Compounded

Overview
Compounded is a game about building chemical compounds through careful management of elements, trading, and a bit of luck. In Compounded, players take on the roles of lab managers, hastily competing compounds to raise experiment levels, gain equipment, before a lab fire destroys your work in an explosion. Some compounds are flammable and will grow more and more volatile over time; take too long to gather the necessary elements for those compounds and a lot of hard work will soon be scattered across the lab.

Although Compounded does involve a fair share of press-your-luck tension and certainly some strategic planning, the most successful scientists will often be those who strike a good trade with their fellow lab mates. Players are able to freely trade elements, laboratory tools, and anything else (except points) to get what they need.

Setup & Play Time
Setup can vary depending on the way the game is stored. I recommend separating the player markers, a wild element, a fire extinguisher, and three storage markers for each player in a bag or other container. Because of the number of counter that change based on the player count the game can take up to 10 minutes to set up.

I have played Compounded a half dozen times or more, with a verity of player counts. It is my experience that this game takes between 60 to 90 minutes depending on player count and trading activity.

Components
1 Rule booklet
1 Start Player Marker
9 Starting Compounds
54 Compounds
5 Lab fires
5 Player boards & associated tokens
1 Two player variant board
22 Lab equipment tokens
15 Fire tokens
100 Element crystals

Instructions / Learning Curve
The rule booklet is easy to read and laid out in a logical order. Looking up rules can sometimes be difficult, but the graphics normally get you close. The phases of this game are relatively simple: Draw elements & trade (Discovery), Clam compounds (Study), Place elements on compounds (Research), and Cleanup and score (Lab). It normally takes one play through to see how everything interacts, and what experiments you want when, and how best to use the equipment you have.

Game Play
Compounded is played over a series of turns that are broken into five phase. Every player is involved in every turn and has the opportunity to act in each phase so the game has very little down time. The object of the game is to have the post points when one of the three end conditions is met. The gem ends in one turn if any player has a score of 50 or more during the Lab phase or if any player has three experiments that reach the top level. The game ends immediately if you run out of cards.

Discovery
Each scientist gains elements based on their discovery experiment level. At the beginning of the game you draw two elements from the bag, but you can increase it to five during play. Once everyone has their new elements players have an opportunity to trade with other players. When trading anything except points can be traded, elements, equipment, placement of elements, etc.

Study
During this phase players have the opportunity to calm compounds, in player order, that only they will be able to score. Each player can clam one compound at the beginning of the game, but can increase the number to three through play. It is also important to note that you can complete an unclaimed compound, at which point you use the temporary side of your clam marker.

Research
In the research phase player place elements on compounds that are in play. You place 2 to 6 based on your current research experiment level. You can play elements on any compound in play, but you will only gain points for the ones that you have claimed with a marker as noted above.

Lab
During this phase completed compounds are scored, research levels are raised, tools are gained, special ability of cards are triggered, lab fires can cause flammable compounds to explode, maintaining your work bench, and the first player marker is passed to the next player (in that order). For details on each of these refer to the online rules.

Expansions
There are currently three mini expansions available for this game: Lab Partners (comes in the base game), Chemical Chaos and Methamphetamine. The first big box expansion, Compounded: Geiger Expansion, is now available.

Final Thoughts
In my opinion this is a great game with a unique theme in the gaming industry. I would not say it is for everyone though. If you like resource management, worker placement, or medium-light euro games give this a try. The order of the cards being drawn, and what elements you have can really change what you work toward and what path you take to try to achieve victory. I own the first two mini expansions and like the verity of play that they add.

P.S. – I have played this with a few chemists that have commented that the compounds they have checked are real, though some are very rare.

When I bring this game out to a group of new players, the first thing that always happens is they all groan and say “I flunked chemistry”. I have to explain to them that it doesn’t matter, all they have to do is put tokens on colored spots. That would be the “downside” to this game. Once you convince them to play however, it is a great deep game, that works great for any group of 2-5 players.

The basic premise of the game is to place little gems (elements) on different compounds to “complete” them, and add them to your lab. Elements are received each round through a blind-draw mechanism. As you complete more compounds, you level up, and gain the ability to work on more compounds at a time, place more elements, and draw more from the bag.

This game requires a decent amount of strategy to play. You need to pay attention to turn order, look at what elements other players have currently in their lab, and look at where elements are on the board.

One of the more exciting aspects of the game is the lab fire. Every so often, a lab fire occurs, which causes certain flammable compounds to explode. These compounds then spray the elements outwards onto neighboring compounds, and are replaced from the deck. This means you have to pay attention to the compounds you are working on, to make sure you can finish them before a fire occurs. You can also cause lab fires, to keep your opponents from finishing a compound.

Pros:
Very fun to play, deep gameplay, lots of replayability.
The mechanic of the game is unique.
Excellent component quality.
Appeals to science geeks.

Cons:
Cards are an odd size, and there are no sleeves for them that I have found.
Gems are colored, and would be unplayable for the color-blind.
The turn order is a little complex, and requires a bit of explanation for a first time player. Once you’ve played though, it’s easy to understand.
Chemistry theme scares off players sometimes.

2 players:
This game works very well with two players. It comes with a special “third player AI” card, that automatically places elements onto the board when playing with two. I have played two player games both with, and without this card, and it seems to be fun either way. I highly recommend this game for couples.

Overall, this is one of my favorite games. It is always in my “bring” bag when I head to my weekly games night at the store. I have yet to have anyone say they wouldn’t play it again. The score board being the periodic table of the elements is a great hook, and just makes the game a pleasure to lay out.

Beautifully appointed and heavily themed, Compounded is a game about chemical research in which scientists attempt to create as many Compounds as possible whilst avoiding the possibility of lab explosions! For two to five scientists aged thirteen and up, it is a set collecting and trading game that can played through in roughly ninety minutes..

Compounded’s theme starts with its components. The first is the Scoring Board, which is done as a Periodic Table. Perhaps a bit fiddly in use once everyone’s scoring counter is on the scoring track, but thematically, it is perfect. Second is its decently written Rulebook, which looks like a scuffed and battered chemistry school textbook.

The third are the scientists’ Work Benches. These have spaces for each scientist’s Element Storage Area, Lab Tools gained, and to track the progress of his Discovery, Study, Research, and Lab experiments. Each Experiment can be improved by completing certain Compounds.

Fourth are the game’s Compounds, such as Calcium Oxide, Acetylene, Nitric Acid, and Methanol. Each Compound is a square card marked with a name, its chemical formula, spaces for the elements it is comprised of, a spot to place a Claim token, and a scoring value—the latter ranging between three and eight Atomic Points. Others also have icons that grant Lab Tools and improvements to a scientist’s Discovery, Study, Research, or Lab experiments when the Compound is completed. Some also have icons indicating that they are flammable and could explode.

Fifth are Compounded’s Lab Key—a wooden key used to determine scientist order and various Lab Tool tokens—Bunsen Burners, Graduated Cylinders, Lab Keys, Pipettes, Safety Goggles, and Journals. Sixth, and lastly, there are the game’s Elements—in ascending order of rarity—Hydrogen, Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Calcium, and Sulfur (sic). These are represented by coloured chips of plastic. Again, pleasing on the eye and nicely tactile.

At game start, each scientist receives a Work Bench, the wooden tokens to indicate his progress on the Bench, and a Fire Extinguisher card. If this is filled, it can be used to stop a Lab Fire or saved until the end of the game for more Atomic Points. He also receives a Wild Element that can be used or turned in for Atomic Points and also his initial allotment of Elements. Then, sixteen Compound cards are laid out in a four-by-four grid Research Grid. Initially, these will include the yellow-bordered starting Compounds. The Compound deck is seeded with Lab Fire cards.

Compounded is played in four phases—Discovery, Study, Research, and Lab. In the Discovery phases draws Elements from the black cloth bag included in the game. Initially, each scientist can only draw two Elements and can only store four Elements in his Element Storage Area, but both can be increased by three. Once Elements have been drawn, scientists are free to trade Elements—as well as Lab Tools, promises, and so on.

In the Study phase, each scientist can use his Action tokens to claim Compounds. Once a scientist has claimed a Compound, no other scientist can score from it. Initially a scientist has only the one Action token, but completing Compounds can increase this number to four.

During the Research phase, the scientists take turns placing Elements on their claimed and unclaimed Compounds, each Element being placed on an appropriate space marked on a Compound card. Initially just two, but it can be increased to six. If a scientist does not have the Elements he wants, he can now trade in three of one type for one he wants.

Lastly, during the Lab phase, scientists score Atomic Points for completed Compounds on the Periodic Table and adjust their Experiments if the completed Compounds help improve them. Completed Compounds are replaced from the Compound deck. If a Lab Fire is drawn, Flame Tokens are added to any flammable Compounds with empty Flame icons on them—typically no more than two per Compound. Enough Flame Tokens and a flammable Compound explodes. It is removed from the game and its Elements are scattered onto empty spots on adjacent Compounds—if they have space for that type of Element.

A game of Compounded ends with one final round once a scientist has either scored fifty Atomic Points or completed three out of four of his Experiments. The game ends immediately if the Compounds in the Research Grid cannot be refreshed to a maximum of sixteen. The scientist with the most Atomic Points is the winner.

This is for the three to four player standard version of Compounded. A variant adds ‘Lab Partners’ Compounds, double-sized complex Compounds requiring more Elements. Intended to be completed by two scientists, they will both receive the Atomic Points and its benefits for completing it. A two-player variant adds a third ‘dummy’ player named Nobel, his actions being controlled by the lead scientist.

Thematically wonderful, Compounded suffers from small text and small tokens—particularly the wooden Experiment tokens and the Flame Tokens. Nor are the phases—Discovery, Study, Research, and Lab—as obviously named as they could be. In game terms, they are ‘draw Elements’ (Discovery), ‘claim Compounds’ (Study), ‘place Elements’ (Research), and ‘score Compounds and effects’ (Lab), but this is not all that clear on the Lab Benches.

Compounded is not a complex game—in fact anyone who has played Ticket to Ride or Pandemic will understand its rules and play, its complexity being light-medium rather than medium. The game is also informative, educating players about the nature of the research process and the atomical content of the game’s compounds. Beyond drawing Elements and new Compound cards, the game has no randomness, though Lab Fires can upset many a scientist’s aim of completing particular Compounds. Compounded’s chemical theme is quite gentle, which when combined with its mechanics, makes the game unthreatening in terms of play. Although Compounded’s theme might be said to be rather dry, it is not ‘pasted on’; rather Compounded fully engages in its chemical theme to create a relatively light and appealing reaction.