Potions - Workshop (Improved version III edition). Rules of the game

"Potions: Workshop" makes you one of the students of the school of magic, performing practical work on obtaining elixirs, breeding magical creatures and enchanting amulets. The more healthy 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 assembly. In fact, each turn you will have to evaluate the table (where other players will put components and collected elixirs into the Cabinet), your hand (what is more important - to get some points now - or to hope for a 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. In order to fully understand the beauty of Potions and appreciate the subtlest strategic points, it will take several months. To be able to win a serious tournament, you need to have not only a solid knowledge of the table of elements and a complete scheme of game recipes, but also a clear idea of ​​what exactly your opponents will do and in what situations. “Potion making” perfectly develops logical thinking, attentiveness and memory.

Equipment:

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

Potions lesson begins. The best grade will be given to the student of the School of Sorcerers and Magicians who will create the largest number of magical elixirs and powders, and perhaps even be able to create magical creatures or enchanted talismans.
For each found element of a potion or successfully assembled alchemical recipe, the player receives victory points. The more complex the recipe, the more points. The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.

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

How to play?

All cards are collected into a deck, which is thoroughly mixed. Each player is given four cards, after which the deck is placed face down on the table. The top four cards from the deck are then revealed and placed on the table in the element cabinet. 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 to the left goes next, and so on clockwise.

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

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 that turn.
Even if several ingredients are taken from a player, he still only receives half the points awarded to the player who collected the recipe. If a player collects a recipe using only his own ingredients, he only receives points for collecting this recipe, but other players do not receive anything, so it is always more profitable to collect recipes using your own ingredients.

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

Spell Cards

There are three types of spell cards: “Spell of Knowledge”, “Spell of Destruction” and “Spell of Transformation”. These cards do not contain a prescription. Spell cards can be played as elements or as spells. In the latter case, they are also placed in the cabinet of elements, but do not bring points, after which the player can perform the actions provided for by the spell played. If the element cabinet already contains the same elements as the spell card, the spell is always placed at the bottom of the stack of matching elements.

Spell of knowledge. With the help of a knowledge spell, a player can take into hand any of the recipes (but not another spell) that are in the cabinet of elements. In this case, you can only take the top recipe in a stack of cards of the same element. After a given spell is played and a recipe is taken into hand, the player can play another card - for example, collect a recipe just taken from the cabinet, or play a card as an element, play another spell or another recipe.

Spell of destruction. This spell can destroy any of the recipes collected by the player. Recipes of other players cannot be destroyed. When destroying a recipe, a player can keep any of the recipe cards that make up the recipe being destroyed on their table. This could be one of the ingredient cards or the actual destructible recipe card. A recipe left on the table is considered collected (but the player does not receive points for it again) and can be used to create other, more complex recipes. All other cards used in the destroyed recipe are returned to the cabinet as elements. Thus, this spell allows you to throw the necessary ingredients into the cupboard without losing the collected recipe, or even get a completely new recipe, ready for further use, the card of which was previously used as an ingredient (or perhaps just as an element) of another, previously collected recipe player.

Transformation spell. The player can transform any of the recipes he has collected into another one, located in the cabinet as an element. In this case, the player selects one of the recipes in the cabinet of elements and places its card in front of him on the table, all cards of the previously collected recipe transformed by the player are returned to the cabinet as elements. The recipe obtained as a result of transformation is considered collected, but the player does not receive points for it. For transformation, you can only use recipes that are on top of a stack of similar elements in the element cabinet.
After this spell is played, the player can play another card.
Since as a result of using this spell, two cards are played during a turn, at the beginning of his next turn the player takes not one card from the deck, but two.

It may happen that during a turn a player will play several spells in a row. In this case, at the beginning of his next turn, he will have to take not one card from the deck, but several, so that he has five cards in his hand.

Supreme Elixir and Great Talisman of Magic. These cards exist in a single copy. Unlike other recipes, collecting these powerful artifacts does not require specific ingredients. The Supreme Elixir can be assembled from any two Great Elixirs, and the Great Talisman of Magic can be assembled from any two talismans.
In addition, the card data includes three elements at once. Therefore, when a player plays these cards as elements, he can score from 0 to 3 points depending on which of the elements the card represents are present in the element cabinet. These cards are placed in the element cabinet separately from other elements, but it is considered that the elements they represent are already in the cabinet. The player collecting the recipe can use any of the elements (but not two or three at once) located on the Supreme Elixir and Great Talisman of Magic cards as an ingredient when these cards are in the element cabinet.

When the ingredients of collected recipes are returned to the cabinet as elements during the game (for example, when collecting a more complex recipe or destroying/transforming a player's recipe), the sequence in which they are placed in piles of similar elements is determined by the player whose turn it is.

If there are no cards left in the deck, players continue the game as long as at least one of them has cards left in their hand. When all players run out of cards, the game ends. The player with the most points is declared the winner.

(c) S. Machin, 2005 (c) KB-Games, 2005 (c) DG Capital, 2005

Game example

First move. The player has cards in his hand: “Potion “Polyglotum”, “Fire Salamander”, “Spell of Transformation”, “Great Elixir of Revival”. The element cabinet contains: “Bat Wing”, “Thought Energy”, “Fern Flower” and “Blood Stone”.
The player takes a card - this is the “Elixir of Invisibility”. The player uses this card as a recipe, places it on the table in front of him, takes the “Thought Energy” and “Air Crystal” elements from the cabinet and places these cards face down on the recipe he has collected. The player created the "Elixir of Invisibility" and receives 2 points. His turn ends.

Second move. The player has the same cards in his hand as in the previous turn. The element cabinet contains: "Mandrake", "Blood Stone", "Dragon Tooth" and "Mushrooms". The player takes a “Telepathic Potion” card from the deck. He must now play a card. Since there are no ingredients on the table to assemble any of the recipes he has, he plays Fire Salamander as an element. This card features the Phoenix Feather element. The card is placed in the element cabinet. Since there is no Phoenix Feather yet, the player receives 1 point. His turn ends.

Third move. In the player’s hand: “Potion “Polyglotum”, “Telepathic potion”, “Spell of Transformation”, “Great Elixir of Revival”. The element cabinet contains: "Mandrake", "Blood Stone", "Dragon Tooth", "Phoenix Feather" and "Spring Water". The player takes a card from the deck - it turns out to be “Powder of Fate”. There is an opportunity to play a cunning combination. The fact is that on the card with the “Blood Stone” element there is also a recipe for the “Infusion of Divination”, which is necessary to create the “Powder of Fate”. How to get it? The player uses the Transform Spell. He will transform the “Elixir of Invisibility” he collected on the first turn into a “Flask of Divination”. The player announces the use of the spell and places the spell card on the table as the Mandrake element. Since there is already a Mandrake on the table, the spell card that was played (as is the case with all spell cards) is placed at the bottom of the pile of cards with the Mandrake element. Then the player exchanges the previously collected “Elixir of Invisibility” lying in front of him with a “Flask of Divination”. The ingredients of the Elixir of Invisibility (Thought Energy and Air Crystal), as well as the Elixir of Invisibility card itself, are returned to the element cabinet as elements. For all these operations the player does not receive points. However, he used a spell, which means he can play one more card this turn.

Now he collects the recipe for the “Powder of Fate”, using as the ingredients the “Flask of Divination” he just received as a result of the transformation and the “Phoenix Feather” from the cabinet of elements. As a result, the player receives 4 points.

Game description

Video review of the board game Potions. Workshop from Game Expert!

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Reviews and comments (135)

Is it possible to use a Knowledge spell to take a Destruction Spell or a Transformation spell from the cabinet of elements? Or can it ONLY be recipes? Thank you!

Answer from the Igroved store: Hello Maria. The rules on this matter clearly state: "With the Spell of Knowledge, a player can take any of the recipes into his hand (but not another spell)."

Review | Maria | 04/15/2018

Good afternoon A very interesting and exciting game! A question came up during the game. When a recipe is destroyed and the elements go into the cabinet, does the player receive points for each new element that appears in the cabinet, in addition to the points for creating a new recipe? Thank you!

Answer from the Igroved store: Maria, good afternoon. The player does not receive points for items sent to the cabinet as a result of the destruction of the recipe.

Review | Pavel, Karaganda | 10.11.2017

Extract from the rules: 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. Question: does another player have the right to refuse to give up his collected recipe, even for half the points? Those. Do I need to negotiate with him or can I just take it?

Answer from the Igroved store: Hello, Pavel. The player whose recipe is being used cannot refuse.

Review | Valeria | 08/06/2017

Good afternoon, please tell me, is it possible for one player, when playing with two people, to collect an elixir only from the cards of the second player?

Answer from the Igroved store: Hello, Valeria. Can.

Review | Valentina, Kaliningrad | 01.08.2017

Hello! Tell me, please, is the game played behind closed doors? Those. Should other players see the cards you have? (Not collected recipes)
Thanks for the answer!

Answer from the Igroved store: Hello, Valentina! Yes, you keep your cards face down.

Review | Alexander, Moscow | 16.06.2017

I'm very confused in the game. But still interesting!

Review | Olesya Yurievna | 04/24/2017

Hello. I purchased a Zklevarenya gift set from your store. The game is fascinating!!-))
We are fully mastering the Workshop.
At first it was difficult to understand the concepts of “in hand” and “on the table”. We didn’t touch the spells at all, we discarded them as elements, then we got used to them too -)).
But when, after several games, I began to check the completeness of the decks, it turned out that the Workshop was missing three spell cards, where the elemental magem is an element... How can I get these cards?

Answer from the Igroved store: Irina, good afternoon! It returns to the closet as a trifecta.

Similar experiments were quite dangerous, and many accidents occurred. But over time, the magicians decided that it was advisable to take into account the lunar calendar and deaths decreased. The invention of similar chatterboxes began with decoctions against various diseases, and soon they began to brew potent “Potions”.

At the beginning of our era, the most experienced were the Druids, who invented a huge abundance of medicines, but the science remained nameless. In the tenth century, knowledge was collected in a heap and received the name - potions. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the hunt for miracle workers began, and then the profession of potion makers gained universal recognition, with its help one could escape from everything.

1754 was the moment when the most popular drugs appeared - improving memory. Later – enveloping, enticing and living death. There are many legends associated with such activities, and in order to now plunge a little into those times, we offer you the “Potions” section of the game, which will take you into a mysterious atmosphere. If you have hidden talents, now is the time to show them.

Magical entertainment In order to more realistically convey the spirit of ancestors and bygone hours, the main characters in the toys are sorcerers who know how to make this process mystical and attractive. If you want to know more, join in and imagine yourself as an old witch who wants to whip up something unique. Here your weapon will be your imagination, show it and direct it in a beneficial direction.

One of the most exciting games for girls is the “Love Potion” game, which a girl deprived of love will want to brew. She is unrequitedly in love with the prince - handsome and stately, but he does not pay attention to her, and such a mixture is the last chance. If she does not kiss him before nightfall, she will turn into an evil old woman. Help her cope with the task, in the name of great and bright feelings.

The Beauty Potion is extremely popular. You'll have to turn a scary witch into a young beauty that will make courageous guys' heads spin. There is nothing criminal here, everyone dreams of being irresistible. Let's help out the unlucky young lady together. It will be interesting to see what happens.

As for the famous cartoons, “Potions” games have been written, where you need to help Hermione prepare them. This is the key character from the Harry Potter film. She's in trouble and needs to get out of the teacher's office unnoticed. Contribute to the preparation of something to carry out the insidious plan. It will be fun, because at the end Gary will come to the rescue. Well, and of course, reverse. Give Professor Lupine something to drink to turn him into a dog, and of course, a counteracting elixir to return him to normal life.

Join the potions community If you absolutely love to cook and tinker with different herbs, the “Potions” games will become one of your favorites. They will certainly take top places in the ranking of the best. After all, this is a craft that is difficult to implement in reality. It was invented by many generations, and perhaps one of your great-grandfathers was a powerful but hidden wizard. Stop waiting and thinking, the answer is so simple and obvious. Come in and learn ancient craftsmanship.

You will not regret your decision, because there are so many heroes in need of care and healing, and they will be incredibly grateful. This is first-rate entertainment that combines puzzles and imagination. The assignments will be varied, ranging from a simple recipe to finding the required components. Flash toys are waiting for you to teach you everything. Good luck!

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Third edition

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