into their respective boxes. They won't be used during this game. After this, you should have 15 regular Ingredient marbles of each color and 20 Mandragora Leaf marbles, for a total of 80 Ingredient marbles. Mix the Ingredients from the base game with the ones from this expansion, then randomly put them into the "tank" of the Dispenser just like in a regular game.
How to Use Mandragora Leaves
(Usus mandragorae explicatum)
When picking marbles from the Dispenser, you must treat Mandragora Leaf marbles as a separate Ingredient color: they only explode when they collide with each other, just like regular Ingredient marbles. The magic happens when you use them in your Potions!
When you have Mandragora Leaf marbles in your hand, you can place them on any holes in your Potion tiles, regardless of their color, as long as there are no marbles of other colors in the same "layer" of the Potion. Also, if an Ingredient layer contains 1 or more Mandragora Leaf marbles, you can't place any other kind of Ingredient marble in that layer, only more Mandragora Leaf marbles.
Mandragora Leaf Ingredient marbles have another limit: you can't change their color with any color-changing Potion effect. They can only be placed in empty Potion layers, or layers that already contain other Mandragora Leaf marbles, and there is no way to bypass this limit.
Example: Heiko collected 1 red and 3 Mandragora Leaf marbles, and now he's trying to complete his Potions. Since he already placed a Mandragora Leaf marble in the red layer on the Potion on the left, he can't place the red marble there, but he can use 1 of the Mandragora Leaf marbles to complete that layer. The blue layer of that Potion already has blue marbles in it, so he can't place the 2 other Mandragora Leaf marbles in that layer. The yellow layer of the Potion on the right, on the other hand, is empty, so he can fill it with the 2 Mandragora Leaf marbles. Heiko could instead use those 2 Mandragora Leaf marbles to fill the upper red layer, since it already contains Mandragora Leaf marbles.
Games with 5-6 Players
(De moreibus, de merrieribus)
Potion Explosion™: The 6th Student introduces a new game mode for 5 to 6 players. In this mode you will play with 2 Dispensers on the table in the following way: you will pick marbles from one dispenser, and discard them into the other. The roles of the two dispensers will swap during the game, so you'd better be prepared for when this happens and plan ahead!
The core rules of the game basically remain the same, with a few exceptions (as described below).
Game Setup for 5-6 Players
(Preparatio expansa)
- At the beginning of the setup procedure (as described in the base game rulebook), place both Dispensers (the one from the base game, and the one from this expansion) next to each other in the middle of the table, so that they are easily visible to all players.
- During Steps 3-4, instead of choosing 6 kinds of Potions, choose the number you'll play with according to the table at the bottom of this page.
- During Step 6, instead of creating 5 stacks, divide the Potion tiles into the number of stacks shown on the table at the bottom of this page.
- During Step 7, mix the 80 Ingredient marbles from the base game with the 30 Mandragora Leaf Ingredient marbles, then put them into the "tank" of the first Dispenser until it is full (i.e., all slides are full, but no marble sticks out from the lid). Put the Bell tile onto the lid so that it prevents more marbles from rolling into the holes. The Dispenser with the Bell tile on it will be referred to as the "Pick Dispenser" throughout the game.
- Also, put the remaining marbles into the tank of the second Dispenser. Randomly roll the marbles onto the lid, like when you refill the Dispenser during the game (see "Refilling the Dispenser" in the base game rulebook). The Dispenser without the Bell tile on it will be referred to as the "Discard Dispenser" throughout the game.
- During Step 8, place a number of Skill tokens into the "countdown" stack, according to the table below.
| 5 Players | 6 Players | |
|---|---|---|
| Kinds of Potions in play | 7 kinds of Potions | 8 kinds of Potions |
| Stacks of Potion tiles | 6 stacks of tiles | 7 stacks of tiles |
| Countdown stack | 7 Skill tokens | 8 Skill tokens |
Game Turn
(Movendo intra classes)
A game of Potion Explosion™ with 5-6 players plays just like the regular version for 2-4 players, with 3 exceptions:
- Ingredients MUST be taken only from the Pick Dispenser.
- Ingredients MUST be discarded only into the Discard Dispenser.
- At the beginning of each player's turn, check if you must Change Classrooms (see below).
Changing Classrooms
(De dispenseribus rotatio)
At the beginning of your turn, you MUST check if you have to Change Classrooms.
First, count the number of full tracks in each Dispenser. A full track is a track that contains at least 9 visible marbles (the 8 you can take, plus the one that is right under the arc wall of the Dispenser). If the Discard Dispenser has more full tracks than the Pick Dispenser, you have to Change Classrooms, i.e., move the Bell tile from one Dispenser to the other. In case of a tie, the Bell tile is not moved.
The Pick Dispenser only has 2 full tracks (even though there are 8 marbles in the middle one, there is no 9th marble under the arc, so it is not full). The Discard Dispenser has 3 full tracks, so the next player will have to Change Classrooms and move the Bell tile at the beginning of their turn!
Taking Ingredients
(Decantando ingredientes)
As described in the previous page, when you take an Ingredient, you must take it from the Pick Dispenser (i.e., the Dispenser with the Bell tile on its lid). Except for this, the rules for choosing and picking a marble are the same as the regular version of the game.
You can only pick Ingredients from the Dispenser with the Bell tile on its lid...
Refilling the Dispenser
(Cave campanam)
When you have to put Ingredient marbles into the Dispenser, you have to put them into the Discard Dispenser (i.e., the Dispenser without the Bell tile). Apply the same rules as the regular game (i.e., randomly roll the marbles, and fill the nearest empty track if marbles end up going into tracks that are already full).
...and you can only discard them into the Dispenser that does not have the Bell tile on its lid.
Skill Tokens
(Novus achievius)
When playing with 5-6 players, there is a new way to gain Skill tokens. When you complete your 10th Potion in total (regardless of kind), you automatically receive a Skill token (but you don't gain another token if you complete 20 Potions in total).
This player obtained 2 Skill tokens: one Skill token for the set of at least 3 Generosity Confection tiles, and one token for completing at least 10 Potion tiles.
New Potions
(Habemus ideas pro pluribus annibus)
During Step 3 of the Game Setup (as described in the base game rulebook), when you choose the kinds of Potions to play with, you can freely mix Potions from the base game and any expansions, either randomly or deliberately. Put all the unused Potions back into their respective boxes. Then follow the regular Setup procedure for the game mode you're playing (2-4 players or 5-6 players).
Generosity Confection
Take a number of adjacent Ingredients from the same slide track of the Dispenser equal to the number of players, then place 1 of these Ingredients in each opponent's Pool and keep 1 for yourself. If an opponent's Pool is already full, discard that Ingredient back into the Dispenser.
A good potion is like a good granny cake: it tastes better when it's shared.
Concentrate of Selfishness
Steal 1 Ingredient from each opponent's Pool.
One small loss for many, one giant gain for one. Just make sure you are that one.