Alchemy really takes the online puzzle genre to the next level. There are numerous subtle strategies/techniques available to the savvy gamer. Through this guide I will talk about two of my strategies (aggressive/conservative) and how to incorporate both into your game.

Rune Structure - If you take a look at the 5 progressive alchemy figures I have displayed you will get an idea of what I consider ideal rune structure. Obviously you do not simply want to place runes randomly where available. This will eventually cause several “binds”. A bind is where you have a square surrounded by 2 or more differently colored runes. This severely limits your options. If played well its perfectly normal to clear a level without a single bind.

As you can see by the figures I have created an initial horizontal line of red and pink runes. (don’t clear the line) Then I started building vertical lines off the initial horizontal line. Start clearing every other vertical line as I have displayed in figure 4. Finish by clearing the remaining vertical lines but be careful. If you don’t have a few stray runes in the empty space your options will be severely limited on your last line and that could cause a problem. (especially in higher levels)

Getting Started - It is entirely possible to get stuck on your first wildcard rune. If you place the rune in the center and quickly place runes on all 4 corners you suddenly find yourself with only a few options to place new runes. From there if you draw a few bad runes it’s game over. You can’t completely eliminate this risk but there are a few subtle things you can do to minimize risk.

Start off by building a vertical or horizontal line. I prefer to only use 2 colors in this line, i.e. match only colors and not symbols. Once you get a rune that must be placed on one of the two free sides of the wildcard rune discard it instead of placing it. Hopefully you will draw something that is playable on your initial line. If the next rune still can not be played on the initial line you may place it on the free wildcard spot or discard it. (it is slightly riskier to discard 2 in a row) If you have a single rune on placed against the initial line and you get a skull eliminate that rune to allow yourself more time to develop your line.

The idea here is to develop as many fall back options on your initial line as possible. This same technique can be used when you have a wildcard rune placed anywhere on the board with 1 or more free sides.

Expanding Your Line - If you are able to build your initial line out to the side try to start making it thicker if you get more runes of that color. Take a look at figure 2 and 3 to get an idea of what I mean here. By doing this you are placing a lot of runes next to 2 previously placed runes. This is worth more points so for the first 1-5 levels or so try to do this as much as possible to rack up points. Later this technique becomes increasingly more risky as new colors are introduced. At that point I suggest sticking to the “every other line” technique.

Finishing a Level - Try to finish your last line on the edge of the board. It is ideal if you can find a wildcard rune to place near the corner. (so you can finish off on any rune) Then take advantage of this by building lines in the empty space until you run out of room and are forced to finish the level. Adding runes and clearing lines in the empty space isn’t worth as much but if you are competing for the high score it can make all the difference.

That’s about it. Stick to the 4-5 techniques outlined above and you will be racking up the highscore in no time. Good luck!