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Strategy

Alchemist

Vials, cauldron and a secret rule: crack the grimoire.

A grimoire hides a rule about potions. Tip three vials into the cauldron: the potion bubbles or stays calm. Take notes, deduce, then state the rule with the tiles of the rule builder. A 40-puzzle campaign, a daily grimoire, a duel against an AI that reasons, rules invented for each other and online games.

Players
1 or 2 players
Length
6 min
  • Against the AI
  • Two players on one device
  • Solo
  • Online with a friend
Play Alchemist

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Alchemist preview

How to play

Goal of the game

The grimoire hides a secret rule: some potions bubble, others stay calm. Each potion is a mix of three vials poured in order (left, middle, right). Discover the rule in as few tries as possible.

The vials

  • Colour: red, amber and gold are warm; blue, green and violet are cold.
  • Flask shape: round, slender, conical or square.
  • Engraved symbol: sun, moon, star or leaf.
  • Bubbles: from 1 to 4 (a vial is fizzy from 3 bubbles).
  • Weight: from 1 to 5, on the brass label (light: 1 or 2; heavy: 4 or 5).

How to play

  • Drag three vials into the slots above the cauldron (or tap them), then tap Brew: the potion bubbles if it follows the rule, otherwise it stays calm.
  • The lab notebook keeps every mix and its result; tap a line to put that mix back in the cauldron. Two examples are given at the start.
  • When you think you know, tap State rule and build the rule with the tiles. Any rule that gives exactly the same results with these vials is accepted. If it is wrong, the grimoire shows a counterexample.
  • Or take the Exam: predict the result of five potions. Five right answers and the puzzle is solved; otherwise the five potions are added to the notebook.
  • Each experiment, each wrong rule and each hint counts as one try; a failed exam costs five. Fewer tries, more stars.

Modes

  • Solo: the grimoire campaign (five chapters of eight puzzles: Colours, Shapes and symbols, Numbers, Positions, Compound rules), free puzzles in five difficulties and the daily grimoire, the same for everyone.
  • Against the AI: you and the AI hunt for the same rule in turns, sharing the notebook. On your turn, run an experiment or state the rule. The first to find it wins. The AI reasons by eliminating hypotheses from the notebook only: it never sees the rule.
  • Two players: each secretly invents a rule for the other with the rule builder, then each investigates in turn on the same vials. Fewest tries wins.
  • Online: a turn-based duel on a rule drawn by the host, who referees without revealing it before the end.

Levels

Difficulty applies to free puzzles, duels and rules invented by two players. Easy: colour only. Medium: shapes and symbols. Hard: bubbles and weights. Expert: positions and order. Fiendish: compound rules with AND and OR.

Controls

Mouse, touch or keyboard: keys 1 to 9, 0 and minus to pick a vial, Backspace to remove the last one, Enter to brew, F to state the rule, E for the exam.

Tip: between two mixes, change only one vial. If the result flips, the difference between those two vials is the key to the rule.

Difficulty

  1. EasyEasy: eight vials, rules that only look at colour.
  2. MediumMedium: flask shapes and engraved symbols come into play.
  3. HardHard: bubbles and weights, odd or even totals, thresholds.
  4. ExpertExpert: position matters, from left to right.
  5. DiabolicalFiendish: compound rules with AND and OR, ten vials.

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