The Quacks of Quedlinburg
Kennerspiel des Jahres in 2018, an English version of the game was released by North Star Games.[1]
ConceptEvery year the city of Quedlinburg holds a festival, where the greatest Apothecaries and "Quacksalbers" (Quack doctors) compete against each other over several days to prove that they are the greatest potion brewer of the land, with different ingredients being available for purchase in the markets each time. Every day a Fortune Teller announces what strange occurrences will affect the competing Quacksalbers that day. Gameplay The Quacks of Quedlinburg is played using a main game board with a scoring track, individual "pot" player boards with a spiral potion track, and cloth bags for each player. It also uses coloured tokens (white, blue, green, purple, red, and yellow) that have point values from 1 to 4. Different coloured tokens have different, mainly helpful, abilities.[2] However, in addition to one orange and one green token, each player starts the game with a number of white "cherry bomb" tokens of various point values in their bag. If the total point value of white tokens in a Quacksalber's potion exceeds 7, then the potion explodes.[3] Each player has a flask they can use once per round to put a drawn white token back into their bag, as long as the token wouldn't cause the potion to explode. At the start of each round, a Fortune Teller card is drawn which specifies a special action or rule for the day. Players then draw tokens from their bags and place them on the potion track in their cauldron until they either decide to stop, or their potion explodes. The value of the tokens drawn indicate how far from the previous token it is placed on the potion track, and thus how much the potion is worth. After each round, any player whose last placed token is on a space which indicates a jewel receives one ruby. Rubies are used to purchase more ingredients from the shop that Quacksalbers can then place in their bags and use during the next round. Victory points are awarded based on each player's distance along their potion track and are tracked using the point tracker along the edge of the main game board. Players whose potions exploded must choose to either use the shop or gain victory points, but cannot do both.[2][4] There are nine rounds and the Quacksalber with the greatest amount of victory points at the end of the game is the winner.[5] ReceptionIn 2018, The Quacks of Quedlinburg was the winner of the American Tabletop Award for Best Casual Game,[8] and the Origins Award for Best Family Game in 2020.[9]
Dicebreaker listed The Quacks of Quedlinburg as one of the "Best Games of 2023," with senior writer Alex Meehan praising it for its "straightforward and addictive gameplay loop" and its ability to "[create] an atmosphere that's full of infectious tension and energy - one that’s a joy to watch as much as it is to be a part of."[3] Wirecutter also included the game in their list of the "Best Games of 2023," writer James Austin stating that it "skillfully combines that push-your-luck thrill with a surprisingly robust shopping mechanic that gives players more control over the probabilities they’re playing with."[11]
In 2022, Schmidt Spiele published a spin-off of the game designed for children, Quacks & Co.: Quedlinburg Dash.[12] References
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