Teach the Game
Teach Trismegistus: draft dice for potency, turn metals into gold and publish your experiments over three rounds.
How you win
“We are 19th-century researchers chasing the Philosopher’s Stone. Over three rounds, we draft dice, gather and transform metals, perform experiments and publish what we learn. The alchemist with the most victory points wins.”
Score by filling sections of your Publication sideboard, performing experiments, advancing on Mastery tracks, collecting Books in your Study and keeping some Gold and Extra Potency for the end.
Each turn begins with a die. Spend its Potency to take one Main action; fit in your once-per-turn Free actions before, between or after Potency you spend. The die’s color determines which pool, Experiment offer and Artifact offer match.
The boards
The Main board holds the dice pools, Experiment and Artifact offers, four Mastery tracks, and two Mastery Reward offers.
Your Player board tracks Potency, Metals, Books, Mastery requirements and Artifacts. Your Publication sideboard is a four-section pattern: cover its Element icons as you gain Elements, and fill a section to score its Theory tile.
A round
The game lasts three rounds. Full round order
- Preparation — ready spent Batteries and Artifacts, refresh the offers, roll the dice and assign them to pools. [Events] then adds an Event tile to a pool.
- Action phase — take turns in order. If you have no active die, draft one from any pool and gain the unrefined Metal shown by its face. Put it on the Potency space equal to the number of dice that were in that pool, counting the die you took.
- Take a turn — resolve one Main action and any eligible Free actions. Spend Potency by moving your die down its track. When it leaves space 1, it is exhausted.
- Pass — if you already have three exhausted dice at the start of your turn, pass for the rest of this round. After everyone passes, prepare the next round. After round three, score.
The five Main actions are Gain Metal, Gain Essence, Take an Experiment, Take an Artifact, and Perform Transmutations. You may perform each listed Free action once per turn: Use Aqua Regia, Use Extra Potency, Use a Battery, Spend Gold for Knowledge, and Perform an Experiment.
How the game ends
After the third round’s Action phase, score completed Publication sections, the highest space on each Mastery track, Books in your Study, and remaining resources. Scoring details. Most points wins; books in your Study break a tie, then completed Experiments. If still tied, share the win.
Ways to score
| Source | When it scores |
|---|---|
| Theory tiles on completed Publication sections | End of game: tile value multiplied by the section’s Publication value |
| Mastery tracks | End of game: the highest reached space on each track |
| Books in the Study | End of game: a rising value for 1–7 Books |
| Experiments | When performed: the printed victory points |
| Remaining Gold and Extra Potency | End of game: 1 point each |
| Remaining Metals (except Gold), Essences and Aqua Regia | End of game: 1 point per three tokens combined |
What each resource is for
| Resource | Why you need it | How you gain or use it |
|---|---|---|
| Dice and Potency | Pay for Main actions | Draft a die from a pool; its starting Potency equals that pool’s size |
| Metals | Pay for Experiments and other effects | Gain with a matching Main action, an effect or a drafted die |
| Essences and Mercury | Move metals along Transmutation paths and advance Mastery | Spend one matching Essence or Mercury per Transmutation |
| Aqua Regia | Change a die or reduce an Experiment’s Mastery requirement | Gain from effects; spend it for either use |
| Artifacts | Add immediate and repeatable effects | Take one with a matching die, resolve it, then place it ready under a Transmutation section |
| Books | Reduce matching Experiment costs and requirements; fill Study rows and columns | Move the leftmost Book from an Element section into the Study |
| Theory tiles and Element markers | Complete Publication sections | Cover a matching Element icon; place a Theory tile when you first cover an icon in that section |
| Batteries | Gain extra Transmutations or refresh an Artifact | Use the Battery’s printed option, then exhaust it |
| Extra Potency | Extend a Main action by one Potency | Spend exactly one token before the Main action |
| Gold | Buy Books and score at the end | Gain from effects and by refining metals |
Teaching tips
- Start with the die: its color chooses the pool and offers, while its Potency pays for the action.
- Point out that an Artifact resolves when gained, but stays ready for a later activation.
- Show how the first Experiment of each Element moves a Book; that Book improves later matching Experiments.
- Use the reference side of a Player board to identify the metal symbols before the first draft.