Alchematch

It’s your first day at Potion school! Can you mix and match the elixirs 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, rearrange your Blinks in an attempt to create matches. A “match” is 3 or more Blinks of the same color in a cluster. Matched Blinks get replaced by new colors. Sometimes, new colors will immediately create a match, and these matches will cascade one after the other if you position your Blinks correctly.

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 increases in alchemical power, which causes it to bubble more and more intensely. 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.

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.

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.