Board game magic potion print and play. Tips for the board game "potions". Video for the board game Potions: Workshop

The School of Wizards and Mages is a place where the most incredible transformations are possible. Would you like to receive the great elixir of eternal love? To do this, just mix love potion and the elixir of fidelity. For a teleportation talisman, you will need a solution of eternity and a flight potion, and from the elixir of secret vision and a telepathic potion, you will get a supernatural creature - a fabulous basilisk. It is possible to carry out alchemical experiments indefinitely, but one should not forget about the curriculum: the schoolchild who masters the practical course of Potions best of all will be admitted to the University of High Magic without exams.

"Potion making. Practicum is a board card game in which players earn victory points by crafting magical elixirs, potions, powders, and talismans. Each such recipe consists of two or three ingredients, which can be either basic elements (such as thought energy, a blood stone or a snake's eye), as well as other potions. The winner is determined by the sum of points for the recipes he collected.

Special cards act as magical substances and their components. At the top of each is the recipe: the name of the elixir, powder, talisman or creature, its image, its value in victory points, and the required ingredients. In the lower part is one of the sixteen elements - astral energy, dragon's tooth, fern flower, mandrake root, etc. At the beginning of the game, participants receive four cards in their hand, and four more are laid out face up in the middle of the table - in the so-called cabinet of elements . In addition, each player places two tokens of his color on the zero spaces of the victory point counters (one marks ones, the other marks tens).

The players take turns. On their turn, the player first draws one card from the top of the deck into their hand, and then must play one card from their hand. This can be done in one of two ways: either place the card in the cabinet of elements, or collect the recipe indicated on it. Whenever a player adds an element to a cabinet that was not already there, he receives 1 victory point. The recipe brings points according to its value (from 2 to 10 points), however, to collect it, all the necessary ingredients must be present on the table. Elements can only be taken from the closet, other potions - both from oneself and from other players, however, in the latter case, the opponent from whom the finished recipe was borrowed will also receive points. The game continues until all cards have been played - both from the deck and from the hands of the participants. Then the one with the most points is the winner.

As a rule, recipes require strictly defined ingredients. For example, an infusion of divination can only be made from mushrooms and air crystals, and in order to obtain a powder of fate, one must add a phoenix feather to this infusion. However, the two most expensive, "ten-point" recipes - the great talisman of magic and the supreme elixir - can be assembled from any two talismans and any two great elixirs, respectively. In addition, not one, but three elements are indicated at the bottom of these recipes - the player can use any of them when he takes such a card from the cabinet. Other special cards- spells that allow you to get the desired potions "bypass". So, the spell of knowledge allows you to take any card from the cabinet of elements into your hand, and the spells of transformation and destruction turn the recipe collected by the player into another one. Recipes purchased this way do not provide points on their own, but can be used to create more valuable substances.

Potions is a board game for the widest audience. It is played with equal pleasure in the family circle and in tournaments, children and adults, men and women. Especially many fans of Potions found among fans of fantasy, science fiction and role-playing games.

If you have any questions about the rules of our game, we will be happy to answer on a special forum about it on the international portal BoardGameGeek in Russian.

Awards and titles

Immediately after its appearance, Potions, despite its popularity, did not deserve a single award - simply because in 2005 there were no awards for board games in Russia. The game received formal recognition by its fifth anniversary: ​​in 2010, authoritative bloggers called it the best Russian board game of the last five years and the most famous domestic game. At the same time, Potions received the title of the favorite game of the Detcon children's role-playing convention and entered the Hall of Fame of the Krasnoyarsk Meeple exhibition. In addition, "Potion" was included in the list of "board games that are fun for adults to play with children," published in the Russian version of Forbes magazine.

Board game Potions will make you feel like a real alchemist. By mixing various ingredients, you can get simple potions, which can later be mixed into more complex compositions, which in turn serve to create even more powerful things and even magical creatures.

Real alchemists know that creating a real Dragon is very simple. To do this, you just need to mix the elixir of strength with the powder of control. To distill the elixir of strength, you need astral energy and a blood stone, and the powder of control can be obtained by mixing a love potion with a Dragon's tooth.

In turn, a love potion can be obtained by combining a blood stone with a mandrake root. That is, to create a Dragon, you will need a mandrake root, a Dragon tooth, astral energy and two blood stones.

Where can you get all these ingredients? Come on, take it in the locker.

This is what you will have to do in the potions board game from the company " Correct Games».

The author of the game is Sergey Machin. The game is distributed as a basic version of Potions. Practicum ", and also has two additions -" university course and the Guild of Alchemists. But there is also a deluxe edition that includes the base game, both expansions, and a few bonuses not found in other editions of the game.

The Right Games company sent me exactly this, the most full version games, for which many thanks to them.

The outer design of the box is stylized as a book intercepted by two fastener straps. It is much larger than the basic version.

In the box we find a colorful brochure with the rules of the game, printed on good glossy paper, seven cardboard tables, three decks of cards (Practice, University Course and Alchemists Guild cards) and a bag with twelve chips in six colors. That is, each player has two chips.

Now let's take a look at the tables taken out of the box.

The winner in Potions is the player with the most points, so two of the tables are point counters. On one of these counters units are marked, on the other - tens. That is why players need two chips each.

On the reverse side tens counter is a scheme for collecting basic recipes. Another such scheme is in the box with the game in the form of a separate table. Such an additional scheme is one of the bonuses of the gift set.

The other four tables depict the Sequences of the Great Work. They will be useful to us for the "Guild of Alchemists."

First, let's look at the basic version of the game.

Potions is played by two to six players. Their task is to collect various compositions to score as many points as possible.

The game is played with cards. Each card is divided into two parts.

At the top of most cards is one of the available recipes, which includes an image and the name of the finished composition, the ingredients needed to create it, as well as the number of points given for preparing it. The more complex the recipe, the more points you can get for it.

At the bottom is one of the alchemical ingredients, and two cards with the most difficult recipes carry three ingredients at once.

Each card can be used as a recipe or as an ingredient. On their turn, players draw one card from the deck and play one card from their hand. If a card is used as an ingredient, it is laid out on a specially designated place on the table. This is a closet where all players can take ingredients to work from.

If such an ingredient is not yet (or already) in the cabinet, the player receives one point for it.

Also, the player can collect one of the recipes that he has on hand, if the table has all the necessary elements for this.

To collect the recipe, you can only use the contents of the cabinet, as well as the compositions previously collected by you or other players. You cannot lay out ingredients from your hand for this purpose.

If you use a simpler recipe collected by another player to assemble a recipe, then in this case he also receives points.

Some of the cards have different spells instead of recipes. In the basic version, there are only three such spells: the spell of knowledge, the spell of destruction, and the spell of transformation.

The spell of knowledge allows the player to learn one of the recipes from a card placed in the cabinet as an ingredient.

The destruction spell allows you to disassemble one of the collected recipes into its component parts and put one of its components on the table as another recipe already assembled. You will not receive points for such an action, but you can use the resulting recipe to assemble other, more complex recipes.

The transform spell allows you to replace an already collected recipe card with one of the recipes laid out in the cabinet as an ingredient.

After using the spell, the player immediately plays another card.

The University Course add-on significantly expands the capabilities of the basic version of Potions. The game now involves two decks, so that the players have more cards in their hands.

The turn now consists of as many as three phases, during which players draw and play cards.

A new element has appeared - Elementary Magem. Actually, in a deluxe edition, it is available in a single copy already in the basic version, on a bonus card with a recipe for creating a magical creature Alchemikote. In the "University Course" it is already used to its fullest.

The value of Elemental Magem is that when creating a recipe, it can replace one of basic elements. True, if someone subsequently uses the composition you assembled with it to assemble a more complex recipe, you will not receive additional points.

Points are also not awarded for placing Elemental Magem in the closet.

To create advanced recipes, the elixir of versatility works in a similar way, but it will first have to be prepared according to one of the new recipes that have appeared in the game.

Another versatile item is Powder of Life. When creating a creature, it can replace any of the powders.

But the biggest changes to the game are the minor talismans that appeared in the expansion, as well as new spells.

Junior talismans are assembled in exactly the same way as regular recipes, but in addition to victory points, they bring additional benefits to the players who created them.

For example, the minor talisman of utility allows the player to receive one victory point when placing elements in the cabinet, even if such an Element is already in the cabinet, as well as for placing an elemental magem. And the junior talisman of growth gives its owner one point at the beginning of each turn, if one of the players has more points than him.

This expansion introduces ten new spells, also introducing many changes to game process. Players can now learn spells placed in the cabinet as items, obtain missing items from other players, return ingredient cards of collected recipes to the cabinet, and do other interesting things.

Another innovation is the possibility of team play.

I find the addition "University Course" very successful. Thanks to him, Potions begins to play with new colors, and development options winning strategy expand significantly.

True, the game becomes a little long, which is not surprising with so many cards. As a solution to this problem, the author recommends playing until one of the players reaches a predetermined number of points.

A small flaw is related to the description in the rules of the Elemental magem. The fact is that the rules are divided into three sections according to the number of game options. The description of the magem is given in the section with the rules of the "University course", which is quite natural for an addition to the regular edition of the game, because there is no magem in the basic Potions.

But as I said, in the deluxe edition it is introduced into the game bonus card. As a result, the element exists, and its description has to be found in other rules.

The Alchemist's Guild expansion introduces players to a goal that has captivated the imagination of alchemists for centuries. They have to create the Philosopher's Stone. But before reaching this goal, they have to collect one of the Sequences of the Great Work.

The sequence consists of seven recipes collected in a strict order, the seventh of which is the Philosopher's Stone.

In total, there are three types of Philosopher's Stones in the game and you can collect several sequences at once. The game ends when one of the players reaches the goal or the cards in the deck run out.

Additions "Guild of Alchemists" and "University Course" can be combined with each other. The features of this version of the game are described separately in the rules.

The quality of the game components is good. The cards are quite dense and excellently designed, which, however, can be clearly seen in the above pictures.

I thank the Right Games company for providing the kit for review.

The Potions game uses enchanted cards. There are 76 of them in total. Each card has two parts: a recipe and an element. Accordingly, the card can be played either as a recipe or as an element.

Elements

The element is indicated at the bottom of the map, inside the frame. Each element has its own name and description. There are 16 elements in total. Elements are used to create simple potions and elixirs. Played (found) elements are placed in the center of the table in the so-called cabinet of elements. Elements from the closet can be used by all players. Elements for collecting recipes can ONLY be taken from the element cabinet, not from the player's hand.

Recipes

The recipe is located at the top of the card. Above is the name of the recipe and how many points the player who collects this recipe receives. On the left - the ingredients needed to collect it, on the right - the result obtained when collecting the recipe. The result can be: a simple elixir (assembled from two elements), a complex elixir (assembled from three elements), a great elixir (assembled from two simple elixirs), powder (assembled from a simple elixir and an element), a talisman (assembled from a simple and complex elixirs ), creature (assembled from a simple elixir and a complex elixir or powder), great talisman (collected from any two talismans), supreme elixir (assembled from any two great elixirs). A player can collect a recipe on their turn only if all the necessary ingredients are present on the table.

How to play?

At the beginning of the game, everyone chooses a chip of any color. With its help, the player notes the points scored by him on the table-counter. The player's chip moves along the fields of the counter from 1 to 30, depending on the points scored. If a player scores more than 30 points, his chip is turned over and moves along the counter for the next circle, etc.

All cards are collected in a deck, which is thoroughly shuffled. Each player is dealt four cards, after which the deck is placed face down on the table. Then the top four cards from the deck are revealed and placed on the table in the cabinet of elements. They can be used already on the first turn.

Who goes first is determined by lot (for example, one of the players, closing his eyes, draws one of the players' chips laid out on the counter table). The player on the left goes next, and so on clockwise.

During a turn, the player must take the top card from the deck into their hand, and then play one card from their hand. The card can be played either as an element or as a recipe.

A card played as an element is placed in the element cabinet. If there is no such element yet, the player gets 1 point, if there is already such an element - 0 points. If an element is already in the cabinet, the card played as an element is placed on top of that element's card. Thus, stacks of cards of identical elements are formed in the cabinet.

A card played as a recipe is placed on the table in front of the player, and the ingredient cards of the recipe are placed face down on it, but in such a way that other players can always see which recipes the player has collected.

To collect a recipe, you can use elements from the cabinet (but only elements), as well as ready-made recipes (elixirs, talismans, powders, etc.), collected both by the player himself and by other players. If a previously collected simpler recipe is used when collecting a complex recipe, the ingredients cards of this recipe are returned to the element cabinet as normal elements.

By collecting a recipe, the player receives as many points as indicated in the box at the top of the card. If a player used ready-made recipes collected by other players to collect his recipe, then each of the players whose recipe was used also receives points, but half as much as the player who collected the recipe this turn. Even if a player has taken a few ingredients, they still only get half the points awarded to the player who collected the recipe. If a player has collected a recipe using only their own ingredients, they only receive points for collecting this recipe, but other players do not receive anything, so it is always more profitable to collect recipes with their own ingredients.

Usually, after a player has taken one card from the deck and played one card from his hand, his turn ends and the next player goes. But if a player uses spell cards, then he plays several cards per turn.

"Potion Mastery" makes you one of the students of the school of magic, performing practical work for obtaining elixirs, breeding magical creatures and enchanting amulets. The more useful recipes you complete, the more points you get at the end of the game - and the greater your chance of winning.

Yes, Potions is played using cards, each containing a recipe or spell and an element. You can use any of them as a component of a new elixir - or as a recipe for a build. In fact, each turn you will have to evaluate the table (where other players will put components and collected elixirs in the Cabinet), your hand (more importantly - get some points now - or hope for huge jackpot at the end of the game?), as well as the progress of the players. The fact is that various elixirs themselves become components of stronger (and more complex) alchemical creations: therefore, by assembling just one simple potion, you can give your competitor the opportunity to assemble a very expensive amulet.

One game is enough to master and study the rules. It will take several months to fully understand the beauty of Potions and appreciate the subtlest strategic moments. To be able to win in a serious tournament, you need to have not only iron knowledge of the table of elements and the complete scheme of game recipes, but also a clear idea of ​​what exactly your opponents will do and in what situations. Potions perfectly develops logical thinking, attentiveness and memory.

Equipment:

• 76 cards;
• score counter (2 fields);
• 12 chips;
• rules of the game.

Burn the fire, boil the cauldron!

In conditions modern world many of us often have a desire to "disconnect" from reality and touch the mysterious magic. In the Potions game we plunge into the mystical world of elixirs and potions, magical creatures and talismans. And in order to comprehend this mysterious science, you just need to open the game "Potion Making. Practicum"
Potions is a card game, the purpose of which is to collect combinations (recipes) of various difficulty levels. This game appeared on sale a long time ago, today its third edition is actively sold. Now the chips are plastic, they do not need to be glued from cardboard into pyramids and mark “circles” on them that you wind on the score counter, which, in fact, is also no longer up to 30 points, but consists of two parts: units and tens. The quality of images on the cards has also improved significantly: the "shirts" are all the same color, and the pictures are clear.
So, we take a larger scoop, put a pointed cap on our heads and throw a mantle over our shoulders (a laboratory coat will also do).
The box in which the game is hidden is stylized as a fantasy book: leather cover, inlay precious stones and thematic images. All this, of course, is drawn, including the pages and even the small claws of some creature! In appearance, the box seems short-lived: the cardboard is thin. On the other hand, we will not play with a box, will we? Anticipating something wonderfully magical, we open the book, that is, the box. Inside we are waiting for:
rules of the game;
70 cards of various recipes;
6 spell cards;
2 cardboard boxes representing a counter;
12 plastic chips (6 colors, two of each - one for counting tens, the other for units).





Let's start with the cards. They are decorated in muted colors, contributing to the atmosphere of mystery and fabulous expectation. I can't say that the cardboard from which the cards are made is so thin, but out of harm's way, we nevertheless "dressed" them in protectors - they will be more whole.
Now I’ll talk a little about what information is included in each card. To be honest, the first couple of eyes run wide - so much fits on one small piece of cardboard. But after one or two games, it becomes much easier to focus on the necessary. Therefore, if suddenly someone mixed up something, you should not rush at him with your fists. It's another matter if a player deliberately cheats, then you can even make a couple of sonorous clicks.
At the top of the card is the name of the recipe. These are all kinds of potions and elixirs, solutions and powders, talismans and animals. There are very funny combinations, for example, the creature Avocado-Kadavr. The list of recipes includes a potion of eternal youth, and a love potion, and an elixir of wisdom, and a teleportation talisman, and a powder of incorporeality, and even a recipe for creating a terrible and terrible banshee!
Above the name of the recipe is indicated its level of complexity, in combination - the number of points received in the manufacture of this recipe. There are 9 in total (from 2 to 10). The simplest potions are crafted from two elements, the most complex ones are already crafted from other created potions. "Dead end" recipes (which will no longer participate in further transformations) are creatures, talismans and two recipes of the 10th level: the Supreme Elixir and the Great Talisman of Magic.


We figured out the "cap" of the cards, now we look at what we have next. The "body" of the card consists of two parts: the upper (recipe) and the lower (reagent). The recipe part indicates which reagents are needed for this recipe. Here is the image of the element, and its name. Below is an image of the final result.
The elemental part depicts an element: its name, image and a brief artistic description. There are 16 types of these elements in total. Among others, there is a fern flower, a dragon's tooth, and much more. There are even waves of ether and astral energy. I was pleased with the element called "mushrooms", that is, mushrooms. True, they are suspiciously blue, hmmm ... It happened so that we simplified the names of the elements a little. For example, the quintessence of will, even sounds somehow intimidating, but for now you will pronounce ... We call it from the image - "fist". The energy of thought in our circles is called "muzzle".
As a rule, one map is the source of one element, but there are exceptions. These are already familiar level 10 cards: they depict three elements at once. Unfortunately, only one of them can participate in the preparation.
Spell cards bring zest to the game. There are three types, two of each. For example, using a destruction spell, you can break one of your recipes, and choose one of the reagents to use as the recipe. Such a recipe is considered already collected, but points are not awarded for it. No points are deducted for a broken recipe! They are already yours, hard-earned.
Well, there is not much to tell about the chips and the counter, but I would linger a bit on the rules. The fact is that the rules included in the game are overloaded with information: some aspects are repeated several times, some are not worthy of attention at all. To someone, maybe everything is clear between the lines, but I am a supporter of clear, consistent instructions. Reminds me of the cat in the microwave...
So, briefly about the rules and the course of the game.
Start. First of all, choose your chip color. Next, we deal cards. Each player has 4 cards in his hand, and 4 cards on the table (in the cabinet of elements). Cards from the cabinet of elements are used only as reagents, we don’t even look at recipes! (except if you have a knowledge spell or a transform spell). Who goes first - you choose yourself, there are no strict rules on this issue: lot, seniority, the winner of the previous session, the birthday boy, after all!
A turn consists of two parts: draw a card from the deck and play one card.
Our goal is to find a recipe among the cards in hand, all the elements for which are in the cabinet of elements. You can't take items from anywhere else. If luck smiles radiantly from this moment and everything you need is there, put the cards with the recipe on the table, take the reagents from the cabinet and - voila! - the recipe is collected.
If no such recipes are found, then please add one card to the cabinet of elements. You can put the card you need. But there is one catch - not the fact that it lies before your next move. The more players, the more likely it is to be pulled literally from under your nose. But hope, as they say, dies last. Very often, phrases like "I didn't put a fern flower for you, put it back in place" are uttered at the table.



In general, as a rule, each session has its own "deficient" element. It seems that there are already a bunch of different elements, some already two or three, but there is no spring water and that's it! And that's what almost everyone needs.
Another point that is important when choosing the element to be dropped. If there is no such element in the cabinet of elements, then add 1 point to yourself. If there is - sorry, points are not awarded. By playing a card with three elements, you get points for each "new" element, that is, a maximum of three points.
Do not forget that in any case, you must play a card: either in the cabinet of elements, or collect your recipe.
The start of the game is usually sluggish: there are still few items in the closet, as well as collected recipes. The speed of "acceleration" depends on the number of players. By the way, many people online complain about the big downtime. I don't know, we spent a lot of time in the first two sessions, but now everything is quite active and fun.
The nice thing is that when creating more complex recipes (when you need not just elements, but already collected recipes), you can use a friend’s ready-made potion. In this case, he receives a bonus equal to half of the points you received. For example, you have the recipe "Great Talisman of Magic", it includes two talismans. You haven't collected any. But then the neighbor collected two. Take the recipe cards of those talismans from him (send the reagents to the cabinet) and craft your great talisman. As a result, you get 10 points, and the neighbor 5. If you take one talisman from different people, you will still get 10 points, and both "helpers" 5 each. By the way, the phrase "I'm not for you created" is heard quite often when a large company gathers.
When using spells, it may turn out that the turn ends not with four cards (4 were, one was taken from the deck, one was played)), but with three or even two. In this case, at the beginning of the next turn, it is necessary to take not one, but so many cards from the deck so that there are 5 of them in hand.
The game ends when the deck runs out. The one with the most points wins. Point counters are designed to use not only the basic version, but also add-ons. Therefore, do not worry, there will be no need to remember who makes what circle even after purchasing the add-ons.
The only thing is that I can say absolutely nothing about balance, since I do not consider it possible to apply such a term to card game. Well, what kind of balance can we talk about when the set of cards in your hand depends on the will of chance? Especially "fun" happens when among the first 4 cards in hand there are 2 spells, a creature of the 8th level and some great elixir, and this lasts for several turns in a row. And sometimes, one by one, you produce elixirs and, not only by units, by tens of points, you break ahead of other players.
In general, the game is very exciting. Here and attentiveness, and with the desire to win - the work of the head, but there is enough space for communication. Most importantly, do not forget to take into account the points scored ...

Written for the store