Mandragora

About this board game

Mandragora is a 2021 board game for 2–4 players, with games lasting about 30 minutes. Set at a school of magic, it challenges apprentice witches to pass their final test by gathering magical items and demonstrating their spell-casting skills.

Each round, move between the different stalls and collect the ingredients and grimoires available for sale. Mandragores are especially desirable: these magical objects are described as a kind of Swiss Army knife of witchcraft, making them sought-after additions to an apprentice’s collection.

Your choices affect what becomes available to everyone else. Every shop you do not visit receives new merchandise, with some goods placed face-down. Rivals may then recover those accumulated items, turning neglected stalls into tempting opportunities and making each visit an important decision.

• Move between stalls to collect ingredients and grimoires.
• Watch unvisited shops as new merchandise accumulates there.
• Use collected items to prepare spells.
• Be wary of cursed scrolls that may cost you the victory.

Once you have collected enough items, you can use them to prepare your spells. These spells offer points as well as spectacular effects, giving your carefully gathered resources a decisive purpose in the final test.

However, not every magical discovery is welcome. Cursed scrolls contain terrible curses, so pursuing valuable items also requires caution. In Mandragora, planning where to go, judging what to leave behind, and choosing when to turn your collection into spells all shape your path toward victory.