Alchimistes (pré-joué) (FR)

The games in the L'As des jeux Bazar are pre-played games. They have been inspected by one of our game experts and are certified "Complete." You may find some minor imperfections, such as light wear on the box or on certain game components.

*French version

Your new cauldron has just arrived and your laboratory is finally ready. For days you have been gathering and drying strange ingredients, raven feathers, mandrake root and toad warts, waiting for the right moment to start experimenting. Today is the day: you are lighting your fire, mixing your first potions and proving, once and for all, that you are the greatest mind alchemy has ever known.

In Alchemists (FR), two to four players take on the role of budding alchemists locked in a ruthless race to uncover the secrets of their mystical art. Several paths lead to victory, but publishing your theories remains the most rewarding way to win, provided they are correct. Players combine ingredients and test their mixtures using a mobile app that scans the cards and calculates the results instantly, a clever way to remove guesswork and keep everyone honest. Bit by bit, each alchemist figures out how to brew potions to sell to passing adventurers, gathers gold to afford powerful artifacts, and watches their reputation rise or crash depending on how accurate their publications turn out to be.

Alchemists is a strategy game of calculated risk and sharp deduction, where every choice matters. Is it better to take the time to verify a theory, or rush to publish it for a quick reputation boost? Should you spend your savings confirming the latest rumor about toads, or save up for a coveted artifact? And that potion with an uncertain effect, is it really wise to sell it to that heavily armed barbarian? Making the right calls will make you the greatest alchemist in the realm.

Alchemists is for you if you love games built on logic and calculated risk-taking, if the idea of mixing ingredients and testing your theories ahead of everyone else gets you excited, and if you are looking for a board game that can fill an entire evening with demanding friends. Fans of management and sharp deduction games will find a mental challenge that lives up to their expectations.

When it launched in 2014, Alchemists won the Most Innovative Game award at the Board Game Quest Awards and the Best Written Rules prize at the Essener Feder in 2015, on top of being a finalist in several Golden Geek Award categories, including Board Game of the Year. Its mobile app system for testing ingredient combinations remains, more than a decade later, one of the most cited examples of smart digital integration in a board game.

The game was designed by Matúš Kotry, who built the entire app-assisted deduction system, and brought to life by illustrator David Cochard. Kotry later revisited his alchemy universe with Little Alchemists, a version designed for families and younger players.

To play Alchemists, you will need a tablet or smartphone (iOS, Android or Windows) to install the free app that acts as your virtual laboratory: it scans ingredient cards and reveals your experiment results instantly.

BOX CONTENTS
1 double-sided game board
1 theory board
1 exhibition board
4 laboratory screens
4 results triangles
4 player boards
6 adventurer tiles
2 conference tiles
5 grant tiles
8 alchemy tokens
104 potion tokens
36 gold pieces
44 seal tokens (11 per color)
6 conflict tokens
1 starting player token
8 ingredient tiles
1 potion master board
40 ingredient cards
22 favor cards
18 artifact cards
16 discount cards
8 flask markers (2 per color)
24 action cubes (6 per color)
1 pad of deduction grids
Containers for tokens
1 rulebook

Number of players: 2 to 4
Playing time: 120 minutes
Age: 12+

If you want to protect your cards, you will need:
96 card sleeves, size 44 x 68 mm (mini euro): Mayday Premium Mini European Sleeves (45mm x 68mm) 50CT