Variants and Solo

Official pot variation, the ingredient-set choice, and fan-created alternatives.

Official pot-side variation

After players know the game, turn each pot to its test-tube side and place the extra droplet on the first tube. Whenever an effect or ruby payment moves a droplet, choose either the pot droplet or the test-tube droplet. A test-tube move advances one tube and immediately takes the reward shown there: rubies, points, or chips. Explosion rules are unchanged. Use the back’s track in addition to the normal cauldron route.

Choose a recipe set

At game start, use one complete matched recipe set. The rulebook recommends Set 1 for a first game and then Sets 2, 3 and 4. With more experience, players may create their own combination, but should agree which book side is active before play. If using Herb Witches, Sets 5 and 6 are also available. With Alchemists, choose either locoweed book independently of the other set.

Rival Quack solo variant

For solo rules, see the dedicated Solo Play page. The Rival Quack of Quedlinburg by Marek Tupy is unofficial. Its 9 double-sided cards drive a simulated opponent on a two-player setup; the player chooses difficulty I, II or III. The rival receives no bag or flask, never uses Fortune Teller effects or rolls the Bonus Die, earns points and rubies from its book-driven scoring position, and advances its droplet using the card’s value. In round 9 it scores droplet progress as points and spends rubies for points rather than movement. Remove the two specified Fortune Teller cards, Schadenfreude and Less is More. The opponent cards must be cut and sleeved. This is unofficial; the exact difficulty chart and card faces are not reproduced here.

Extra Loco

The available Extra Loco print-and-play, which identifies itself as a fan expansion by BGG user poloniusmonk. Its source is image-only, and the exact rules and component faces have not been transcribed or verified. Treat it as an optional fan module only; the available materials are not enough to reproduce its effects accurately.

Fan-based six-game campaign

The community six-game campaign links six plays with house rules and rewards carried into later games. It is a fan-created scenario set, not a publisher expansion. For setup, use the base game and the scenario’s stated house rules before the first round; carry forward only the rewards printed for that scenario. The campaign PDF’s scenario details have not yet been transcribed, so this guide does not reproduce its individual rules or reward track.