I picked up Elixir (Mayfair Games, 2000 - Los Rodriguez and Frederic Leygonie). I was at the game auction at Origins and was able to snag the game for an inexpensive price, even though I hadn’t heard of it before. I have pretty good confidence in Mayfair; however, so I figured the game would be worth trying out. When I opened the box and saw that it was about fairies, I was a bit less excited. The game languished on my shelf for half a year, with me making no attempt to pull it out. Finally, I decided that unplayed games were A Bad Thing, so I gathered a group of people together and tried it out.
I was pleasantly surprised when playing the game - it was a lot of fun. The game has a facade of a strategy game, but really Elixir is simply a party game. The game starts off a bit silly with the theme of itsy bitsy fairies dashing off, gathering ingredients for the players’ spells. But once the spells starting taking effect, the game gets goofy quickly. Perhaps the game might be too long for some people - about an hour or so, with the level of sheer silliness that occurs in it - but I heartily enjoyed the game. If you’re with a group of animated, extroverted folk, then Elixir is an excellent choice when looking for levity.
Four piles of spell cards (levels one through four) are shuffled and placed face down on the table. A pile of 112 “Find” cards is shuffled and forms a large draw deck in the middle of the table. After doing “Am-Stram-Gram” (read the rules to find out) to determine who goes first, the first player chooses a spell from any of the four piles. Players continue to pick, in turn order, spell cards, until all players have met or exceeded the total number of spell points (8-11, determined by number of players) on all their spells. (For example, in a three-player game I could have one Level 4 spell, two level 3 spells, and one level 1 spell for a total of 11 spell points.) Five “Find” cards are dealt to each player for their starting hand, and the game is ready to begin with the first player.
On a player’s turn, they draw the top card from the Find deck, and then take as many actions as they can / want to. The actions players may take are:
- Cast one of their spells: Each spell has a number of ingredients shown on it, corresponding to the level of the spell. There are four of each of the sixteen different ingredients (which have names such as “Lock of angel hair”, “A jab in the side”, and “Troll’s nose”.) If a player has the ingredients in the hand necessary to cast the spell, they discard the ingredients and play the spell on the table. The spell then causes some sort of effect, listed on the card. Level 4 and 3 spells have powerful effects, such as allowing a player to steal a find card from an opponent of their choice each turn for the rest of the game, or causing all players to give their finds to the player on their left. Level 2 spells are not quite as good, but are still useful, such as “You may randomly take a find from each of your opponents, and discard them immediately.” Level 1 spells, however, add hilarity to the game. Played on another player, they force that player to do things such as hop around the table twice on one foot, scratch their head every time they speak the rest of the game, declare love for you, or other inane things. Players who cannot / choose not to / forget to do these things forfeit cards from their hands to the players who catch them.
- Use a magical object: Some Find cards are considered “magical objects”, which basically allow the player to do some sort of action, like steal finds from an opponent, draw them from the deck, etc.
- Open a transaction: There are three different transactions that can be played on a player’s turn: the Flea Market, the Market Day, and the Auction. All three of these have different rules but basically consist of players exchanging find cards from their hand, just in different ways.
Some magical items and spells can be played out of turn, as long as the card states that the player can do it, and has the necessary ingredients. There are also several non-magical objects, that mostly do nothing except waste space, although a few of them can affect certain spells played. As soon as one player gets rid of all the spells in their hand, they are the winner!
Some comments on the game...
1.) Components: The game is basically made up of the 178 cards included in the Mayfair small-boxed-game box, so I’m glad that a lot of attention was paid to them. The cards are of good quality, and I was especially enamored by Bernard Bittler's artwork. There are quite a few differences between the European artwork and Mayfair artwork - mostly in the amount of clothing that the fairies wear (none in the European). I’ve already seen debates about this on the internet, so I’ll just simply state that I’m pleased I have the Mayfair edition. Each ingredient card, while having a humorous illustration on it, also has an icon in the corner. These icons are shown on the spell cards and make matching the correct ingredients with the spells fairly simple. The back of the four different levels of spells each have a different illustration, as well as a large number. This allows other players to easily determine how many spells another player has, and of what type. There is a lot of text on all the cards, but it doesn’t make the game as confusing as that sounds. Every card is quite simple to understand; and any discrepancies, if they show up, can easily be decided by a majority of the players. The only cards that might be confusing are the three transaction types, and the rules clearly explain each type. Small game, but nice components.
2.) Rules: The rule booklet is only eight pages long and is pretty clear, since the game isn’t really that difficult. As I stated above, a good section of the rules describes the transaction cards, the “Am Scram” method of picking the first player, and a listing of the ingredient cards. With pictures included, the rulebook is very easy to read - I enjoyed the way it was laid out. The game was extremely easy to teach - the only hiccup was the fact that a lot of magic items referred to specific transaction cards, and until we actually proceeded with those transactions, players weren’t quite sure what the magic items did. After a few rounds, this was cleared up; and the game was fairly easy to play.
3.) Level 1 Spells: I can’t imagine a game being played with no one picking any level one spells, which is good, as they are some of the funniest effects of the game. In our last game, I had to say “for your information....” with everything I said, which was annoying to me, but funny to the others. Having another player having to call me “Master” every time she spoke, and another say, “well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle” every time they spoke only increased the humor. I won’t deny that there are many people who would find this sort of thing annoying at best, detestable at worst. To those people I would caution against playing this game, as they will most likely have to act out some foolish charade for the amusement of others. But when you have a group of people who are willing to be silly for silliness’ sake, then these level 1 spells will make your day.
4.) Luck: When you don’t have the cards you need in your hand, and no magic objects worth playing, then your turn can simply involve picking up a card and passing. This isn’t the most fun thing in the world when it happens several times in a row; but the transaction cards help break this up, allowing most players to get at least some of the cards they want. Still, it’s quite possible for someone to win the game because they got the cards they needed, and no one else did. Yes, there a few tactical decisions in the game - knowing when to play the correct card, what cards to give to other players, the order of playing one’s spells, etc. But the game has a huge dose of humor and luck, and those interested in playing should know this.
5.) Fun Factor and Length: The game is a blast to play for about thirty minutes. And if the game lasts only thirty minutes, that’s a good thing. But occasionally the game goes a little longer than that - and then things can drag out. Even with groups full of levity, sometimes too much can be too much. Still, the game is a lot of fun as players trade cards back and forth and play silly spells on one another.
Elixir is on my shelf and will likely be brought out on occasions where I want to play a game that makes everyone laugh but doesn’t require folks to think too hard or be creative, like a typical party game. While the game could be played (I think) as a serious trading card game, I seriously doubt that it would be worth it. Anyone taking this game seriously would end up annoyed and irritated. Taking the game with a “dose of good humor” (one of the ingredients) is what is necessary. If you play the game expecting silliness, you’ll be satisfied. Because that, my friend, is all the game is. Fun, worth-paying-for silliness, but absurdity nonetheless.
Tom Vasel
“Real men play board games.”
