Several readers mail asking about games I’d recommend for children, or where a particular title I mentioned can be bought. Occasionally, a manufacturer urges I write about his. Then enthusiastic PR agencies suggest I plug a brand they work with. All responses make for interesting reading. And
the ones that suggest I haven’t lived till I try one of their favourites, I treat as a downright challenge. It was to one such reader gauntlet, that I checked out the link she strongly recommended. And clicking through www.freegamesjungle.com/alchemy.html [1] found my way to a dark weathered wood world of magical runes that I was to turn to gold. The free online puzzle requires logic and thinking ahead, clearly beyond my abilities!
Each rune can only be placed beside other runes of the same colour and shape. Played out on an 8x9 grid, I quickly realised rapid matching of colours and shapes, while very satisfying, was getting me nowhere. In quick time, I had boxed in sections of the grid, leaving them unplayable. A correctly completed puzzle would turn the entire grid to gold. Several attempts later, gold feebly glimmered in a patch here, and another patch there. The treasure lay firmly out of reach! There’s no way to discover what lies at the next stage of the game, unless I clear this one, and I’m currently at the first of three difficulty levels!
Three exception pieces provide hope to the despairing, and could serve as powerful strategic tools in the hands of a master alchemist. A connector rune can be placed beside runes of any colour. A beaker of liquid gold destroys a single rune, turning the tile below it to gold. Another beaker with a suspicious pink liquid has a blast radius of three tiles, particularly useful in undoing earlier reckless moves! Runes appear one at a time. You have the option to play a rune, or discard it in a searing ball of flame. I found myself veering to extremes, placing all the runes irresponsibly, or discarding with a vengeance, and without any method to my madness.
Alchemy is a puzzle classic. It’s extraordinarily well designed. It’s on line. It’s free. And on your path to turning runes to gold, you’ll discover great logic and strategic skill!
— The author may be contacted at arup_kavan@yahoo.com [2]
Links:
[1] http://www.freegamesjungle.com/alchemy.html
[2] mailto:arup_kavan@yahoo.com