26 Fire
14 Water
20 Cinnabar
10 Lead
10 Yellow Salt
● 7 Event cards (gray):
3 Eureka: Player chooses an elixir and all players obtain that.
1 Explosion: Choose one resource, everybody loses half that resource (if odd, lose the larger portion)
1 Disaster: Choose either fire or water, and everybody loses all those cards
1 Sultan’s Favor: Get two of any primary resource
1 Steal: Replace one of an opponent's resource tokens (not an elixir) with your own.
○ Eureka: choose one of the four Elixirs (Hotness, Coldness, Wetness, or Dryness) and place one of your tokens on the corresponding spot on the board. Note that this is the only way to create the Elixir of
Coldness and the Elixir of Dryness.
○ Explosion: Choose one resource that is not Gold or Silver. All three players remove half of their tokens on that resource. If odd, the larger portion is lost (e.g. a player with 3 tokens loses 2 and keeps 1).
○ Disaster: Choose either Fire or Water. All three players discard all cards of this type that they have saved from the previous round.
○ Sultan’s Favor: Choose a primary resource (Cinnabar, Lead, or Yellow Salt) and place two of your tokens on that resource.
○ Steal: Choose one of your opponent's tokens of any resource that is not Gold, Silver, or one of the four Elixirs, and replace that token with one of your own tokens.
2. Drafting Phase: The starting player deals 6 resource cards from the Resource deck to each player. If there are not enough cards, shuffle the discard pile to replenish the Resource deck. The players simultaneously choose
one resource card from among the 6 cards dealt to them and place their chosen card face down in front of them. The players then pass the remaining cards to the player to their left. Again, the players simultaneously choose a card (among the
remaining 5 possible cards), place it face down in front of them, and pass the remaining cards to the player on their left. This passing and choosing process continues until all cards have been chosen and each player has 6 cards face down
in front of them.
Note: These cards should remain separate from the 0 to 3 water or fire cards the players have saved from the previous round, which remain face up throughout the drafting phase
3. Playing Phase: All three players reveal their 6 cards by placing them face up in front of them. Each player takes their turn, beginning with the first player and proceeding in clockwise order. On your turn, complete the
following actions in order:
1. Play all of your primary resources. For each Cinnabar, Yellow Salt, and Lead card you drafted, place one token on the corresponding spot on the board and place the corresponding cards in the discard pile. If you don’t have any more
tokens, you instead simply discard the primary resource card.
2. Combine the Fire and Water cards you drafted with any Fire or Water cards you have saved from the previous round.
3. Perform any transmutations you are able to perform, if you wish. See Transmutations for full detail. This involves discarding one or more resource cards and a Fire or Water card to create one or more new resources, according to the
formulas on the board.
4. You may keep no more than three Fire and Water cards (three total, not three of each) for the next round. If you have more than three Fire and Water cards after performing all desirable transmutations, you must choose some of them to
discard until you have at most three. Place any cards you keep face up in front of you.
Note: Beginners should take their Playing Phase turns one at a time, as described, but once players have the hang of the gameplay, they can take their turns simultaneously.
The player to the left of the starting player becomes the new starting player for the next round.
The gameboard diagrams connections between different resources denoting each possible transmutation. Each appearance of a hexagonal with “FIRE” or “WATER” marks a distinct transmutation. The resources pointing into the hexagon (red arrows)
are the reactants of the transmutation, and the resources pointing out of the hexagon (green arrows) are the products. A player can only perform a transmutation if he or she possesses all of the reactants, as well as a Fire or Water card
needed to instigate the transmutation. To perform a transmutation, a player removes a token for each reactant, discards a Fire or Water card (whichever is required by the transmutation), and places a token for each product created. Some
transmutations require two of the same reactant or create two of the same product; numbers on arrows denote how many reactants or products are involved.
There are two ways randomness can be incorporated into a transmutation. If one of the products is marked with instructions to roll a die, then that product is only received if the player rolls at least a 3 on the six-sided die. In this
case, the reactants are discarded regardless of the roll. On the other hand, if one of the reactants is marked with instructions to roll a die, then the transmutation only occurs if the player rolls at least a 3 on the six-sided die. If the
player rolls a one or a two, the player loses one token from the resource whose arrow was marked with the die-rolling instruction, but keeps all of the other reactants associated with the transmutation.
Note: there are 4 distinct transmutations which result in the creation of Gold. You only need to perform one of these transmutations to receive a Gold token.
All 12 possible transmutations on the board are listed here for reference.
● 2 Cinnabar + Fire ➝ 1 Quicksilver + [Dice Roll 3+ give additional 1 Sulfur]
● 2 Yellow Salt + Water ➝ 1 Sulfur + 1 Arsenic
● [Dice Roll 3+] 1 Lead + 1 Quicksilver + Fire ➝ 1 Tin, [Rolling a 1 or 2 results in loss of 1 Quicksilver]
● 2 Lead + 1 Arsenic + Fire➝ 1 Copper
● 2 Sulfur + Water ➝ 1 Distilled Sulfur
● 2 Quicksilver + Fire ➝ 1 Pure Quicksilver
● 1 Distilled Sulfur + Water ➝ 1 Elixir of Wetness + [Dice Roll 3+ give additional 1 Elixir of Hotness]
● 1 Tin + 1 Elixir of Coldness + Fire ➝ 1 Silver
● 1 Pure Quicksilver + 1 Distilled Sulfur + 1 Elixir of Wetness ➝ 1 Gold
● 1 Pure Quicksilver + 1 Elixir of Dryness + 1 Tin ➝1 Gold
● [Dice Roll 3+] 1 Tin + 1 Copper + Fire ➝ 1 Gold, [Rolling a 1 or 2 results in loss of 1 Tin]
● [Dice Roll 3+] 1 Arsenic + 1 Copper + 1 Elixir of Hotness ➝ 1 Gold, [Rolling a 1 or 2 results in loss of 1 Arsenic]
Example 1: The green and red players are able to perform the 2 Quicksilver ➝ 1 Pure Quicksilver transmutation (assuming they each possess a Fire card), but the blue player is not, because 2 Quicksilver are required. If
either chooses to perform the transmutation, they remove two of their tokens from Quicksilver, discard a Fire card, and add one token to Pure Quicksilver. (Tokens can be stacked but are shown unstacked for purpose of clarity.)
Example 1
Example 2: (Top) All three players have the resources required to perform the 2 Cinnabar ➝ 1 Quicksilver + [Dice Roll 3+ give additional Sulfur] transmutation, assuming they possess a Fire card. If a player decides to
perform this transmutation, he or she removes two of his or her tokens from Cinnabar, discards one Fire card, and places one token on the Quicksilver spot. Then, the player rolls the six-sided die. If at least a 3 is rolled, the player also
places a token on the Sulfur spot. If not, nothing happens. (Bottom) After the Green player performs the transmutation and rolls at least a 3 with the six-sided die, he or she has gained 1 Quicksilver, 1 Sulfur, and lost 2 Cinnabar and one
Fire card (Fire card not shown).
Example 2: Before Transmutation
Example 2: After Transmutation
Example 3: The blue player is able to perform the 1 Tin + 1 Copper ➝ 1 Gold Transmutation assuming he or she possesses a Fire card. If the blue player wishes to perform this transmutation, he or she first rolls the
six-sided die. On a roll of 3 or more, he or she discards a Fire card, removes one token from Tin and one from Copper, and takes a Gold piece. On a roll of one or two, the blue player loses one of his or her Tin tokens. In this case, the
blue player could immediately attempt the transmutation again since he or she would still have a Tin token and a Copper token remaining along with a Fire card.
Example 3
A player’s score can be calculated at any time by the looking at the resources they possess. They earn 5 points for any gold token, 3 points for any silver token, and 1 point for any token on one of the four Elixirs on the board. The game
ends if a player has at least 17 points at the end of a round. If more than one player has more than 17 points when the game ends, the player with the most points wins. If they are tied, the tie is broken first by number of gold pieces,
then by number of silver pieces, then by number of total pieces on the board. If all these quantities are tied, the game is officially a tie.
Seventeen was the “fundamental number of the world” for Jabir, and is therefore an appropriate number of points to fully authenticate his theory. According to Jabir, each number had a special meaning. Among other points of significance,
seventeen was the sum of two important numbers (10, representing “completion,” and 7, representing “divinity”). Seventeen also is the 7th prime number (and therefore divine), and the greek alphabet has exactly 17 consonants.
Picture of the full gameboard:
