Alchematch

PLAYERS: 1

BLINKS: 12+

It’s your first day attending Alabaster’s School of Alchemy and Potions. Can you mix and match the potions to create the most magical brew?

SETUP

Group all of your Blinks together to create your bubbling cauldron. The game begins the moment you do!

GAMEPLAY

Each turn, you rearrange your Blinks in an attempt to create matches. A match is made by positioning 3 or more Blinks of the same color in a cluster. When you do this, they Blinks will swirl down to darkness, before being replaced by new colors. Sometimes, new colors will immediately create a match, and these matches can cascade one after the other if you position your Blinks correctly.

Three Yellow Blinks Makes a Match then regenerates with new colors

You’ll notice as you make matches that your Blinks will begin bubbling - this shows how alchemically activated each Blink is. Each time a Blink is matched, it powers up. Eventually, after 10 matches, a Blink can become a Bomb.

Bombs appear as spinning points of color. To activate a Bomb, click the Blink. This will cause an alchemical explosion, turning all adjacent Blinks to the color of the bomb, and automatically creating a huge matching cluster.

Click a bomb to set off an explosion!

But be careful - Bombs only last a few seconds before they revert back to their basic form. If you miss it, you’ll have to power up that Blink again.

If you are playing with 12 or fewer Blinks, it is possible to end up in a situation where no matches are possible. If this happens, simply triple-click a single Blink to change its color, potentially creating a match.

Triple-click a Blink to change its color

WIN CONDITION

Alchematch has no explicit goal, and can be played endlessly!

VARIANT RULES

Alchematch can be played by a stricter set of rules for greater challenge. First, place 12 Blinks in a 3 x 4 rhombus formation, with distinct rows and columns.

During gameplay, instead of moving Blinks freely, you must instead break off rows or columns of the rhombus and re-attach them to the opposite end. You may rotate the rows or columns, but must always maintain the overall shape. This requires you to think spatially to make matches each turn.