Chemistry, strategy, and competition, oh my! Compounded might be just the game to round out your chemistry studies. Careful, though; if a lab fire occurs, you could lose everything!
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The Periodic Table is Used for Scorekeeping
Compounded uses a periodic table for scorekeeping (moving along by atomic number). This will help your kids be familiar with what the periodic table looks like, but not where elements are. The game uses six elements (hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, calcium, and sulfur) to create 63 compounds. There are repeated compounds, though.
Each molecule you complete allows you to improve one of four aspects on your workbench. Each aspect is represented by a test tube and corresponds to a different phase of a turn.
Elements are represented by small plastic “gems.” Please note that Compounded has lots of small parts and should not be played around small children who might choke on them. Different elements are different colors, so it might not be friendly for those with color blindness. However, the colors are different enough (white, black, red, blue, green, yellow) that we didn’t have any trouble distinguishing them.
Lab Tools in Compounded
Lab tools and fire extinguishers round out the game components. Each player may build a fire extinguisher, which can be used to put out the fire on one compound. If it is built but not used, it’s worth 4 points at the end of the game.
Lab tools consist of
- Bunsen Burner: allows you to add a flame token to one molecule
- Lab Key: allows you to become the “Lead Scientist” (first player)
- Safety Goggles: allows you an extra “Discovery” phase (collect extra elements)
- Graduated Cylinder: adjust one test tube level down one to adjust another up one
- Pipette: discard 2 matching elements to choose 1 element of your choice
- Journal: instead of discarding all elements when a molecule is finished, move one back to your lab bench
The first three lab tools can only be used once; they are removed from the game after use. There are 2 lab keys available, but all others have 4 available. The last three lab tools are returned to the scoreboard when they are used, so can be used multiple times in a game. The number of copies of these lab tools is one less than the number of players.
How to Play
The 4 phases of a turn are
- Discovery: acquire more elements
- Study: claim molecules
- Research: move elements from your lab bench to the molecules
- Lab: score completed compounds and resolve effects
At the end of each lab phase, the first player marker is passed one player to the left.
The molecules used in Compounded are real chemical molecules, but not as much actual chemistry learning is taking place as in our other chemistry games. The game is definitely a lot of fun, and you do get to see an approximation of the molecular structure, but it’s too easy to just match colors.
Multiple Gameplay Options in Compounded
There are special rules and a board to play with just 2 players, as well as larger molecules for “lab partners” to build and claim together. These possible variations mean that we can get plenty of really fun gameplay out of Compounded.
Overall, if you can find Compounded cheap, get it. If you want a fun strategy game to help reinforce chemistry learning, this game is a good choice. The box is compact enough to not be too difficult to store. All in all, it’s likely to keep a place on our game shelves for some time yet.
