Potion Explosion is a marble grabbing game for 2-4 players that recreates the feeling of playing a gem-matching video game.
Each turn you take 1 marble from the dispenser. If the resulting cascading marbles match in color, you get to take all of those as well. Then you fill up the potion beakers on your play mat with the required marbles. When a beaker is full, it’s worth points and can be used any point in the future for a special ability. Chaining those abilities can lead to some big marble hauls on future turns. But you can only hold so many at the end of your turn, so grabbing more than you need doesn’t do you any good. When you collect a certain number of similar potions, you get a bonus tile, and once those bonuses run out, game over!
Each game you’ll only use a certain number of different potions, creating lots of variety. There’s even an expansion with more potions and optional game effects.
This is another one of those fun and tactile, super satisfying games! Getting big combos feels great when you can pull it off.
There’s also a really good app version of the game, but it’s not as fun as the real thing. Still it’s nice when you want a quick match and no one is around to play. It’s also good practice.