El-Chemy
Game Rules

Details

Game Set Up

Shuffle the cards and deal five cards to each player.
Mix and scatter the remaining cards face down in the centre between
the players.
Decide which player goes first.
Players start by making sets and displaying them if they choose.

How to Play?

Player A chooses any other player and asks for the card of a specific element.
For example, "Player D, do you have calcium?"
The other player, in this case, Player D, must give the requested card to Player A if they have it in their hand. They cannot lie or bluff about the cards they have.
If player A successfully secures the requested card from another player, they get another turn.
If the other player does not have the requested card, they say "No-Chemy!".
If a player, here, player A, is told "No-Chemy!" they draw a random card from the centre, add it to the cards in their hand, and their turn ends.
⁠A player can get four matching cards - for example, four gases or four metals.
In that case, they immediately lay down the matched set so the other players can see and call "El-Chemy!"
If the player does not call out "El-Chemy!" when placing the matching set, they cannot count them in their points in that round. They also miss their turn in the next round.
⁠The game ends when any player runs out of cards.

How to win?

If there is only one common property, the player gets 1 point. But, if players make sets with more than one common property, they multiply points by two times the number of common properties in each set.
So, points are calculated as follows:

Each set of cards with only 1 common property gains a player 1 point.
Each set of cards with 2 common properties earns a player 2x2 = 4 points.
Each set of cards with 3 common properties earns a player 2x3=6 points.

And so on.

For example, a player makes a set with C (carbon), N (nitrogen), O (oxygen) and F (fluorine); they are all non-metals in period 2, in block P. There are three common properties. The player gets 2 times 3 points (6 points).

The player with the most points wins the game! When players have collected four matching cards, they must call out "El-Chemy" and lay them face up so the other players can see. Otherwise, the set will not be counted in their points tally.

Game Strategy

If players choose to hold the sets in their hands, they are putting themselves at risk of losing. They cannot count these sets when the game ends.
For instance, if Player A runs out of cards,"goes out", while Player B has a set of four matching cards in their hand, Player B does not get to count that set in their total, which could cost them the game.

The players should not "go out" as quickly as possible. El-Chemy players are incentivised to stay in the game, collect cards, and make as many sets as possible.

Players who remember more properties are at an advantage as they can ask for the exact element to make sets with more than one matching property.

Fun with chemistry

Our game aims to make learning about element properties an enjoyable and exciting experience. Create sets with shared properties to gain knowledge and increase your score. So, grab some cards and let's have some fun while we learn together!