You are an adept of the mysterious art of alchemy, seeking a way to become the successor of the greatest alchemist ever living — Hermes Trismegistus. In order to do so you will be transmuting mere metals into pure gold, performing experiments, and inventing artifacts to finally achieve everlasting greatness.
Trismegistus: The Ultimate Formula is played over three rounds during which you will draft exactly three dice. By expertly utilizing the potency of your drafted die, you will be able to transmute precious materials, collect alchemical essences, purchase and activate artifacts, and perform experiments that will progress you along four mastery tracks. You will also build a secret hand of publication cards which — together with the value of your experiments, the completed formulas of your Philosopher's Stone, and your collected gold — will determine your final score in victory points and, perhaps, make you the greatest alchemist, someone able to rival Hermes Trismegistus himself!
The game features custom dice, the sides of which represent alchemical materials. At the beginning of each round, the dice are rolled and grouped by their respective types. On your turn, you must either draft a new die or utilize the untapped potency of a previously drafted die. Based on the material associated with your chosen die, you will be able to collect certain essences in addition to the material to which the die is keyed. Additionally, the color of the die will determine which types of transmutations you can perform, refining raw materials and increasing your mastery of the elements.
Acquire precious artifacts in order to maximize the effects of your transmutations. Conduct experiments. Increase your knowledge and expertise and discover the ultimate formula!
The game includes a solo mode by Dávid Turczi and Nick Shaw.
—description from the publisher
- Deep, crunchy engine-building with meaningful choices
- Excellent replayability due to multiple strategic paths
- Tight balance and rewarding payoff when your plan lines up
- Strong components, clean UI, and thematic fit
- Some perceived complexity; many players find it heavy but manageable with time
- Minor aesthetic/slot color mismatch between components and cards
- alchemy, potion crafting, formula discovery
- alchemical laboratories and workshops; mythic alchemy setting
- engine-building through potion synthesis and philosopher's stone progression
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- dice drafting — players draft dice from a shared pool with color, symbol, and number to perform actions.
- engine building — unlock blocks on the philosopher's stone and activate abilities that chain to other actions.
- reaction tokens / player interaction — flip reaction tokens to piggyback on other players' actions.
- resource management and transmutation — ingredients are manipulated, transformed, and upgraded via transmutation and essences.
- set collection / endgame scoring via artifacts and publications — collect artifacts and publications that contribute endgame points based on symbols.
- track mastery across four elemental tracks — advance on four tracks representing elements by transmuting and trading essences to unlock benefits.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- nine out of ten — this gets a phenomenal rating for me which is about a nine out of ten
- I could see this maybe slot into my top ten games of all time
- it's a masterpiece
- it's absolutely crunchy crunchy game
- this game is brain burning but in the most satisfying way
References (from this video)
- A deep, brain-burning euro with lots of interaction and chain reactions
- Very cohesive design; multiple routes to victory
- Rich theme integration with complex yet elegant mechanics
- Regarded as very heavy and possibly intimidating for new players
- A longer playtime that requires commitment
- dice-crafting with mystic elements
- Alchemy and potion brewing in a mythic laboratory
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- dice drafting — Draft dice with magical values to drive actions and potions.
- resource/potion crafting — Use dice values and colors to craft potions with varying effects.
- upgrades and dice pool management — Pay gold to upgrade dice and unlock new abilities.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I thought 2019 was a really strong year for board gaming.
- it's just a nice, pleasant game there and I really hope this one gets some wind behind it sails because it's a really nice game.
- an absolute masterpiece in my opinion.
- Trismegistus the ultimate formula definitely my top game of 2019.
- this is undoubtedly the best deduction game out there.
- Museum is as you can see it has to be wonderful to look at artwork by vintage rate, who is undoubtedly probably the best artist in the business.