SNAP Review – Potions Class: Bubble or Boil?

Potions Class cards

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble… Can you mix potions faster than your opponent? That’s the goal in Potions Class, a micro-game from Button Shy and 9-year-old designer Owen Wokasch.

Potions Class sits at a low simmer for us; with just a few changes, it could hit a rolling boil. Let us tell you in about 5 minutes, or read on below.

Audio Player

In Potions Class, two players race to be the first to create three potions.

Gameplay

Potions Class game play On your turn, you draw three cards from the deck, one at a time. One must go to your opponent, one must go to your own reserve, and one must be played onto a potion.

Each card you draw represents an individual element (Earth, Water, Fire), and each potion requires exactly three element cards.

Whoever places the third correct card onto a potion, completes it. They get to take that potion as a trophy.

Before drawing cards, you may play the cards from your private reserve onto the potions as well. You may also intentionally play incorrect elements onto a potion, which will cause it to explode (temporarily taking it out of play).

You can also explode a private reserve by adding a fourth card. So don’t hang on to reserved cards for too long!

Strategy

The strategy boils down to three simple questions: What can I make? What can my opponent make? And how can I stop them?

Play close attention to what has already been played, and you can make a good guess as to what is left to be drawn.

Potions Class game - potions

Not Perfectly Mixed

We found Potions Class to be well-balanced, but since there are so few cards, you can easily predict what will happen near the end of the game. It’s easy to get into a situation where you know exactly which three cards are left in the draw pile.

The suggested age range is 6+, which is spot on. There’s really no reading required, and it’s a game that a kid can pick up and understand right away.

We really appreciate the mechanics, the art, and the wallet format. It’s a good game for a parent and a kid to play together. But to keep from feeling too deterministic, Potions Class really needs about twice as many cards.

 

Potions Class wallet game

The Family Gamers received a copy of Potions Class from Button Shy Games for this review.

Potions Class from Button Shy
  • Beakers
2.5

Summary

2 Players

15 minutes

Ages 6+


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