Alchemy Deluxe

Overview

Alchemy is a fantasy-themed tile-based puzzle game developed and released by PopCap Games for online browsers, with a digital PC release later on August 29, 2001 and a Mac version on August 14, 2002. The PC and Mac versions are sometimes known as Alchemy Deluxe.

Loosely based on the 1990 game Ishido: The Way of Stones, Alchemy tasks players with placing a random series of Runes of multiple symbols and colors on an empty 9×8 board under certain criteria, attempting to turn all the tiles of the board golden by placing Runes.

Gameplay

Players are given an empty 9×8 board, and must place a random series of Runes and Stones one-by-one with the following criteria:

• At least one adjacent tile must be either a Rune or a Stone.

• All adjacent Runes must share the same shape and/or color of the Rune being placed. Stones, however, can be placed adjacent to any other tile.

The game's difficulty determines how many different shapes and colors the Runes may have. If the player cannot place a Rune, or does not want to place it, they can choose to instead discard it into the "Forge". Players cannot discard four Runes consecutively, as that will end the game. Additionally, players are sometimes given Skulls, which must be used to remoe a Rune of their choosing.

Placing a Rune or Stone on the board turns the tile golden if it is not already, and turning the entire board golden is the game's objective (at which the board is cleared). Having a full row or column of Runes or Stones removes them from the board while granting bonus points.

The standard version only includes one game mode, which is known in the PC version as "Strategic". Additionally, the PC version has "Time Trial", in which the Forge gradually builds up over time (requiring players to place Runes and Stones in order to quell it).

Points

Players are scored by placing Runes and Stones on the board, with the amount determined by the game's difficulty, by whether or not the placement turns a tile golden, and by how many other Runes and Stones are adjacent to it. Bonus points are also given for removing a full row or column of Runes/Stones, with a large amount of bonus points added for clearing the board itself.

• If the tile is already golden: 1, 2, 3, or 4 points based on number of adjacent tiles.
• If the tile is becoming golden: 5, 15, 30, or 50 points based on number of adjacent tiles.
• +50 points for clearing a row/column.
• +500 points for clearing the board.

The points are doubled in Average difficulty and quadrupled in Hard difficulty. The Time Trial difficulty further doubles the points earned.