Potion-Making: Practice
Potion-Making: Practice Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
The game of «Potion-making» is played with «enchanted» cards. Each card is split into two parts: an «element» and a «formula». You may play each card as an element or as a formula but not both.
Elements
The element is shown in a frame at the bottom of the card. There are 16 different elements in the game. When an element is being played it should be placed in the center of the playing table, which is called «The Desk of Elements» – this represents elements «collected» by the players. Any player may use elements from the Desk to compose a formula and this is the ONLY source of elements for playing formulas. You may not use cards from your hand for this purpose.
Formulas
The formula is shown at the top of a card. At the very top there is the name of the formula and the number of points earned by a player who manages to compose it. The components, which are necessary to make this formula, are shown to the left, and an icon to the right of them represents a «result». Depending on the formula there may be different results:
- a simple elixir (composed of two elements);
- a complex elixir (composed of three elements);
- a Great Elixir (composed of two simple elixirs);
- a powder (composed of one simple elixir and one element);
- a Talisman (composed of a simple elixir and a complex elixir);
- a creature (composed of a simple elixir and a powder or complex elixir);
- The Supreme Talisman (composed of any two of Talismans);
- The Supreme Elixir (composed of any two of Great Elixirs).
A player may only compose a formula on his turn if all the components he needs are available on the playing table.
Setup
To start playing assemble all the cards into a single deck and shuffle it thoroughly. Deal each player four cards and place four more cards, face up, in the «Desk of Elements». These cards may be used to compose formulas from the very first turn of the game. The remaining cards should be placed face down in the middle of the table to form a draw pile.
Choose a player to take the first turn any way you like. Other players take their turns in clockwise order.
Score Counters
First, each player takes the two counters of their chosen color. These counters are used to track the points received by the player. One counter moves round the small scoring table from 1 to 10. When a player passes 10 points, the other counter moves to 10 on the large scoring table (the tens table) whilst the first counter starts a second lap and so on.
How to Play
On his turn, each player takes two actions: he draws one card from the top of the deck (to make his hand up to five) and plays one card from his hand. Any card in a player’s hand (except for spell cards) may be played either as an element or as a formula. No cards may ever be played during another player’s turn.
Playing a Card as an Element
When you play a card as an element, place it on the Desk of Elements. If the element you just played was not already present on the Desk gain 1 point. If there is already a card representing that element on the desk, put yours on top of it, so that cards representing the same element are stacked together.
Playing a Card as a Formula
When you play a card as a formula, place it on the table in front of you and put all the cards that you used as components face down over its bottom half, so that other players can see all the formulas you have composed. To compose a formula you may use any cards from the Desk of Elements (but only as the elements they represent, not as formulas) as well as any formulas already composed by other players or by yourself (these are always used as formulas – elixirs, potions, powders and talismans, never the elements they represent).
Scoring Composed Formulas
When a previously composed formula is used to make a more complex one, return all the cards that were its components to the Desk of Elements, (you do not gain any points for them).
A player who composes a formula earns the number of victory points indicated in the small frame on the right of that formula card. If any other player’s composed formula was used as a component, that player also gains half the number of points earned by the player who used his formula. Several formulas at once may be taken from the same player to be used as components but no matter how many formulas are taken, that player would still gain only half the number of points of the person composing the formula. (Strategy tip: Composing formulas from just your own components is much more advantageous to you, because the other players gain nothing).
Spell Cards
As we mentioned above, the turn usually passes after a player has drawn one card and played one card. However, spell cards are different.
There are three types of spell cards: «Eureka!» Spells, Decomposition Spells and Transformation Spells. These cards do not show any formula on them and may be played only as elements or as spells. When played as a spell, the player is allowed to take a special action as described on the card, after which the spell card is placed on the Desk of Elements (as if it were being placed as an element, but without earning the player any points). If the Desk already contains the element represented on a spell card, the spell card should be placed at the bottom of this element pile.
«Eureka!» Spell
Using a «Eureka!» spell a player can choose to take into his hand any card with a formula shown on it (i.e. not another spell card) from the Desk of Elements. The chosen card must be taken from the top of a pile. After playing this spell and taking the chosen card, the player must play another card, which may be a formula (even the one just taken), an element or another spell.
Decomposition Spell
With this spell a player can destroy any one of the formulas he composed earlier in the game. The card may not be used to destroy other players’ formulas. When you destroy a formula with Decomposition you may choose any one of the formula cards it consists of, either the card which represents the decomposed formula, or any of its component cards. However, you may not take a card with a spell on it. Put the chosen card in front of you and treat it from now on as a composed formula (note that you don’t gain any points for this formula). Return all the other cards from the decomposed formula to the Desk of Elements. Thus, this spell allows you to drop components you need for a new formula to the Desk of Elements without losing the composed formula they make up. You may also use it to gain a new formula, which you need to compose something more complex. After playing this spell you must play another card (if you have any). Note that unlike the «Eureka!» spell, this spell decreases the number of cards in your hand, therefore at the beginning of your next turn you should draw one extra card from the deck (if there are any there).
Transformation Spell
This spell transforms any one of its player’s composed formulas into any other formula, which he chooses from cards in the Desk of Elements. A player may only choose a card from the top of its element pile. The chosen card should be placed together with that player’s other composed formulas and treated as a composed formula too (though placing it doesn’t give any points). Return all the cards that made up the replaced formula to the Desk of Elements. After playing this spell a player must play another card. This also decreases the number of cards in your hand so at the beginning of your next turn you should draw one extra card.
Playing More Than One Spell
Sometimes a player may play more than one spell on the same turn. In this case, at the beginning of his next turn, he draws cards until he has five in his hand (or until the deck is exhausted).
The Supreme Elixir and The Supreme Talisman of Magic
There are is only one copy of each of these cards in the deck. To compose these powerful artefacts you do not need fixed components. The Supreme Elixir may be composed of any two of the Great Elixirs and the Supreme Talisman of Magic of any two Talismans.
Another special feature of these cards is that they show three elements at once. A player who plays them as elements gains from 0 to 3 points depending on the number of these elements which are missing from the Desk of Elements when he plays the card. These cards should always be placed separately from other elements on the Desk, but all the elements they show are considered to be present on the Desk. A player who wishes to use one of these cards while they are on the Desk of Elements may only use them as ONE of the three elements depicted. If two or more cards representing the same element are to be returned to the Desk simultaneously (this may happen when someone plays a spell or composes a complex formula from more simple ones), the player who’s turn it is may stack them in any order he wishes, so long as any spell cards are placed at the bottom of the stack.
End of the Game
When the deck is exhausted, the game should still continue until all players have played out the cards in their hand. Then the game is over. Each player checks the points he or she earned and the one who has the most points claims victory. If there is a tie for most points, all tied players are considered winners.
Example of Play
This example intends to illustrate game principles we described in the game rules. It represents only one player’s moves (let’s name him Dan) but implies other players too.
1st turn. Dan holds “Polyglossum” potion, “Fire Salamander”, Transformation Spell and “The Great Elixir of Revival” in his hand. The Desk of Elements contains “Bat’s Wing”, “Energy of Mind”, “Fern Flower” and “Crystal of Air”. Now Dan draws a card; it happens to be “Elixir of Invisibility”. He plays this card as a formula – places it in front of himself, then takes “Energy of Mind” and “Crystal of Air” from the Desk and puts these cards over the formula card face down. For composing the “Elixir of Invisibility” he earns 2 points, which he indicates by moving his counter on the scoretable. After this is done his turn ends.
2nd turn. Dan’s hand holds the same cards that were here on the previous turn. But now the Desk of Elements contains “Mandrake Root”, “Bloodstone”, “Dragon’s Tooth” and “Mushrarms”. He draws “Telepathic potion” from the deck. Now he must play one card. Dan cannot spot on the playing table any components necessary for playing formulas he has in hand, therefore he plays “Fire Salamander” as an element. This card represents “Phoenix Feather” which is missing at the Desk of Elements. When Dan places it to the Desk he earns 1 point. Then his second turn ends.
3rd turn. Now Dan has “Polyglossum” Potion, “Telepathic potion”, “Transformation spell” and “The Great Elixir of Revival”. The Desk of Elements contains “Mandrake Root”, “Dragon’s Tooth”, “Bloodstone”, “Phoenix Feather” and “Spring Water”. He draws “Powder of Destiny” which gives him an opportunity to play an intricate combination. The card in the Desk of Elements that represents “Bloodstone” also bears a formula of “Tincture of Soothsaying” which is necessary to compose the “Powder of Destiny”. Dan needs some way to get it into possession. He does it using Transformation Spell on the “Elixir of Invisibility” that he has composed on his 1st turn. He announces a spell and puts its card to the Desk of Elements as a “Mandrake Root”. “Mandrake Root” is also present at the Desk therefore the spell card is put to the bottom of a card pile representing this Element (as should any Spell card). Then Dan exchanges “Elixir of Invisibility”, which lies on the table in front of him as a composed formula, with the “Tincture of Soothsaying”. He returns all cards that constituted the “Elixir of Invisibility” and “Elixir of Invisibility” card itself to the Desk of Elements. He doesn’t gain any points for all this manipulations. But he just has played a spell and may play another card this turn. Now Dan composes a “Powder of Destiny” using a “Phoenix Feather” from the Desk of Elements and a “Tincture of Soothsaying”, which he obtained as a result of previous Transformation spell, and it earns him 4 victory points.