Chemical Overload
Chemical Overload is a Deck Building game that has elements of tableau building as well. On your turn, you’ll have a hand of cards. Any flask cards in your hand can be played to the table and remain there until used to brew a potion. There are also potions that can be played to the table for ongoing effects.
As a bit of a twist on a classic deck building game, when a player gains new cards, such as new chemicals or a newly brewed deck potion, those cards go right on top of their draw pile. Any flasks or table potions gained can be placed immediately in the players tableau area. Players will be able to decide what unused cards in their hand they want to keep at the end of the round and which they want to discard, all with an eye on the cards they know they’ll be drawing next turn.
Number of players: 2 - 4
Game duration: 52 mn
Complexity: 0 / 5
Play Chemical Overload and 974 other games online.
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Play Chemical Overload and 974 other games online.
No download necessary - play directly from your web browser.
With your friends and thousands of players from the whole world.
Free.
Rules summary
Overview
Create the best potions before the lab becomes too toxic to work in!
Turn
On your turn, take 2 actions, the actions can be the same.
You can also take any number of free actions.
Actions
• Gain a Coin
• Buy a Flask
• Gain a Chemical
• Create a Potion
Free Actions
• Play a Potion
• Play a Flask
Action: Gain a Coin
Gain 1 coin, there is no limit to the number of coins you may hold and the supply is infinite.
Action: Buy a Flask
Spend the number of coins in the lower left to gain a flask to your Personal Flask area.
Low level Flasks are free.
Action: Gain a Chemical
Spend the number of like-chemicals in the lower left to gain a higher grade chemical of the same type, the spent ones go in your Play Area and the new Chemical goes on your Draw pile.
Some low grade Chemicals are free.
Action: Create a Potion
Creating a Potion requires both a Flask and Chemicals.
• Take the required Flask of the correct level from your Flask Pile or Hand (You cannot use higher level Flasks in lieu of the correct one).
• Take the required Chemicals from your hand, these can be in excess of what is needed e.g. a Chemical of 3 can be used even if only 2 are required, but any excess can't be used for any other purpose.
All of which go in your Play Area.
• Gain the topmost card of the desired potion, and the potion will tell you whether it goes to your Table Area or Draw Pile.
Take note if the Potion has a green hue about it, this indicates that it is a Toxic Potion, see more on Toxic Levels later on.
Free Action: Play a Potion
A Potion can be played from your Hand or Table Area
• If it's from your Hand, place it in your Play Area and activate the effect.
• If it's in your Table Area, activate it without moving it.
If unclear, the effect applies to YOU as the active player e.g. "destroy one card" means that it destroys one of your own cards.
Free Action: Play a Flask
You can put Flasks from your Hand onto your Table Area for later use.
Table Management
Cards on your Table have a risk of being Discarded, Destroyed or Stolen unless they have a token on them.
Turn End
After you have finished your 2 main actions, and any free actions, the following occurs:
• Transfer all cards in your Play Area to your Discard pile
• Choose whether to keep or discard any Hand cards
• Draw up to a Hand of 5 cards
It is now the next player's turn.
Toxic Potions
Whenever a Toxic Potion is created (but NOT played) the toxin marker increases by 1, which may or may not move it into a new level.
• It starts outside the Toxin meter, so the first Toxic Potion will put it on the first step of level 0.
• Every time a new Level is reached (including 0) a new Toxin Card is revealed and its effects triggered (this is shown by the little green card symbol).
• However, the card will not be acted on until the current player finishes their turn in full.
• On the right side of the track, there are VP rewards for the player who moved it into that space.
• If there was an active Toxin Card already, discard it from the game and replace with the new card.
• The new Toxin Card affects ALL players in clockwise order from the current player.
• Resolve the Toxin Card by checking the level on the card with the current level of Toxicity, ONLY resolve the effect of the current Toxin Level.
• Toxin Cards may have either Immediate (Red) or Ongoing (Blue) effects.
End Game
The game ends when the Toxin cube reaches the highest Toxin Level.
• The current player finishes off their turn as normal.
• The round continues so all players have an equal number of turns.
Scoring
• First add victory tokens collected during the game.
• Check Potions that give you end game scoring.
• Add up the points of ALL your cards collected throughout the game.
The player with the most points wins!
• If tied, the player with most coins wins!
• If still tied, the player with most potions wins!
• If still tied, share the victory!
