Alchemy Lab: a close look, tips and whether it is worth your time
If you enjoy deriving a rule rather than memorising recipes, this lab is for you. Below is the gist, the controls and the habits worth having before the first level.
What this game is
Alchemy Lab is a deductive puzzle about reactions. Two substances go into the cauldron, one new one comes out, and all of it obeys a rule you have to work out yourself: elements add up around a circle, and powers subtract — the closer two substances are in power, the weaker the result. Matching elements do not react at all, and the move is still spent.
The rule is not hidden in a black box: every bottle shows its element colour and its power dots. After two or three experiments the pattern becomes readable and the rest is arithmetic rather than guessing. Every reaction you find is written into the journal, which persists between levels and lives in the browser — knowledge accumulates the way it would in a real lab.
How to play, briefly
1. Alchemy Lab is a deduction puzzle: work out the reaction rule and reach the target within the moves you are given.
2. Tap a bottle to drop the substance into the cauldron; tap a second one and the mix button appears.
3. Elements add up around a circle, powers subtract, and matching elements do not react.
4. The goal of a level is to produce the given substance; leftover moves earn a score bonus.
A few parting tips
- Start with two substances of different elements and look at the result: the colour shows the sum of the elements, the dots show the difference in power. Two experiments are usually enough to derive the whole rule.
- Strong substances come from pairs far apart in power: power three plus power one gives three, while two plus two gives only one.
- Wasted experiments cost moves and leftover moves earn a bonus, so it pays to trace the chain in your head before the third mix.
The perfect way to kill ten minutes — and then miss an entire hour. Ready to try? Alchemy Lab: derive the reaction rule