Explosion in the Laboratory Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Card Anatomy
• Selecting Chemicals
• Turn Order and Phases
• Game Phases
• Set Up
• Phase 1 - Turn Planning
• Phase 2 - Mixing Compounds
  • Flask Cards
  • Pouring Chemicals Example
  • Chemical Mixing Guide
  • Unstable Mixture
• Phase 3 - Beaker Scoring
• Phase 4 - Unstable Mixture
• Ending Your Turn
• Ending the Round
• Game End
• Process Cards
  • Earning Process Cards
  • Playing Process Cards
  • Process Card Clarifications
  • Process Card Examples on the Sheet
• Solo Gameplay
  • Robot Scoring
• Iconography

Components

• 6 Lab cards
• 5 Beaker cards
• 1 Reference card
• 6 Flask cards
• 8 Process cards
• 1 Solo Reference card

Card Anatomy

The Card Anatomy diagram labels the following parts:

• Beaker card: Fire Level Icon (bottom edge), Index Value (bottom edge), Research Points (bottom edge).
• Volatile Flask card: Chemicals, Scoring Beaker, Intuition, Volatile Icon.
• Process card: Usable Phase (upper left corner), Chemical Type (upper right corner), Mixing Guide.
• Flask card: Mixing Guide reference.

Selecting Chemicals

The chemical you must take from the card is the sum of the numbers on the leftmost edge of the first card and the rightmost edge of the last card.

If the first or last card has an X instead of a number, use the next closest card instead.

Selecting Chemicals Example: 0+5 means you will select chemical 5, in the yellow test tube, from Lab card 3.

Turn Order and Phases

In the first round, the starting player begins and play continues clockwise.

For every subsequent round, the player with the lowest score starts, followed by the player with the next lowest score and so on until every player has had a turn.

To track turn order, rotate or flip the Reference card as it is passed to the current player.

The top left corner will show whose turn it currently is.

Game Phases

The game is played in four phases:

1. Turn Planning
2. Mixing Compounds
3. Beaker Scoring
4. Unstable Mixture

Set Up

1. Place the 6 Flask cards within reach of the players.
2. Place the 3 Beaker cards for the current player count within view of the players with the lowest index value of each card at the bottom edge. (Check both sides, as they are double sided.) Return the remaining Beaker cards to the box.
3. Shuffle the Process cards and put the deck within reach of the players.
4. Each player draws 1 Process card and chooses the blue or the yellow effect.
5. Give the Reference card and 6 Lab cards to the player who last mixed something with less than ideal results. They are the starting player.

Two Player Sample Set Up (as pictured on the rulebook sheet): 2. three Beaker cards with their lowest index value at the bottom edge; 3. the shuffled Process card deck; 1. the 6 Lab cards laid out in a row for the starting player; 4. the Process card drawn by the second player; 5. the Reference card and Lab cards held by the starting player.

Phase 1 - Turn Planning

During this phase, any player may use Turn Planning Process cards.

When the player with the lowest score is ready, they move to Mixing Compounds.

Phase 2 - Mixing Compounds

First, determine the Fire level by counting the Fire Level icons (red triangle with an exclamation mark) on the bottom edges of the 3 Beaker cards.

The Fire level in the example is 3.

The current player starts their turn by shuffling the 6 Lab cards, and laying them out in a row face up, left to right. You will use the Lab card with the current Fire level to select a chemical.

In the example, the chemical will be selected from Lab card 3.

Selecting Chemicals: see the Selecting Chemicals section above.

Pouring Chemicals: see the Flask Cards section below.

Flask Cards

On your turn, you can gain up to 3 flasks that can each hold no more than 2 chemicals (6 total). You may choose which of these flasks to pour chemicals into.

For your first chemical, take a Flask card that shows a single test tube matching the colour you selected from the Lab card.

When adding a second chemical to a flask, flip the card to the correct side and orientation.

After pouring a chemical into a flask, you may stop selecting chemicals in order to avoid an explosion, or repeat Phase 2. This includes shuffling and laying out the Lab cards, selecting a chemical, and pouring it into a flask.

Once you shuffle and deal the Lab cards, you MUST continue with the rest of the phase.

If 3 flasks contain 2 chemicals each, you MUST stop.

Pouring Chemicals Example

Following the Selecting Chemicals Example, you would then take a yellow flask.

If the second chemical you select is also yellow, you have two choices: you can pour the chemical into a new flask to create a second half filled yellow flask OR pour the chemical into the same flask to create a filled double yellow flask.

If the second chemical you select is blue, you have two choices: you can pour into a new flask to create a half filled blue flask OR you can pour into your current flask, creating a green compound.

Chemical Mixing Guide

The Chemical Mixing Guide shows the results of pouring one chemical into a flask that already holds another:

• Blue + Blue = Double Blue
• Blue + Yellow = Green compound
• Blue + Red = Purple compound
• Yellow + Yellow = Double Yellow
• Yellow + Blue = Green compound
• Yellow + Red = Orange compound
• Red + Red = Unstable Mixture
• Red + Blue = Purple compound
• Red + Yellow = Orange compound
• Any (grey star) + Black = Unstable Mixture
• Orange + Red = Unstable Mixture
• Purple + Red = Unstable Mixture

Note on the Mixing Guide: the sheet's guide is pictorial; the rows above are read from its icons and the Iconography section. The Mixing Guide's single-chemical examples are not separately listed.

Unstable Mixture

If your first chemical is black, you then pick a blue, yellow, or red flask. If you select a black and it is not your first chemical, you immediately go to Phase 4, Unstable Mixture.

Red chemicals also make your compound volatile. If you ever select a second red, you go to Unstable Mixture.

The red icon on Orange and Purple Flask cards is a reminder that you have already drawn a red, and you are in danger of exploding.

If you have a flask with purple or orange and draw a red, you go to Unstable Mixture as that would be the second red selected.

Phase 3 - Beaker Scoring

You can score points for Intuition (yellow star) and Research (purple star). Intuition (yellow star) points are earned from Flask cards and from Process cards (scroll).

Research (purple star) points are earned from compounds in Beakers. You score points equal to the value on the bottom edge of the Beaker you have mixed (green compound, orange compound, or purple compound). Rotate any Beaker cards you score one time.

If the flip icon is showing, flip the Beaker to the other side and set the lowest index value on the bottom edge.

Keep track of scores on a sheet of paper.

If you scored during this phase, do not perform Phase 4 - Unstable Mixtures.

Phase 4 - Unstable Mixture

You do not score any Intuition (yellow star) or Research (purple star) when you explode, but you do collect a Process card (scroll).

Choose the blue or yellow effect on the Process card and place it in front of you.

Ending Your Turn

After you score your Beakers or explode, pass the Turn Phases card and Lab cards to the player with the next lowest score that hasn't played yet this round. If there is a tie, pass to the player closest in clockwise order.

Return any used Flask cards.

Flip and/or rotate the Turn Phases card to track turns. If the number equals the number of players then the round is over after that player's turn.

Ending the Round

After everyone has completed their one turn for the round, the round ends. Rotate the Beaker card with the lowest index number.

The orange beaker with the index value of 5 will be rotated (example).

Game End

The game ends immediately if any Beaker shows X on the bottom edge. The player with the most points is the winner.

If tied, players either agree to share the victory or give the victory to the player with the next highest score.

Process Cards

Earning Process Cards

Double blue and double yellow mixtures earn you a Process card (scroll).

Draw one from the deck, and place it in front of you. The side of the card you can use (blue or yellow) is determined by the colour of the flask that earned you the Process card.

If you have both a double blue and double yellow compound, you may choose which side of the Process card you will take.

Once chosen, you cannot change your selection.

If you earn a Process card, but there are none available and you do not have the highest score, gain points equal to twice the highest number of Process cards any other player has.

You may only gain 1 Process card per turn.

Playing Process Cards

Process cards can only be used during the phase shown in the upper left corner. Process cards can cause you to return to a previous phase or allow you to do other things you wouldn't otherwise be able to do.

Once played, shuffle the card back into the deck.

Process Card Clarifications

Revealing a chemical is like selecting a chemical, except you do not get to do anything with the chemical revealed.

Compounds are only green, orange, or purple.

Mixtures are any two chemicals in one flask, including all compounds and double blue and double yellow.

Process Card Examples on the Sheet

The rulebook sheet shows these Process cards (each card has a front and a reverse half):

• Distill (upper left: Turn Planning phase): "Choose a compound or double mixture. If you make it during Mixing Compounds, gain an Intuition (yellow star)."
• Assay (upper left: Beaker Scoring phase): "Name a color and reveal a chemical. If you guess correctly, score an additional Intuition (yellow star)."
• Neutralize (upper left: Unstable Mixture phase): "Ignore the chemical that caused an Unstable Mixture. Return to Mixing Compounds."
• Hypothesis (reverse half of the Neutralize card): "Choose a player to start with a chemical of your choice."

Note: the sheet shows these cards only as examples. The texts of the other Process cards in the 8-card deck (including the Titrate card) are not printed on the rulebook sheet, and this transcription does not include them.

Solo Gameplay

This is played against a Robot opponent. Set the game up as if you were setting up a two player game. The player is the starting player for the first round. After the first round, the player with the lower score will go first.

On the Robot's turn, shuffle the Lab cards and do a chemical selection for the robot. Look at the colour of that chemical and the next two chemicals. If you get a high number (23 or 24), you look at the first chemicals (2, 3). The Robot scores points based on the three chemicals.

When the Robot scores a Beaker, it is rotated in the typical manner. The game end is the same as the multiplayer game.

If you have more points than the Robot when the game ends, you win!

Robot Scoring

The Robot Scoring panel on the sheet is pictorial. It has three parts:

• Flask results: combinations of three chemicals (with an "Any" slot) and the flask result the Robot scores from them.
• Score per flask: the Intuition and Research points each flask outcome is worth. As read from the diagram: an "Any" flask scores one Intuition (yellow star) and one Research (purple star); the purple, green and orange compound flasks each score one Intuition and one Research equal to the compound's Research value.

Note: the Flask results combinations are shown only as icons on the sheet and are not fully transcribed here. Consult the printed sheet for the exact combinations.

Iconography

• Process card (scroll): Earned from scoring double blue and double yellow mixtures or from Unstable Mixture. Grants the player new ways to earn Intuition and perform different actions.
• Intuition (yellow star): Earned from Flasks and from Process cards.
• Research (purple star): Earned from compounds in Beakers.
• Yellow: yellow chemical.
• Blue: blue chemical.
• Red: red chemical (volatile).
• Black: black chemical.
• Green: green compound, made from yellow + blue.
• Orange: orange compound, made from yellow + red.
• Purple: purple compound, made from red + blue.
• Unstable Mixture (skull): the Phase 4 trigger.