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Players craft potions in a secret marketplace. Hide ingredients to deceive opponents, and use magical powers to mix concoctions. But beware – your opponents are brewing schemes of their own!
Apotheca is played on a 4×4 grid. Players gain points by making matches of three potions of the same color in a row. The first player to make three matches wins. It’s easily learned, but the combination of asymmetric powers and secret facedown potions make the game a delicious challenge.
On each turn, players take 2 of 4 possible actions:
Reveal: Reveal a secret potion and gain a gem of that color
Restock: Draw, look at, and place secret potions on the board until there are exactly 3
Power: Use one of your active apothecary powers
Hire: Spend gems to hire new apothecaries
Whenever a player makes a match, they must place it on one of their apothecaries. This removes that apothecary’s power for the rest of the game, so it’s important for players to keep revealing potions, collecting gems and hiring new apothecaries… all while keeping their opponents at bay!
Deduction is key to Apotheca. Players trap each other with clever spatial moves, bluffing and misdirection. The action economy is very well balanced, so every turn offers an opportunity for strategy and tough decisions.
The feeling of the game differs with every number of players:
2 player is the most cerebral and controlled
3 player is the most chaotic, yet still within your grasp
4 player is played in teams, offering neat collaborative gameplay
Ages | 13+ |
---|---|
Players | Solo, 2 Players, 3 Players, 4 Players |
Play Time | 30m |
Designer | Andrew Federspiel |
Mechanics | Action Points, Team-Based Game, Grid Movement, Variable Player Powers |
Theme | Abstract Strategy, Bluffing, Deduction, Puzzle |
Publisher | Knapsack Games, Renegade Game Studios |
AdmiralACF
*Rating based on one play with four players. Apotheca is a very light puzzle game. It is a very short game (at least with 4), too short in fact. The game felt like we had barely gotten into the game and then it was over. I think I had maybe 3-4 turns before it ended. A fellow player who has more experience with the game mentioned that he had learned you need to play the game more defensively, rather than going straight after scoring opportunities, so maybe that would lengthen the game a bit and make it a more enjoyable experience. That said, I'm not sure there's enough interesting about this game for me to want to come back to it. It's a mostly abstract game with very little theme to it, and the gameplay is very simple and doesn't do anything novel. It might make a decent gateway game for new gamers, but I think there are better games for that purpose. The components are nice, except for the handful of mis-sized tiles, which do have a minor impact on gameplay.
Cone Defense
Solid gameplay, with absolutely incredible artwork, but yet again this is a game that falls in the forgettable bucket. I wouldn’t be opposed to playing, but it will never be front of mind.
EloquentRune
I'd rather this be a single player phone app than a physical game. The changes in the board state between player turns make it prone to AP and waiting around is boring.