http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/633 en-us Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:32:21 -0600 Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:32:21 -0600 aldie@boardgamegeek.com BoardGameGeek features information related to the board gaming hobby German Version - Boxfront <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic376648_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/376648 2008-09-25T11:10:30+00:00 Bernd13 Sweet, thanks! http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2397917#2397917 2008-06-15T22:32:36+00:00 watcher_b This is a fun game with a large group. I'll send you a rules scan if you send me your email address. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2396038#2396038 2008-06-14T17:44:17+00:00 berserkley I saw this at a thrift store and saw it was by Mayfair and thought "HEY I like Mayfair!". So I got it. Unfortunately it does not have a copy of the rules with it. Would anyone be willing to post a copy of the rules on here? <br> <br>Thanks so much in advance! From what I'm reading, it seems like Elixir would Great for my group. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2396003#2396003 2008-06-14T17:19:32+00:00 watcher_b It makes sense-it sounds like maybe it was mistranslated into English. The English version clearly states "you can take another turn and play another magic object." Thanks! http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2346795#2346795 2008-05-27T22:22:19+00:00 rockhpi <b>rockhpi wrote:</b><br><i>This question came up wih us too...the "Extra Strength" card (an object) says it allows you to take another turn and also allows you "to play another magic object this turn." However, I don't see any rule that says you can't play more than one magic object per turn, so I'm not sure why it's on the card. The rulebook doesn't have such a rule.</i> <br>I own the original french edition, so I looked around... <br> <br>Here I have a card called "Puissance 2" which says that you can immediately pick another item card, and <i>play it twice</i>. So that's what the card does: doubling the effect of another item card you play. Would that make sense? http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2345134#2345134 2008-05-27T04:31:05+00:00 LoneCleric This question came up wih us too...the "Extra Strength" card (an object) says it allows you to take another turn and also allows you "to play another magic object this turn." However, I don't see any rule that says you can't play more than one magic object per turn, so I'm not sure why it's on the card. The rulebook doesn't have such a rule. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2344888#2344888 2008-05-27T02:23:53+00:00 rockhpi Some cards translated into spanish <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic297620_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/297620 2008-02-05T17:07:41+00:00 jsper The box (editor image) <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic290896_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/290896 2008-01-17T14:18:39+00:00 Antoine Laine In the box (editor image) <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic290895_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/290895 2008-01-17T14:17:47+00:00 Antoine Laine Side of the box <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic286299_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/286299 2008-01-04T18:58:47+00:00 jsper Does the comforter magical object contain specifically all the consequences of the card meaning that a player upon whom it is cast would still draw a card? Or is the term sleep meant to imply that their turn is skipped as well? http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1961975#1961975 2007-12-28T16:22:52+00:00 mrroundy After a little break to savour the summer weather, Anthony, Nicolas and I start the Round 4 of our Elixir Tournament. <br> <br>Right now, Nicolas is the best player … and me, the worst, but nothing is done yet. <br> <br>The order of turn will be : Me, Nicolas then Anthony. <br> <br> <br>The spells are given and I got : Please Stand Up (A level 1), Useless (Another level 1 that make me … draw an extra spell when played). Exchange for my level 2, Turncard for my level 3 (both spell make me give my hand to another one) and for my level 4 : Tithe (Allowing me to take a card in the hand of someone who got a Land in play.) <br> <br>Nicolas gets 1/2/2/3/3 spells and Anthony 1/1/2/3/4 spells like me. <br> <br> <br>Turn 1 <br> <br>I began, playing ‘Please Stand Up’ to Nicolas, but he counters with one of his level 1 spells : Boomerang, and I am the one who stand up. <br>Nicolas tries an Auction, but no one wants his egg and dewdrop. <br>Anthony plays his Nose Land and casts Ridiculus (Level 1 forcing me and Nicolas to use stupid nicknames when talking to each other.) <br> <br> <br>Turn 2 <br> <br>Nicolas closes the Nose Land. <br> <br> <br>Turn 3 <br> <br>I make a Marcket Day, get the Star Land and cast Turncard swapping my Monkey Money for 4 ingredients. <br> <br> <br>Turn 4 <br> <br>Secondhand Sell wih 2 ressources : I got a Beard and cast Useless, drawing ‘Singer’ (Level 1 spell forcing someone to sing a song. <br> <br> <br>Turn 6 <br> <br>Using a Transmutator end an Useless Item, Anthony casts Reccuperation (Level 2 allowing him to take 2 cards from the Discard). With the cards he casts : Needful Things (Level 3 allowing him to steal Lands) and take my Beard Land. Anthony got only his level 4 spell to cast ! <br> <br> <br>Turn 7 <br> <br>I take back MY Beard Land ! <br> <br> <br>Turn 8 <br> <br>I cast ‘Singer’ on Anthony, and strategically, Nicolas decide that the song isn’t good enough and Anthony gives 2 ressources to me. <br>Then Nicolas plays the Fear Land and cast ‘Wild Chaos’ (Level 3) : The ownership of Lands change at random : I get the Fear Land and Nicolas the Beard Land. Then, with ‘Vacation’ (Level 2) he closes all my Lands. <br> <br> <br>Turn 9 <br> <br>Vengeance ! I close the Beard Land too ! <br> <br> <br>At end of Turn 10, I have 6 worth points of spells to cast with 8 cards, Nicolas 5 points with 5 cards and Anthony his Level 4 with 5 cards. <br> <br> <br>Turn 12 <br> <br>Nicolas draws Alambic : I dare to bet one of my useful ingredient to cast Exchange, an dit works ! Allowing me to give 4 cards to Anthony in exchange for … 2. Not a very nive effect for me, but a spell casted anyway. <br>Since my Lands are opened again, Nicolas steals my Fear Land. <br> <br> <br>Turn 13 <br> <br>If someone steals from me, I close ! No more Fear Land ! And I try to use an Effect : Brat ! Anthony and me give one ressource to Nicolas. <br> <br> <br>Turn 14 <br> <br>Nicolas opens his Fear Land and close my Star Land. <br> <br> <br>Turn 18 <br> <br>Anthony opens his Nose Land and close again the Fear Land. <br> <br> <br>Turn 20 <br> <br>I play an effect : SuperDjinn ! I can cast a spell with 2 free ingredients of my choice ! I cast Tithe, but Anthony stole one ingredient with a Magnet ! I try to remplace the missing ingredient with a Wand, but Nicolas Thwarts me with a Whistle : IT WAS MY LAST SPELL BUT I CANNOT CAST IT ! The victory slides between my fingers ! <br>Nicolas uses an effect : Gallantery and him and me give a card to Anthony. <br>Anthony try an Auction, but since he’s very close to the victory, no one want to take his cards. <br> <br>At the end of the Turn, Anthony and I have both our level 4 spell to cast. I got 6 cards and Anthony 15. <br>Nicolas have only 5 points to cast (one more than us) with 9 cards. <br> <br> <br>Turn 21 <br> <br>I choose to take a risk and play Market Day : I don’t get my missing ingredient but the other don’t get what they need too. After that, I try the Seven Leagues Boots, but Nicolas stole the effect … before Antony use a Whistle to counter the Boots. <br> <br> <br>Turn 22 <br> <br>Nicolas makes an Auction (2 face down cards for 2), Anthony takes and try to Auction a card … but we won’t take it. <br>Anthony plays an effect : Cycling : He can choose 3 ingredients in the discard pile … and after that … he casts his last spells and win. <br> <br> <br>So the scores are now : <br> <br>Gamecaster : <br> <br>Anthony : 2 <br>Nicolas : 1 <br>David : 1 <br> <br> <br>Numbercaster : <br> <br>Nicolas : 17 <br>Anthony : 17 <br>David : 13 <br> <br> <br>Arch-caster : <br> <br>Nicolas : 37 <br>Anthony : 30 <br>David : 25 <br> <br> <br>It isn’t fair … why this game is so cruel against me … I should have won !!!! Life is SO unfair. But soon I will have my revenge … MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (At least I hope). http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1610277#1610277 2007-07-16T15:45:17+00:00 Hankroyd Here is the Round three of the Elixir Tournament. <br> <br>Nicolas has a good headstart. Will he maintain it ? <br> <br> <br>The order of turn is now Nicolas, then me, then Anthony. <br> <br>I look at my spells and sight : I got three level 1 spells … two of them needing a Dragon to be cast … And I need a thrid dragon for another spell. <br>What I have : Excalibur, Seven Laces and Tagazak … at level one. Transfer at level two, that make my opponents exchange half of their ressources. And Upheaval and Bazaar at level three. Both of them allowing to manipulate Lands. <br> <br>Nicolas gets a 1/1/1/1/3/4 hand and Anthony a 1/3/3/4 one. <br> <br>The Alambic a set in place with a ‘combo’ : An magical effect can be played by discarding a magical item with … anything. So, as long as any of us has a Land in play, he can only discard a magic item to play an effect … <br> <br> <br>Turn 1 <br> <br>Without hesitation, Nicolas plays a Feather Land and discard an Universal Key to play the first effect of the game : Celestial Gift : Two ressources are on each effect. He discards a Shield and gain Seven Leagues Boots and the Barb Land, but a Gallantry take place and Anthony receives two cards from us (I got some jink so I give him a secondhand trade.). The Boots are played but I try to steal the effect … without any success since Anthony counter the Boots. <br>With his Barb Land and a Irony, Nicolas play another effect giving him a ‘Closed’ card and a Small Brus hand forcing Anthony and me into a Humanitarian Action … Well, just Anthony because I don’t get any magic item anymore. So the Magic Gloves go to the ‘combo effect’ activated again with the Brush : In addition to his Magic Gloves, Nicolas get a Swiss Account. The gloves are discarded too and Nicolas has ‘Cosette’ forcing me to give him 2 cards. <br>Nicolas uses one of them (a Star) to cast Anger (level 1) : Anthony begins to insult me. <br>On my five starting cards, I got only one left : the DRAGON land ! I immediatly play Excalibur (without effect) and Seven Laces on Nicolas who now plays without shirt ! <br>Anthony use my secondhand trade to make one at one card. I put the useless item I just drew and the other give … a land each ! Strangely, Anthony picks up the Swiss Knive (useless item !) and I gain a Star Land (useless to me). <br>Why Anthony took the Knive is soon obvious : he discards it and Teeth, to take Dewdrop Land and Magic Gloves and play the effect Rematch … Everyone must take a already casted spell. Anthony takes the seven laces, Nicolas, Anger and I take Excalibur. <br>With the Dewdrop Land, Anthony cast Obsequious (level 1) on me forcing me to call him ‘Master’, then he discards the gloves to the combo and gets ‘Superdjinn’ giving him two free ingredients. He casts his level 4 spell : Broken. Now Anthony can counter for free one magical item each turn. Ouch. To end his turn, he discards a Transmutator, but only get ‘Diktat’ and choose not to use it. <br> <br> <br>Turn 2 <br> <br>Nicolas close my Dragon Land before I can cast Excalibur again … <br>Anthony steal the Feather Land from Nicolas. <br> <br> <br>Turn 3 <br> <br>I play the Star Land and discards a Escape Key (useless because of Anthony’s Broken) I got ‘Brat’. Anthony gives his last ressource to Nicolas and I give one to him too. <br> <br> <br>Turn 4 <br> <br>Anthony discard a ‘Me first’ to get a ‘Bad Luck’ effect : This effect gives him a level 4 spell that he can give to any player … and the lucky winner is … me. And so, I gain Sorry (a level 4, that can prevent someone for winning by giving him extra spells). <br> <br> <br>Turn 6 <br> <br>Nicolas plays Anger again on Anthony … no comment. Followed by a Sheherazaad on Anthony again. But he manages it. <br>Then Nicolas makes an Auction to give a Madness Land against two other cards. I take it in exchange for two transactions. <br> <br> <br>Turn 9 <br> <br>I open my Dragon Land and Close the Feather Land. I cast immediatly Excalibur (again without any effect). <br> <br> <br>Turn 10 <br> <br>Nicolas play his level 4 spell : Awakening to force Anthony to take all spells back and restart the game from stratch ! But that lucky punk is able to prevent this, stealing the required Herb with a Magnet. So Awakening can’t be cast. <br>Anthony play ‘Randomness’. Each player must take one of any player’s complete hand at random. Nicolas keeps his one, but Anthony takes mine, and I take his … making me … in lead ! <br> <br>At end of turn 10 <br> <br>Nicolas has 9 points worth of spells with 10 cards and a Swiss Account <br>Me, only 4 points with four cards. <br>And Anthony … 13 points with 5 crappy cards … and a Broken spell. <br> <br> <br>Turn 11 <br> <br>Nicolas cast ‘Our Majesty’ on me, forcing me to use ‘We’ instead of ‘I’, but I manage to cast Seven Laces on Anthony … I’m the only one with shirt. <br> <br> <br>Turn 12 <br> <br>Irony and Barb allow me to use the effect of ‘Charming Prince’ … Now Nicolas must do Frog Noise when he speaks. <br> <br> <br>Turn 13 <br> <br>I can have use of the Barb land, so I steal it. <br> <br> <br>Turn 14 <br> <br>Market Day by Nicolas, followed by the awakening on Anthony : Even if I lead, Awakening on be wouldn’t be very useful since I got only 2 level 1 spells that I can cast right away with my land. With only five cards and a hand full of spells, Anthony is far behind us. <br>I discard Hail to activate Iniquity … a secondhand trade with all cards begins … for the joy of Nicolas that use his swiss account to get a card advantage on us. <br>I get 2 magical item and use them to create more effect : I stop level 1 spells and change all the ingredients of the alambic, destroying the Combo … but I’m unable to cast my last spell. <br>Anthony open his Feather Land <br> <br> <br>Turn 15 <br> <br>Trying to pushing me to make a mistake, Nicolas cast ‘Dammit’ on me. This level 1 spell force me to say Dammit every time I speak. <br> <br> <br>Turn 18 <br> <br>Nicolas try to Crystall Ball some Irony, but none of us have it. <br>I play Love Potion on Anthony who give me the first ingredient I need for my last spell. With the rest of the card I play a magical effect : ‘Ancient One’. It’s my turn to get 2 cards but none of them allow me to end the game. <br> <br> <br>Turn 19 <br> <br>I try to make Nicolas sleep, but he counters me <br>Anthony manage to cast his ‘first’ spell : ‘Tagazin …’ a level 1 that force Nicolas to end his sentences with ‘TagzinSomething’ that match the end of his sentence. <br> <br> <br>Turn 20 <br>Anthony get a Flying Carpet and draws 5 cards and play the Dragon Land and close the Star Land. Then he casts again Obsequious on me. <br> <br>At end of turn 20, both Nicolas and me have a level 3 spell in hand with 7 cards for Nicolas and 9 for me while Anthony has … 19 points worth of spells for 3 cards. <br> <br> <br>Turn 21 <br> <br>Nicolas cancel the ‘Tagazin…’ while I got my second ingredient to cast my final spell. <br> <br> <br>Turn 23 <br> <br>I discard a Smile to play an effect : Annual Fair … I use it right away. So each player in turn can discard three cards to draws 2 anytime he wants. I empty my hand trying to get my final ingredient … but I failed … And Nicolas do the same … dammit ! <br> <br> <br>Turn 24 <br> <br>Fortunately, Nicolas wasn’t more lucky than me an dis unable to finish too. <br>I draw my card … look at it … It’s the one I need ! And I win. VICTORY !!!!! <br> <br> <br>So the scores evolves like this : <br> <br>Gamecaster : <br> <br>Nicolas : 1 <br>Anthony : 1 <br>David : 1 <br> <br> <br>Numbercaster <br> <br>Nicolas : 14 <br>Anthony : 12 <br>David : 8 <br> <br> <br>Arch-caster <br> <br>Nicolas : 31 <br>Anthony : 19 <br>David : 17 <br> <br> <br> <br>All in all, my victory is … bitter. I only won because I get a hand with only one spell inside … and so I scored less than Nicolas for the Numbercaster and the Arch-caster. <br> <br>OK … next time … I’ll be the good one ! Anda t least I can still hope for the Gamecaster title. <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1590622#1590622 2007-07-05T14:27:13+00:00 Hankroyd Here is the second round of our Elixir Tournament between Me (David), Anthony and Nicolas. <br> <br>Nicolas won the first and I was the last far behind the other two. <br> <br>This time, the order of the turn is Anthony, Nicolas, then me. <br> <br>The spell are chosen at random and surprise, no level 4 came out. <br> <br>I got Ridiculous and Shut Up (two useless level 1 spells (we are used to this handicaps)), Secondhand Alakazam (Level 2 that allow me to take back one ingredient, one magical item and one transaction from the discard pile), Spellswap (Level 2 to make opponents exchange one of their uncast spells, Duplication (Level 2, that allow me to copy a level 1 or 2 spell already cast and No Posting (Level 3) to protect all lands I control from being stolen or closed. <br> <br>Anthony has only 5 spells (1/1/3/3/3) and Nicolas 7 (1/1/1/1/2/2/3) <br> <br> <br>Turn 1 <br> <br>Anthony begins with 3 face down cards in auction, taken by Nicolas. Then Nicolas do the same, I take it with 3 useless cards I got. Of curse those cards worth nothing too. I make an auction too, with the three dreaded cards and a dewdrop for 4 cards. Nicolas takes them, giving me back my cards and a pumpkin land. <br>Anthony continues with transaction : Day of market. Since we got all useless cards (lots of transactions), we discard them happyly to draw new cards. Finally, each of us get 3 cards in hand, but not bad ones for me. And … lucky me, at my turn a draw the djinn. Things look good for me. <br> <br> <br>Turn 2 <br> <br>Nicolas cast Poetry (level 1) to Anthony who give us the classic ‘The Crow and The Fox’. <br> <br> <br>Turn 3 <br> <br>Nicolas plays the seven leagues boots. I try to conter, but he counters my counters and draws three extra cards before spent them to a Market Day. <br> <br> <br>Turn 7 <br> <br>Even if it doesn’t serve me, I cast my No Posting. Since I was very behind on the first round, I try to play my big spell to enter into the competition again. My djinn and a Magic Wnd are used in the process. <br> <br> <br>Turn 8 <br> <br>Love Potion from Anthony to me … I have few cards, but three of them are useless… I give it to him with a smile. <br> <br> <br>Turn 9 <br> <br>With a smile, Anthony cast Sweetheart (level 1) of me. I try but not enough apparently (Nicolas was the one to decide and … apparently he thinks it’s fun that I have no card in hand). So Anthony get two of my three last cards. <br> <br> <br>Turn 10 <br> <br>I’m not physical, so Anthony … AGAIN … play a level 1 spell on me : Caper, to force me to jump around the table twice on one foot. I failed miserably and AGAIN give cards to Anthony. Gee, I got no card in hand … <br> <br>At end of turn 10 <br> <br>Anthony has 9 points worth of spells to cast with 15 cards (thanks to me) <br>Nicolas 10 points with 10 cards. <br>Me : 8 points (great I lead !) with …. One card (less great). <br> <br> <br>Turn 12 <br> <br>Nicolas play the Herb Land and cast Discount (level 3) : Now he is able to use any of our land for only any two cards … that would be impressive … if only other Lands were in play. Still he becomes again the one with the lesser spell points in his hand. <br>I was lucky again to draw a new Wand. <br> <br> <br>Turn 13 <br> <br>Anthony steal the Herb Land. <br> <br> <br>Turn 15 <br> <br>Anthony plays two extra lands : Hair and Dragon, then cast Deal (level 2) to lauch a Market Day : His 18 cards hand decrease to 10 and he plays another Land : Dewdrop and cast Bug (level 1) avoiding the effect with ‘I’m Not Here’. Another Land (Irony) and a level 1 spell with no effect (You’re glue) then … Superexchange, the level 3 spell that allow the caster to swap his hand with an opponent. Since Nicolas has more cards than me, he choose him. But Nicolas play an Endless Bag to protect his cards. Anthony end his tun with no card (great) but only a tiny level 2 spell to cast. <br>Nicolas steal the Barb land and cast Trasmutation (level 3). Ouch now, when someone cast a spell, he would be able to exchange one of his cards with one of the ingredient. Then he plays his second level 3 spell : Great Shaman (Allowing him to stop level 1 spells). But he’s unable to cast his last level 1 spell. <br>SInce everyone played a lot this turn, I do the same and cast Alakazam Second Hand to retrieve the Djinn, Teeth and a Market Day. And use the Djinn and Teeth to cast Spellswap. Now Anthony has a level 1 spell and Nicolas a level 2 … and each of them know what NOT to give to prevent the other from winning. <br> <br> <br>Turn 16 <br> <br>None of my opponent is able to win. <br>I steal an Irony to cast ‘Shup Up’ on Anthony. <br> <br> <br>Turn 17 <br> <br>Anthony try a secondhand trade with one card. Not knowing what they need and not willing to give them the Market Day, I pass. Anthony and Nicolas exchanged useless ingredient. <br> <br> <br>Turn 18 <br>Anthony try a new secondhand trade with two cards. Again I’m not playing and Nicolas and Anthony put useless ingredients for them. <br>I close the Barb Land … just in case. <br> <br> <br>Turn 20 <br>Anthony use Powder and Feather to play a magical effect … and it’s … Free Spell. He can cast one of his spell for free … so his last spell is cast and Anthony win the second round. <br> <br> <br>No … No … He isn’t lucky a all … No … <br> <br> <br>So the score evolves <br> <br> <br>Gamecaster <br> <br>Nicolas : 1 <br>Anthony : 1 <br>David : 0 <br> <br> <br>Numbercaster <br> <br>Anthony : 10 <br>Nicolas : 9 <br>David : 5 <br> <br> <br>Arch-caster <br> <br>Nicolas : 23 <br>Anthony : 17 <br>David : 12 <br> <br> <br> <br>I’m still last, but still the distance between me and the other hasn’t icreased much … So I’m still hoping the third game will be the good one for me. <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1589231#1589231 2007-07-04T11:43:15+00:00 Hankroyd Hi and welcome to the great Elixir tournament. <br> <br>With two other friends, we decided to see who is the best spellcaster. Not in one game but until all spells are cast. <br> <br> <br>Here is the rules : <br> <br>We play a normal game with 11 points with all the expansions. Each player have his level’s spells chosen at random. At the end of the game, each players keep their casted spells (and so they cannot be cast again until the end of the tournament) and we start a new game. <br>When there isn’t enough spells left to make three eleven points hands, the tournament is over. <br> <br>We play in three categories : <br> <br>First, ‘The Gamecaster’ : When someone win a ‘Elixir’ game, he gets 1 point. At the end of the tournament, the one who has won most game, gain this tittle. <br> <br>Next, ‘The Numbercaster’ : At the end of the tournament, each competitor will count the number of spells he casted during the tournament : the one with the most spells gains this tittle. <br> <br>And to finish, ‘The Arch-caster’ : Same as above, but the level of spells matters : level 1 spell worth 1 point, level 2, 2 points, 3, 3 points and 4, 4 points. The one with the the most points gains this tittle. <br> <br> <br>The contestants : <br> <br>Me, David aka ‘The Older one’ : The only one who try to build a strategy when playing this game. <br> <br>Anthony aka ‘The Girl’ (For the sake of balancing three alambic cards) : Act first, think after … long after … generally after the game … very easy to bluff, but with a tremendous amount of luck to balance this. <br> <br>Nicolas aka ‘The Younger one’ : Master of treachery, disinformation and misdirection, no one really understand what he thinks. This is his strength but also his weakness, since none of us really trust him. <br> <br> <br>Round 1 : (Order of play : Me, Anthony, Nicolas) <br> <br>I got Mime and Anger (2 almost useless level one spells), Little Excavation (To steal a Land from my opponents), Superexchange (Level 3 that allow me to exchange my ressources hand with another player) and Extra Hours (Level 4 that give an extra spell to each opponent) <br> <br>Anthony gets a 2/3/3/3 hand and Nicolas a 2/2/3/4 hand. <br> <br> <br>Turn 1 <br> <br>With only one useful ingredient, I begin with a Souk, exchanging with Anthony my Powder and Madness for his Star and Irony. I could cast Anger with the Star but since I need two (I need a Star for Extra Hour too), I choose to keep it. <br> <br>Nicolas put the Dragon Land and use it with an Herb to make a magical effect : gallantery. Nicolas and me must give one ressource card to Anthony. I give Hail, an almost useless magical item. <br> <br> <br>Turn 3 <br> <br>Anthony draws ‘Alambic’ and with one Herb and two Dragons, none of us is able to cast a spell. <br> <br> <br>Turn 4 <br> <br>Anthony close the Dragon Land. <br> <br> <br>Turn 6 <br> <br>I draw Safe ! This magical item that prevent my ressources to be traded is a combo with my Superexchange allowing me to steal all cards from an opponent with no drawback at all. <br> <br> <br>Turn 10 <br> <br>A uneventful beginning, no spell has been cast yet. I got only three useful ingredients in ten cards but i got the safe, that give me hope. <br>Anthony has 14 cards and Nicolas, 10. <br> <br> <br>Turn 11 <br> <br>Nicolas attacks, playing this level 4 spell : Ubiquity. Until the end of game he will draw two cards instead of one each turn. One of the most powerful spell. The game will be difficult to win. <br> <br> <br>Turn 16 <br> <br>I draw an useless item and sacrifice it with Dewdrop to make a magical effect … but nothing happens. Two cards lost for nothing. <br> <br> <br>Turn 18 <br> <br>It’s Anthony’s turn to cast a spell : Master Strike, allowing to steal 2 ressources at random from both my hand and Nicolas’s hand. Nicolas isn’t very happy about this and try to steal one ingredient with a Magnet, countered by Anthony. Then Nicolas change his strategy and play one of his level 2 spells : White Rabbit. Anthony isn’t allowed to cast his spell this turn and must wait for the next. <br>Nicolas tries to draw 5 extra cards with Flying Carpet, but again Anthony use a Whistle to counter his item. <br> <br> <br>Turn 19 <br> <br>Master Strike is finnaly cast. I protect my ressources with the Safe and Nicolas loses 2 cards. <br>Nicolas opens his Dragon Land and try an Auction, countered with Hail by Anthony. <br> <br> <br>Turn 20 <br> <br>At least, I can cast Extra Hours after closing again the Dragon Land. Unfortunately, Anthony get only a level 1 spell and Nicolas a level 2. <br>Anthony play the Feather Land and Bankruptcy (level 3) that discard every open Lands. Since the Feather Land is the only one open, Anthony is the only one to suffer from his spell. <br>Nicolas try to get Dragon by using a Crystal Ball, but again Anthony counters it. How many whistles does he have ??? <br> <br>At the end of turn 20, I have 7 points worth of spells to cast, with only 2 useful ingredients on 9 cards. <br>Anthony have 6 points left with 19 cards and Nicolas 7 points with 13 cards, but draws 2 cards each turn, making it very dangerous. <br> <br> <br>Turn 22 <br> <br>I make a secondhand trade of 5 ressources, and get a Herb Land and a lot of junks. I use my new Land with a Dragon to make a magical effect : Humanitary Help : The next one who will use Dragon and Herb to make a magical effect will gain … A Escape Key and a Monkey Money … Two very useless magical item. So much for the help. <br>Anthony stole one herb from my Land and cast Lunch Time (the extra level 1 spell he get) without any effect. <br>But, the second hand trade seems to have given a lot more to Nicolas than we thought. He cast Funny Guy, a level two spell that allow him to get the three top cards of the draw pile if he guess what they are. He guesses wrong so no harms done. But after that, he cast Bored Now, and discard 10 cards to draws 10 new cards. He doesn’t get the last ingredient he needs but instead a Magical Wand. Anthony doesn’t have whistle anymore and Nicolas is able to cast his last spell and thus winning the game. <br> <br> <br>So here is the score after Round one : <br> <br> <br>Gamecaster <br> <br>Nicolas : 1 <br>David : 0 <br>Anthony : 0 <br> <br> <br>Numbercaster <br> <br>Nicolas : 5 <br>Anthony : 3 <br>David : 1 <br> <br> <br>Arch-caster <br> <br>Nicolas : 13 <br>Anthony : 7 <br>David : 4 <br> <br> <br>At least, now we won’t see Ubiquity again. But Nicolas get a very good headstart. I will have great difficulties to get back in the tournament if I didn’t win the second round. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1585567#1585567 2007-07-02T14:11:06+00:00 Hankroyd second edition compil' box - back <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic194649_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/194649 2007-03-16T18:00:31+00:00 Capitaine Grappin second edition box - back <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic194648_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/194648 2007-03-16T18:00:06+00:00 Capitaine Grappin Second Edition - card back <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic194646_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/194646 2007-03-16T17:48:05+00:00 Capitaine Grappin Second Edition - items <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic194645_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/194645 2007-03-16T17:47:43+00:00 Capitaine Grappin Second Edition - spells cards <br> <img src="http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic194644_mt.jpg"> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/194644 2007-03-16T17:47:23+00:00 Capitaine Grappin Hello, <br> <br>In the original french version, at your turne you can play any number of transaction, any number play of magic item and cast any number of spell. <br> <br>Can you describe the 'extra strength' cards ? <br> <br>Is it a spell (of wich levels), an object, ... <br> <br>I don't find a card with this translation in my set. <br> <br>Best regards http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/681709#681709 2005-11-03T09:20:30+00:00 seretur Can anybody answer me if there is a limit of playing only one magical object, spell or transaction per turn because the wording of the "extra strength" card is a bit confusing... http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/660524#660524 2005-10-17T19:13:04+00:00 pegasusgr I picked up Elixir (Mayfair Games, 2000 - Los Rodriguez and Frederic Leygonie). I was at the game auction at Origins and was able to snag the game for an inexpensive price, even though I hadn’t heard of it before. I have pretty good confidence in Mayfair; however, so I figured the game would be worth trying out. When I opened the box and saw that it was about fairies, I was a bit less excited. The game languished on my shelf for half a year, with me making no attempt to pull it out. Finally, I decided that unplayed games were A Bad Thing, so I gathered a group of people together and tried it out. <br> <br> I was pleasantly surprised when playing the game - it was a lot of fun. The game has a facade of a strategy game, but really Elixir is simply a party game. The game starts off a bit silly with the theme of itsy bitsy fairies dashing off, gathering ingredients for the players’ spells. But once the spells starting taking effect, the game gets goofy quickly. Perhaps the game might be too long for some people - about an hour or so, with the level of sheer silliness that occurs in it - but I heartily enjoyed the game. <font color='#FF0000'>If you’re with a group of animated, extroverted folk, then Elixir is an excellent choice when looking for levity.</font> <br> <br> Four piles of spell cards (levels one through four) are shuffled and placed face down on the table. A pile of 112 “Find” cards is shuffled and forms a large draw deck in the middle of the table. After doing “Am-Stram-Gram” (read the rules to find out) to determine who goes first, the first player chooses a spell from any of the four piles. Players continue to pick, in turn order, spell cards, until all players have met or exceeded the total number of spell points (8-11, determined by number of players) on all their spells. (For example, in a three-player game I could have one Level 4 spell, two level 3 spells, and one level 1 spell for a total of 11 spell points.) Five “Find” cards are dealt to each player for their starting hand, and the game is ready to begin with the first player. <br> <br> On a player’s turn, they draw the top card from the Find deck, and then take as many actions as they can / want to. The actions players may take are: <br>- Cast one of their spells: Each spell has a number of ingredients shown on it, corresponding to the level of the spell. There are four of each of the sixteen different ingredients (which have names such as “Lock of angel hair”, “A jab in the side”, and “Troll’s nose”.) If a player has the ingredients in the hand necessary to cast the spell, they discard the ingredients and play the spell on the table. The spell then causes some sort of effect, listed on the card. Level 4 and 3 spells have powerful effects, such as allowing a player to steal a find card from an opponent of their choice each turn for the rest of the game, or causing all players to give their finds to the player on their left. Level 2 spells are not quite as good, but are still useful, such as “You may randomly take a find from each of your opponents, and discard them immediately.” Level 1 spells, however, add hilarity to the game. Played on another player, they force that player to do things such as hop around the table twice on one foot, scratch their head every time they speak the rest of the game, declare love for you, or other inane things. Players who cannot / choose not to / forget to do these things forfeit cards from their hands to the players who catch them. <br>- Use a magical object: Some Find cards are considered “magical objects”, which basically allow the player to do some sort of action, like steal finds from an opponent, draw them from the deck, etc. <br>- Open a transaction: There are three different transactions that can be played on a player’s turn: the Flea Market, the Market Day, and the Auction. All three of these have different rules but basically consist of players exchanging find cards from their hand, just in different ways. <br> <br>Some magical items and spells can be played out of turn, as long as the card states that the player can do it, and has the necessary ingredients. There are also several non-magical objects, that mostly do nothing except waste space, although a few of them can affect certain spells played. As soon as one player gets rid of all the spells in their hand, they are the winner! <br> <br>Some comments on the game... <br> <br>1.) Components: The game is basically made up of the 178 cards included in the Mayfair small-boxed-game box, so I’m glad that a lot of attention was paid to them. The cards are of good quality, and I was especially enamored by Bernard Bittler's artwork. There are quite a few differences between the European artwork and Mayfair artwork - mostly in the amount of clothing that the fairies wear (none in the European). I’ve already seen debates about this on the internet, so I’ll just simply state that I’m pleased I have the Mayfair edition. Each ingredient card, while having a humorous illustration on it, also has an icon in the corner. These icons are shown on the spell cards and make matching the correct ingredients with the spells fairly simple. The back of the four different levels of spells each have a different illustration, as well as a large number. This allows other players to easily determine how many spells another player has, and of what type. There is a lot of text on all the cards, but it doesn’t make the game as confusing as that sounds. Every card is quite simple to understand; and any discrepancies, if they show up, can easily be decided by a majority of the players. The only cards that might be confusing are the three transaction types, and the rules clearly explain each type. Small game, but nice components. <br> <br>2.) Rules: The rule booklet is only eight pages long and is pretty clear, since the game isn’t really that difficult. As I stated above, a good section of the rules describes the transaction cards, the “Am Scram” method of picking the first player, and a listing of the ingredient cards. With pictures included, the rulebook is very easy to read - I enjoyed the way it was laid out. The game was extremely easy to teach - the only hiccup was the fact that a lot of magic items referred to specific transaction cards, and until we actually proceeded with those transactions, players weren’t quite sure what the magic items did. After a few rounds, this was cleared up; and the game was fairly easy to play. <br> <br>3.) Level 1 Spells: I can’t imagine a game being played with no one picking any level one spells, which is good, as they are some of the funniest effects of the game. In our last game, I had to say “for your information....” with everything I said, which was annoying to me, but funny to the others. Having another player having to call me “Master” every time she spoke, and another say, “well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle” every time they spoke only increased the humor. I won’t deny that there are many people who would find this sort of thing annoying at best, detestable at worst. To those people I would caution against playing this game, as they will most likely have to act out some foolish charade for the amusement of others. But when you have a group of people who are willing to be silly for silliness’ sake, then these level 1 spells will make your day. <br> <br>4.) Luck: When you don’t have the cards you need in your hand, and no magic objects worth playing, then your turn can simply involve picking up a card and passing. This isn’t the most fun thing in the world when it happens several times in a row; but the transaction cards help break this up, allowing most players to get at least some of the cards they want. Still, it’s quite possible for someone to win the game because they got the cards they needed, and no one else did. Yes, there a few tactical decisions in the game - knowing when to play the correct card, what cards to give to other players, the order of playing one’s spells, etc. But the game has a huge dose of humor and luck, and those interested in playing should know this. <br> <br>5.) Fun Factor and Length: The game is a blast to play for about thirty minutes. And if the game lasts only thirty minutes, that’s a good thing. But occasionally the game goes a little longer than that - and then things can drag out. Even with groups full of levity, sometimes too much can be too much. Still, the game is a lot of fun as players trade cards back and forth and play silly spells on one another. <br> <br>Elixir is on my shelf and will likely be brought out on occasions where I want to play a game that makes everyone laugh but doesn’t require folks to think too hard or be creative, like a typical party game. While the game could be played (I think) as a serious trading card game, I seriously doubt that it would be worth it. Anyone taking this game seriously would end up annoyed and irritated. Taking the game with a “dose of good humor” (one of the ingredients) is what is necessary. <font color='#FF0000'>If you play the game expecting silliness, you’ll be satisfied.</font> Because that, my friend, is all the game is. Fun, worth-paying-for silliness, but absurdity nonetheless. <br> <br>Tom Vasel <br>“Real men play board games.” <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/479251#479251 2005-04-23T13:35:17+00:00 TomVasel When my group has played this game, the silly 1-point spells cornered players into remaining stone silent. I was particularly irked into silence when I was simulaneously charged with three counts of Spell Neglect! The result of these silly spells is the 'silence of frustration'. A remedy we have found to this is to impose a <b>15-minute duration on 1-point spells</b>, starting fromthe time of casting. After the 15 minutes have passed, the statutue of limitations kicks in, and you are no longer required to obey said spell. This tends to aleviate the craziness to managable levels, and keeps table talk and comraderie alive. <br> <br>Also, in the case of a spell with long-lasting effects, it has been good etiquette to put the spell card in front of the particular player it targets. This is really useful in a larger game when cards on the far side of the table can come back to haunt you. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/92347#92347 2005-03-03T19:51:27+00:00 cerulean I've played Elixir several times a couple of years ago, and as far as I could remember I enjoyed it. But recently we played again, with 6 friends. Two times, with the add-ons. <br>Both games were more or less identical. Hard to collect finds, and each time one of us was very lucky with spells (for example one allowed him to take two finds of each opponents) and with finds (draw 5*2 cards). Thus the games finished very rapidly without any chance for the opponents to play a spell against him (because of lack of the good ingredients). <br>It may depend on the number of players, maybe 7 is too much; moreover some 3-ingredients spells are much too strong, esp. with 7 players. <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/74515#74515 2005-01-04T16:10:36+00:00 Grégori <b><u>Elixir</u></b>: Chris, Shelly, Tami, Mark, J.C. and Allan <br> <br>Elixir is a card game of collecting ingredients of spells and then casting them on your fellow players. I’m not certain, but I’d be willing to bet that Elixir would make a devastating drinking game. <br> <br>I was the first in the group to be stuck with a spell in which I had to continuously say “Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle” every time that I spoke. (Chris was the cretin that cast this one on me. Don’t think I’m going to forget it, either!). Mark soon got hammered with having to scratch his head after every sentence that he spoke too. While amusing for the first 15 minutes this soon wore on me (Mark, though, I think enjoyed it). J.C. kept quite a low profile, while Chris chuckled with glee every time I spouted, “Come on guys, this game sucks! Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle!” Tami ended the game by casting a poetry spell on me. I ended the game by reciting “There once was a man from Nantucket….” <br> <br>I’d play this again, and with the right crowd this would be a hoot. Everyone though has to be into the game for it to be a total success. <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/18829#18829 2003-09-02T13:44:30+00:00 Smullster Dan and Lee showed up, and after an aborted one round game of Lost Cities (basically spent trying to show Lee how to play), Karla clamored to try Dan&#039;s new game, Elixir. <br> <br>The game is spent using magic objects and gathering ingredients to cast 9 levels worth of spells. There are lots of opportunities to mess with people, and the game went from very little going on to frenzied mayhem quite frequently. It was almost overwhelming. What didn&#039;t help was the fact that when Dan played a card (he being the only person who knew how to play) he didn&#039;t explain it at all. He would say, for instance, &quot;Auction.&quot; Then we would sit there confused until someone else read the card. This was Dan&#039;s attempt to cheat us. <br> <br>Regardless, it didn&#039;t work. Dan, despite amassing a gazillion cards, never did cast a spell. I was able to gather an ingredient, a magic object, and a transaction with my first card, and Karla had three of her four spells cast fairly quickly, saddling me with an extra first level spell in the process. <br> <br>But I had set myself up. After Lee cast an annoying spell requiring me to say &quot;For your information..&quot; every time I spoke, I set up my cards gloriously. And when Dan stole an ingredient after I cast my level 4 spell (forcing Karla to put 4 levels worth of spells back in her hand), I fortunately had an extra one of that ingredient, and was still able to cast it. Then I used the magic wand to cast my final spell. The last two spells were cast in the same turn. <br> <br>Elixir is pretty fun. It was a little frustrating to have the rules explained so poorly (I recall Dan not exactly telling me what a Magic Object was), but once I got it the game was more fun, and the sillyness of the spells is charming. <br> <br>Final Score: Mike 10 (spell levels cast) <br>Lee 1 <br>Karla 1 <br>Dan 0 http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/8309#8309 2003-05-09T13:26:23+00:00 POvidiusNaso Elixir is a beer and pretzels game (lots and lots of beer). <br> <br>The game has two main elements: spells and finds. First, the finds. A find is either an ingredient, which is used to cast spells, or an object. Some objects are just useless and occupy a spot in your hand while others are magic objects that give you some sort of one shot bonus (cancel a spell effect, redirect it, steal an ingredient, etc). You start with 5 find cards in your hand and draw a new one each turn. Finds do get traded around some when special object cards come up. <br> <br>The spells are levels 1-4. The spell level corresponds exactly to the number of ingredients it takes to cast them. Level 1-2 spells are largely ultra-silly things like &quot;The target must call you Master for the rest of the game, should they forget they must give a find card to the person that noticed&quot;. Higher level spells have more potent effects, like forcing others to draw more spell cards. <br> <br>You draw 9 levels of spell cards (e.g. two 4th level spells and one 1st level, or nine 1st level, etc). The person to run out of spells first wins. <br> <br>So, how does it play? In a nutshell, this is the worst, most awful, abysmal game I&#039;ve ever played. It gives beer and pretzel games a bad name. There is almost no skill in casting spells. You either can or can not based on the ingredients. There are sooo many ingredients types that you rarely if ever have more than one spell you can cast, and there&#039;s little reason not to cast it. So, your turn consists of draw a card, cast a spell if you can. This tedium is broken by an occasional &quot;trade&quot; card, of which there are a few varieties. Essentially you swap cards with other players in some pseudo-random fashion, thus hopefully getting new ingredients. <br> <br>Hey, but the spells are fun, right? Well, I suspect the game is named Elixir for a reason, because you&#039;ll need to have drunk a lot of Elixir before the stupidity of the spells seems humorous. Calling someone &quot;Master&quot; or &quot;Snookums&quot; or whatever is cute...for about 2 turns. After that it&#039;s just annoying and most such silly cards are permanent. One player, that had about 3 of these cards on him, just gave up trying to speak and used hand signals the rest of the game. <br> <br>There is NO strategy, or even thought, in this game and all interactions are just plain silly or stupid. And to top it off, the game lasts nearly an hour. If you were drunk enough to enjoy the game, you&#039;d be passed out before that hour was up. If you weren&#039;t that drunk, the game sucks so bad you&#039;d want to drink enough to get to that point. <br> <br>If you want a social game with little silliness, but that has an actual GAME in it, play Bohnanza, or maybe Munchkin. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/7957#7957 2003-04-28T22:50:43+00:00 ckessel Val and Sheri arrived as we were scoring the Carcassonne game. Once that finished up, we looked for a game that played seven. We had played Elixir last session, and it was pretty fun, so we pulled it out again. <br> <br> Of the seven of us, only three had played it last week, so we spent a little time on the rules and such beforehand. With seven, we started with only eight spell points. Some early spellcasting of one-point spells occurred, giving Alice five minutes of silence, and forcing Jim and Dave to play Schnookums (isn't that right, little Pork Rind?). Heather had the rough start this time, and so was the recipient of three finds from Helen, courtesy of a two-point spell. <br> <br> The turning point of the game, from an enjoyment standpoint rather than a strategic one, was the playing of the "Busybody" spell. It forced Jim to state "For your information" whenever he spoke, for the remainder of the game. Val promptly cast a Mirror spell to duplicate it's effect, at Dave. Shortly thereafter, Sheri cast a spell that let her dredge up a previously cast spell and have it's effects occur as well, and she targetted Val. As a result, all three of us had to say "for your information" each time we said anything. For your information, it kind of killed some of the fun in the game. It became easier to simply not say anything, rather than continually recite the three dreaded words. And the resulting loss of table talk made the game kind of dreary. <br> <br> But we played on. More "fun" spells included "Perplexed", with which Jim required Heather to scratch her head any time she spoke. Just like last session a song was required, and Sheri also chose "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", but at least she remembered the lyrics. <br> <br> After a while there seemed to be a fair bit of stagnation, as everyone had spells, and ingredients, but neither matched the other. Then Alice cast Shenanigans, which caused spells to be passed to the player on the right. All of a sudden, people had some, if not all, ingredients to match the spells in their hands. Helen tried to take first advantage of that, but needed to use a Magic Wand in order to do so, and Heather used a Tinker Bell to disable the wand. On her turn Heather put Dave to sleep with a magic item, and he slept through Jim's casting of his final spell to win the game. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/7503#7503 2003-04-10T22:05:53+00:00 daw65 Sticheln ended a little late, and Heather called it an evening. Val and Sheri sat out the next game, but the rest of us were up for one more. As the last game was winding down Stiev arrived from a late night at work, and he joined us for a game of Elixir. <br> <br> This game was new to all of us, so we spent some time going over the rules and some of the cards. But we figured there were too many to go over them all, so we just got started. Over the first few turns, there was a lot of "what the heck is this?". Things started off kind of slowly, but apparently all aimed at Helen <img src="http://files.boardgamegeek.com/images/sad.gif" alt=":(" border="0"> . Early on she found herself very low on finds, and she made that abundantly clear. <br> <br> The one-point spells in this game are the easiest to cast, and while they're not very powerful from a gameplay perspective, they certainly are the most entertaining. Thanks to these spells, Dave told a story of a woman who tried to steal spell ingredients, Jim sang "Row, Row, Row your Boat", and Jim and Shelley had to spend fifteen minutes giving each other silly nicknames whenever they talked to each other (due to the Schnookums spell Dave cast upon them). <br> <br> At one point, Helen managed to get herself a nice collection of cards, and through spells, magic items, and a well-played Flea Market, was able to cast all but one of her spells. Her last remaining spell was a one-pointer, and it didn't take long for her to get that last ingredient and win the game. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/7501#7501 2003-04-10T22:05:35+00:00 daw65 I think this is a delightful game. My only suggestion is that it could really use a batch of blank spell cards, as after a few games the "Monkey's Uncle" and so forth every game gets a bit tiresome, and inventing new spells would really invite creativity. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/1907#1907 2002-01-01T06:00:00+00:00 BoardGameGeek ROLL CALL: Barb, Debra, Kevin, Ray. <br> <br>This was the first game of the evening, a new (to me) game brought by Ray. It was delightful, silly fun and if there were anything wrong with the game, it was that it would’ve been even better with more players. <br> <br>Elixir is played in two rounds. In the first, each player takes turns selecting spells (really potions, I suppose) that have a complexity from one to four and continue to take turns selecting until each player has an appropriate total number of complexity levels (with four players, the total was nine). <br> <br>That done, set the potion cards aside and deal five “finds” to each player. On your turn, draw one more “find” and play as many potions as you wish by first playing the ingredient cards appropriate to the spell (in M:tG terms, the ingredients comprise the casting cost of the potion). The more complex they are, the more they cost to cast (complexity 1 spells require one ingredient, complexity 2 spells require two ingredients, and so on up to complexity 4 spells). Each potion has certain effects and that’s where the real fun is. Some potions allow you to draw more cards or allow you to take or move the cards in other players’ hands. Some let you force another player to be silent for five minutes, or address you with reverence, or scratch their head every time they talk, or even sillier effects. <br> <br>The first player to cast their last spell wins. <br> <br>This game was plenty of fun and most of us felt after one play that we were just getting the hang of it so we played again. I can’t say I did any better the second time around, but it was a fun ride. And that’s what it’s really all about, isn't it? http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/14817#14817 2001-08-02T16:44:40+00:00 BoardGameGeek (ChrisD, JohnH, RicB, RichI, CharlesP) : it sure looks nice, how does it play? <br> <br>RicB: "A fun "target" game, at it's heart, it's a "melding/going out" card game. At the beginning of the game you draw a number of spell cards that each have a number of ingredients to cast. First to cast all of theirs wins. You have ingredient cards that you acquire through a draw and via a number of interesting trade sessions, called transactions. Once cast, your spell cards can have an affect on yourself or other players. There are also single cards that have a similar spell affect but don't require ingredients. Some of these are just silly like "You can't talk for five minutes." Others have a more strategic ability, like searching the discard deck for some cards or targeting someone to lose their ability to cast spells for three rounds. <br> <br>What marked this as a successfully fun game were the number of times we broke out in sincere laughter. The cards were interesting, although there was a lot of reading and the opportunity for some "Magic The Gathering" type card timing rulings, and there was a good amount of interaction even if it wasn't specifically your turn. Rich said it cost about $25, which seemed a bit high for three slightly thin decks, and it's definitely a game where you want more than three players." <br> <br>RichI: "A bit like Fluxx crossed with Cosmic Encounter. Silly, but possibly a bit long for what it is. <br> <br>There are two types of cards in the game: spells and find cards. The find cards are either ingredients needed to cast spells, Transaction which allow various forms of trading of cards, objects (either magical or non-magical) <br> <br>Each you draw a find card and then play as many spells, transactions or magical objects as you want and the object is to play all of the spells you drew at the start of the game. <br> <br>Oh, the catch, is that spells and magical objects require silly things to happen or modify cards and actions. They can used to get special powers, prevent your opponet from doing his actions, etc. Many of them are humorous, such as the Blecch! (The player with the Ham (non-magical object card) gets food poisoning and can't cast a spell for 3 turns.) <br> <br>The artwork is a little tricky to follow as the ingredient used to cast the spell are only marked by symbols which are not completely obvious (there are 16 different ingredients used). It would have been nice to have a one or two word name for the symbol on the spell. <br> <br>I don't know how much skill there really is, but it is fun in a silly way." <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/12629#12629 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00 davekohr This is a new release from Mayfair for an earlier French game. It plays 3-8 for 11 +. Now we tried it three handed with the kids and Douglas at 6 did pretty well...since there is a lot of writing on the cards. This game is pretty much family fare. Very light and silly collecting game. Actually, it drags if people don't move along. So, how does it work? You have spells. A one spell need one ingredient to cast (a find), a two spell needs two...and so on up to a four spell. (you know they should have tied this game to the Harry Potter books) Anyway, you choose so many points worth of spells at random to start the game. With three players it was 11 points worth....so you could take two 4's and a 3 or eleven 1's....you get the idea. The winner is the first one to cast all their spells. <br> <br>At this point you are dealt 5 finds and the turn order is draw and play until the end. The are several neat cards that do special things in the game to mess with other players and advance your cause. And there are cards that allow flea markets, and market day trading etc. And of course there are the spells. The more powerfull the spell the more it does, but the spells once cast, cause something to happen to an opponent. For example, one spell caused Emily to sing a song, one to make her hop around the table on one leg, one stole Douglas's hand of cards, one makes you tell a story, one makes you call someone by a funny name the rest of the game. The kids really enjoy that kind of thing. <br> <br>Take this one as a family fun game only. It truly is a draw a card until you get the matches you need to play your spells with lots of gloss and some humor. Again, anything that the kids like that can make you laugh together is worthwhile to me. <br> <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/12667#12667 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00 BoardGameGeek Due to a late start (too much conversation over dinner!), we only got 2 games in. <br> <br>Pitt, Amasa, Scott, Rachel, Tery <br> <br>This game got off to a very slow start. As you may know, the goal is to cast all of the spells in your hand . You do this by playing the ingredient cards in your hand (just like Mamma Mia), along with some magic objects that give you special powers, like stealing other player's ingredients, or dismissing their spell's effects, etc. You can also give the caster of spells 2 ingredients to make the effects go away. There are auction, flea market and market day cards that allow you, each in their own way, to trade cards with other players. <br> <br>As the game started, no one had the right ingredients to go with their spells, so all we did was draw card and hold auctions/fleamarkets/market days. Nothing was happening (that damn useless ham was passed around to each player at least once), and we were all getting a little bored, when Rachel cast a spell requiring that Pitt hop on one foot twice around the gaming area. Now, I am sure for those of you that know Pitt, this is amusing enough, but keep in mind that we play in a restaurant. We are in a seperate room, but there are 2 very large doorways to this room, through which several groups of people were watching with great amusement. (Oh, for a video camera . . . . .) <br> <br>The spells started flying then, and we all enjoyed the game quite a bit more. Amasa couldn't speak without saying "well, I'll be a monkey's uncle", I had to sing a song, Rachel had to compose a poem, and Scott and Pitt had to call each other "schnookums" or other cute nicknames. <br> <br>winner: Tery, with Amasa right behind <br> <br>Turned out to be fun, although we were thinking that increasing the number of ingredient/object cards to 10 rather than 5 at the start of the game to speed things along. Has anyome tried this? <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/12698#12698 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00 BoardGameGeek It is a silly game. It was less fun than when I played at the Gathering a while back, probably because we had only 4 people. Still cute. <br> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/12760#12760 2001-01-01T06:00:00+00:00 tool