Alchemical Antics

Overview

Alchemical Antics is a party game where warlocks and witches brew potions from ingredients gathered on the board, then use them on other players for funny physical challenges. Trading, roll-to-move, and competitive 1v1v1v1 play fit a ~12-minute CTIN 488 playtest window.

Duties

• Brainstormed mechanics that satisfy competitive, trading, roll-to-move, and fantasy requirements
• Iterated board layout, potion effects, and trading incentives across weekly playtests
• Helped finalize rules, event cards, and production-ready materials

Gallery

Initial group brainstorming

First iteration playtest

Second iteration playtest

Final iteration with finalized materials

Process

Two-week CTIN 488 mechanics project: competitive, trading, roll-to-move, fantasy.

Iteration 1 — Shared board. One board; tiles grant ingredients; potion piles with effect and difficulty. Players applied negative effects on themselves for VP—playtests found little trading incentive and confusion about self-targeting.

Iteration 2 — Split boards. Each player has a board with one ingredient type; others require trades. Potions target other players. Trading became meaningful; humor landed better.

Iteration 3 — Party focus. Removed redundant difficulty tiers (cost was mainly ingredient count). Standardized three-ingredient brews, added event tiles (e.g. pass ingredients left, random self-potion), and finalized fantasy presentation.

Rules: Alchemical Antics rules PDF.