Hover over a rule to see the full explanation.
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Deck
The deck has 118 unique element cards (one per element) plus 2 Fission, 2 Fusion, 1 Event Horizon, and 5 Temperature action cards. Be the first to empty your hand. If the draw pile runs out, the next player (and each player in turn) may shed any card(s)—single cards, full stable molecules, or the Ferromagnetism combo—until someone empties their hand and wins.
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Families (matching)
Four families act like “colors”: Alkali Metals (Group 1) (● blue), Alkaline Earth Metals (Group 2) (▲ green), Chalcogens (Group 16) (■ amber), Halogens (Group 17) (◆ purple). You may play a card if its family matches the current card on the table. Shapes and colors are both used for colorblind accessibility.
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Stable molecules
The deck has one card per element, so each molecule uses one card per distinct element (e.g. H₂O = one H + one O). You may play multiple cards at once if one of the atoms in the molecule matches the last played card (same family), you may shed the other cards from the molecule — so you play the whole molecule at once.
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Batch shed — molecules & Ferromagnetism
When the deck has cards: if one of the atoms in the molecule matches the last played card, you may shed the other cards from the molecule (play the full molecule in one go). When the deck is empty, you may shed any full molecule. The same rule applies to the Ferromagnetism combo (Nd + Fe + B + Co or Ni): if one of the four combo cards matches the last played card, you may batch shed all four; when the deck is empty, you may batch shed the combo whenever you have it. Cards that form a playable molecule or the ferro combo are highlighted (accent border = molecule, orange border = Ferromagnetism). When you can batch shed, a message appears above your hand: “Batch shed available — … Click any highlighted card below to play.” Click a highlighted card to play that set and see a short popup with the molecule/combo name and its use; close the popup with the Close button.
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Ferromagnetism combo
If you have Nd + Fe + B + (Co or Ni), you may batch shed all four at once when one of the four combo cards matches the last played card (or whenever the deck is empty). Then the next player performs a batch attack: they collect all “Ferromagnetism” cards (Fe, Ni, Co, Nd, Gd, Dy, Sm, Tc) from every other player’s hand into their own hand in one go. When you can play the combo, a “Batch shed available” message appears above your hand; click any orange-bordered card to batch shed. Combo cards are highlighted; click to see the rule.
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Fission & Fusion
Fission and Fusion are action cards. When played, they change how family matching works for subsequent plays (family remap). The current card on the table still determines what can be played; the remap applies to the families of cards in hand.
Fission — After it’s played, Chalcogens (orange) are treated as Alkali (blue) for matching. So you can play a blue card on an orange one (and vice versa) until something else changes the top card.
Fusion — After it’s played, Chalcogens (orange) are treated as Alkaline Earth (green). So you can play a green card on an orange one (and vice versa).
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Temperature (melt metals)
Temperature cards (300 K, 600 K, 1000 K, 1500 K, 2500 K) let you “melt” metals: any metal in your hand with a melting point at or below the card’s temperature is discarded from your hand. Remaining cards stay. Then the temperature card is discarded and play continues.
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Event Horizon
When you play the Event Horizon card, all of your remaining cards disintegrate (are discarded) and you win the game immediately.
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Radioactive decay
Radioactive elements (e.g. Tc, Pm, Po, U, Pu, and many heavy elements) decay if held too long. After 3 full rounds (one round = all players take one turn), each such card still in your hand is automatically discarded. The count is per card from when it entered your hand.
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Draw
If you cannot play any card, you must draw one card. If that card is playable, you may play it immediately in the same turn.
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Players & AI
Single-player: you (Player 0) vs 4 AI bots. Bot 1 uses a Dijkstra-style “shortest path” strategy; the others use Minimax-style defensive play. In multiplayer, 2–5 human players join via the lobby. When creating a game you choose open cards (everyone sees all hands) or closed cards (no one sees others' cards—only how many each has; even the creator cannot see other players' cards).