The Potion

About this board game

The Potion is a bluffing and deduction game for 3–7 players that plays in about 20 minutes. Released in 2018, it brings rival alchemists together for an unusual contest of secret choices, dice, and deception.

Every alchemist begins with the same basic ingredients: rare mushrooms, secret liquid vials, and poisonous beetles. The goal is to get rid of your ingredients and take control of the final potion while closely observing the choices made by your opponents.

At the start of each round, one player rolls the dice. The result determines the ingredients players will be bidding on and establishes the winning conditions for that round. After considering the roll, every player secretly selects one ingredient from their palm and places it in their other hand.

• Reveal the selected ingredients simultaneously.
• Compare their type and quantity with the dice result.
• Players who meet the winning conditions discard their ingredient into the bottle.
• Players who do not meet the conditions keep their ingredient.

The dice then pass clockwise to the next player, who starts a new round. Because each decision is hidden until everyone reveals, The Potion creates a focused contest of reading the table, judging the dice, and choosing when to commit an ingredient.

With its shared starting ingredients and secret selections, The Potion offers a distinctive game of wit and bluff. Can you shed your ingredients while anticipating the choices of the other alchemists?