Looking for a game that will keep your game night group on the edge of their seats? Look no further than Quacks of Quedlinburg!
Quacks of Quedlinburg is a 2-4 player game by designer Wolfgang Warsch. The game is published by North Star Games in the United States. It is also the 2018 Kennerspiel des Jahres Winner. Gaining lots of buzz at Essen I was certainly looking forward to playing this game.
Quacks of Quedlinburg: $54.99
Get It For Less At Miniature Market
Welcome to Quedlinburg, where the best miracle doctors and quack surgeons from all across the land gather to brew their concoctions against smelly feet, homesickness, hiccups, and relationship woes. Every quack has their own special brew they hope will make them the best miracle doctor in the land!
The Quacks of Quedlinburg is a strategic push-your-luck game where each player draws from their potpourri of ingredients until they think that their own special blend is just right. But be careful: a few too many special ingredients and the whole potion could blow up in your face! Do you stop early to improve your chances of making a better potion later that will win the day, or do you risk a big setback in order to get more money and fame now? Finding the right balance between risk and reward is key.
Contents:
4 Pots
4 Bottles
8 Drops
4 Rat Stones
1 Victory Point Bar
4 Victory Point Markers
1 Flame
24 Fortune Telling Cards
20 Rubies
4 Seals
12 Ingredient Books
219 Ingredient Chips
1 Bonus Cube
Ages: 10+
Players: 2-4
Game Length: 45 minutes
Playing The Quacks of Quedlinburg: Medieval Snake Oil Sales
Quacks of Quedlinburg belongs to the genre of games known as a bag builder. Similar to a deck-building game in a sense. Basically, you start with a bag of basic and honestly terrible ingredients. The goal is to improve your bag by purchasing better ingredients in order to become successful.
Each game plays over nine rounds. Players simultaneously draw ingredients from their bags one at a time. Each newly drawn ingredient is placed a number of spaces from your droplet marker by its number. At first, your droplet will start on the zero space. This can be moved in a number of ways throughout the game. Players can continue to draw until they wish to stop or they bust. You will have a variety of cherry bombs which are the white tokens in your bags. If the numbers of these tokens add up to 8 or more your potion explodes and you bust.
Depending on what bubbles you make it to, you score points and earn coins. Coins allow you to buy one or two new ingredients. Each ingredient has special abilities that are modular. Every game you choose which spell set to use for each ingredient token. This makes for endless combinations and tons of replay value.
Another cool mechanic is the rat stone. On the scoreboard, there are rats on artwork all along the score path. Their tails drape in between various numbers. At the beginning of every round from two on, you count each rat tail between you and the lead player. Whatever that number is, you put your rat stone that many spaces ahead of your droplet. You will start placing ingredients from the rat stone instead. This works as a cool catch up mechanic.
You can also save yourself from exploding by using your flask. Once used it is empty until you refill at the end of the round by spending two rubies. You can also use two rubies to advance your droplet ahead one space on the cauldron. Rubies can be earned multiple ways from certain ingredients. The most common way to gain rubies is by ending with your last ingredient just before a score bubble with a ruby depicted.
After nine rounds the player with the most points wins. Ties are resolved by the player who made it further in their caldron. Rubies and coins can also be sold for points in the last round.
Quacks of Quedlinburg is a huge hit with my game group. The whole bag building activity is just so fun and satisfying. I also enjoy the push your luck aspect. The tension of pulling a token hoping it’s not a cherry bomb is exciting. The artwork is very nice and fits the theme well.
If you are able to obtain a copy of this game I highly recommend it. Currently, it’s a tad tough to find, but I’d definitely jump on it if you see one. Also, there is an expansion coming soon which adds a few new features. So be on the lookout for that too. Hope you get an opportunity to check it out.
