A whimsical journey through a board game with a vast range when it comes to player age, Little Alchemist is one of my new favorite board games. Turn yourself into a little witch who brews potions for the customers seeking your abilities. You’ll have your own lemonade stand style setup, and you’ll need to figure out how to make the potions your customers are looking for when they come to visit.
Grab three other friends, set up your sections, and start one of the most fun deduction games your game group will play. Don’t worry; there’s plenty of replayability as the game evolves the more you beat it.
How To Play Little Alchemist
In a most interesting twist, what drew me most to Little Alchemist is just how the board game evolves. It’s a quick and easy game to learn, and it only gets better as you unlock more levels of play. The goal is to make potions for the visitors to the potions shop and to do so; you’ll need to figure out how to make those potions yourself.
It’s a deduction-style game in which you’ll need to figure out which combination of ingredients make the potions before the customer makes it there to purchase. Each turn, everyone will try different combinations, discovering new outcomes to create one of the available potions. Each player takes a turn creating potions and deducing outcomes until the customer comes around; then, it’s time to prove that you can make the potion they’re looking for.
Each player has their own little color-coded stand, where they can craft their potions in secret. You’ll also have a chart that helps keep track of which ingredients make which potions.
The app you’ll use to play the game will make this work easily. You’ll receive easy-to-understand step-by-step instructions on how to play each round in Little Alchemists from the beginning to the end. It’s perfect for explaining everything from setup to how to play, guiding you through each turn until the game’s conclusion.
There’s still an instruction booklet with detailed information and pictures for setup and how to play, however the game does require the app to play properly.
Each round will be different, as every new game started in the app will change the combinations and outcomes of the ingredients you use to create potions. A chicken foot and feather that previously made a flight potion may make a luck potion in the next game. This provides for continuous play without memorizing the outcomes; otherwise, the deduction would be far too easy.
The goal is to make enough money by selling potions to have the most money in the end to win the game. To do this, you’ll need to prove you can make the potions each customer wants during their turns. At the end, the player with the most coins wins.
Eventually, once you’ve figured out how to make enough potions, you can deduce what ingredients make what. Things get even more fun and complicated as you progress, as there are tiers that are unlocked once you complete the game in its beginner mode.
Setup And Storage
Little Alchemists comes in a big box because there are a surprising number of parts that come with it. You’re definitely receiving the most bang for your buck with this game. There are six sealed boxes, along with everything you’ll need to start playing. Each of those boxes unlocks another component of the game, adding new mechanics as you play, keeping the game dynamic, and developing on your prior knowledge to add even more fun to the original premise.
This does mean, however, that there’s a ton of stuff in the box. Luckily, the additional components come in their own boxes that all fit snuggly within the big box, with room to fit every piece. There are also several plastic bags to put all the components in and keep everything organized.
As for setup, it’s pretty easy. Each player gets a player screen, triangular tracker, plastic potion bottle, and their starting coins. Grab the market board, spread out the pieces everyone will use, from the coins to the tiles, etc., and you’re good to go. Because there are so many pieces, it may take more time than an average game, but it’s still a quick process.
Should You Play Little Alchemists
Surprisingly, Little Alchemists appeals to a wide audience. I’ve tried it with both young and older groups, and each time, it was easy and quick to grasp. The layout of the game makes everything easy to understand. You’ll start with the basics, and the app truly guides the process whether you’ve played the game before or not.
I almost want to say I wish more games had such an easy and interactive setup, but that doesn’t mean everything was as smooth as could be.
Older groups may think the game is a bit too simple to start, but that’s where the uniqueness of Little Alchemists steps in. You’ll play the base version as described, but the first level doesn’t involve too much deduction. It’s great for kids but easy for adults. The fun part is not knowing which ingredients other players are putting together and what they’re discovering behind their screen so that when the customer comes, it’s a mad rush to make sure you get your potions made and sold before the customer leaves.
While playing, I noticed the biggest issue I’ve had in every game is the camera on the app. From tablets to phones, there were several interruptions during play where we had to wait for someone to get the camera in the right position to register the ingredients and provide the result. It does slow the game down, and you don’t want to help someone as you may end up seeing the potions they’ve deduced on their board and you’ll also see their hidden ingredients when trying to scan them.
Because the game is played in segments, where you start with the easiest level, that too-easy feeling quickly goes out the window as more elements are added. The game progressively gets more difficult, adding layers after every win. Once you play and win the first round, you can unlock the second segment, opening the mystery box corresponding to the newly unlocked section. You don’t get to just do this whenever you want; however, you’ll need to prove you know how to play by answering a little quiz question presented by the app before being able to move on. While this works well in practice, it also means that older groups can’t just go to the more involved and unlocked levels; they’ll need to play through everything first.
Overall, though, the game is just cool. It becomes more fun competition for older groups and gets more intricate as you unlock more levels. Unlocking them is cool and interactive, and the app streamlines the entire process. It then truly becomes a game of deduction, as competition heats up and points can be earned in new ways, making more chances for winning than the original win condition. If you want to play a fun and unique game that grows with you and your group, I’d highly recommend Little Alchemists.
Little Alchemists
Create potions for your customers at your lemonade-stand-style shop with Little Alchemists. This tabletop board game is unique in that it grows with you as you play, unlocking more options and ways to play and building on an already great premise. Become a Little Alchemist in this deduction-style game.
