Potion Explosion

28th March 2021

I'm logged into my PC and Sunday gaming on Board Game Arena continued.

The next game of the day was Potion Explosion, a game about creating magic spells through set collecting and a match 3 mechanic.
That's right.
"Yer a wizard Har," no, no, let's not go there!

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Caveat: The digital version of the game was played, but previously we have also played a physical copy.

What's in a game?

• Marbles: the game comes with actual glassy marbles in 4 colours, red, blue, yellow & Black. These represent the 4 different types ingredients used to create potions.
• Dispenser: This is a box with 5 holes on the top and protruding out of one side of it are 5 sloped grooves or tracks. Marbles are poured into the box through the top and then roll out into the tracks to create 5 (hopefully) random columns of marbles.
• Potion tiles: These obviously potion shaped tiles are double sided. There are various different types of potion that have differing effects in game.
  On one side, the main part of the tile/bottle is split into 2 or 3 different coloured segments, each of these segments contain holes which allow the marbles that players collect to sit on the tile.
  ​The other side of potions tiles show the points they score after completion.
• Player board: These large tiles have two recessed curves that allow potions to fit into the recesses, there is also a space with 3 holes to store 3 unused marbles.
  This is designed to look a bit like a worktop with a pair of Bunsen burners and a flask.
• Skill tokens: These rectangular tokens are accumulated throughout the game and earn bonus victory points, they also serve as a countdown timer to end a game.
• Help tokens: Players can take these to receive some help but they also deduct from victory points at the end of the game.

All of the components in Potion Explosion are top notch, the dispenser and the marbles may seem gimmicky but in practice work quite well. The remainder of the components, the tiles and tokens are all made of good quality materials.
The game's art style and theme obviously draw some inspiration from the you-know-who films but that's fine. For the most part there isn't too much art on the components but what there is, is bright and colourful.

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What's in a game?
Setup

• Establish a turn order and give each player a player board.
• Fill the dispenser with dice. All 5 tracks should be filled with marbles.
• Set out all the potions that will used (Not all potion types are used in every game), then set out the marked starting potion tiles. The remaining potions should be shuffled and placed into 5 stacks with the uncompleted side up.
• Create a stack of help tokens, size dependant on the number of players.
• Players each take a starting potion one at a time in the order specified and add it to their player board until everyone has two potions.

Now the game's ready to go.

On to play
In Potion Explosion, players use the marbles to complete their potions, these earn victory points. Completed potions can also be used to give the respective player a special action to perform.
Play starts with the starting player and progresses clockwise. The following actions are available to players.

• Take ingredient: The active player must take 1 marble from any spot in any of the 5 tracks in the dispenser.
  Potion explosion: When an marble is removed from a track, the marble(s) above will slide down and hit the marble below (Provided there is a marble below.), if the marbles that collided are the same colour, then this triggers the titular potion explosion. The active player then collects the marbles of the same colour that hit each other, this includes other marbles of the same colour connected to the marbles that connected. Once these marbles are collected, it possible that another potion explosion can be triggered and another and so on. This is essentially a match-3 or in this case a match-2 mechanic.
  Place ingredients: Once the active player has collected all the marbles available, those marbles must be placed on the empty holes on their potion tiles and the colours must match; red marbles must go on to holes on the red segment of a potion and so on. If there are not enough holes for all the marbles the player has accumulated on the potion tiles for any reason, then they can place up to 3 on the flask, these can be used in later turns.
  Any excess marbles must be returned to the dispenser. 
  Complete potion: Once all the holes on a potion tile are filled with marbles, it has been completed. All marbles should be removed and returned them to the dispenser. The tile is removed from the player board, flipped to the opposite (completed) side and placed next to the player board.
• Gain a skill token: If a player successfully completes 3 identical or 5 different potions, then they take a skill token.
  Skill tokens are worth victory points.
• Use potion: A player can use completed potions at any time in their turn, even straight after completing it.
  Potions have various different effects, such as removing or taking certain ingredients from the tracks on the dispenser or stealing another player's ingredients from their flask.
• Take help token: At any time, a player may choose to take a help token, this allows them to take an ingredient from one of the tracks, it does not trigger a potion explosion though.
  Additionally, help tokens deduct from a player's victory point total at the end of the game.

Once a player's turn has ended; if they have completed any potions, then they now take new potion tiles from one of the 5 potion stacks to ensure they have 2 potions at the start of their next turn.
Play continues until the endgame is triggered

Endgame
The game's stack of skill tokens are also used as a countdown time, once the stack is depleted, the endgame is triggered.
Then the current round is completed, ensuring that all players have had an equal number of turns, skill tokens can still be earned and are drawn from remaining previously unused reserve of tokens.
Then victory points from completed potions are scored as are skill tokens, finally points are deducted for every help token taken.
Points are tallied, highest score wins.

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Overall
When a marble is removed from a track, there's a satisfying little clink sound when the other marbles hit one below that's down to the use of proper marbles instead as plastic components. The designers and publishers have put thought into the look and feel of the game, it shows and adds too the game.

There's a degree of luck when playing Potion Explosion. Sometimes how the chips - or in this marbles fall can have a big influence on a player's turn and how many marbles they get to collect in a turn.
A player draws a single marble from the dispenser in their turn, but really they should always be aiming to raw as many as possible because the game is essentially a race between players to complete potions. Potions can be used to facilitate this and despite feeling counter-intuitive to use, so can help tokens. Being able to remove a marble before drawing one can sometimes turn getting a single marble into triggering a chain reaction.
Players must also be able to adapt to constant changes in the dispenser, there's no point in planning your move until it's your turn. Every time a marble is drawn it will figuratively change the landscape, sometimes dramatically. Keeping your fingers crossed, hoping that no one spots a combo you've seen probably isn't the best of strategies.

Additionally, when a player takes a new potion, they're faced with a choice, do they go for the highest scoring potion, or go for a potion that works towards completing a set, or a potion with specific ability?
Players need to pay attention to the spread of colours of their current uncompleted potion and any new potion they take, repetition of colours between potions can slow a player down. It can be irritating when you draw a handful of marbles in a colour you can't use.

All in all, this gives Potion Explosion a subtle depth that belies it's simplicity and seemingly gimmicky mechanic. Winning requires players recognise when it's best to use potions or exploit the help tokens in order to most efficiently accumulate ingredients, which then in order means that players must recognise which new potions to acquire.
Ultimately players always have meaningful decisions to make and that makes it an engaging game.