Alchemy Lab

Alchemy Lab is a free alchemy game you can play online in your browser, with no download or sign-up. You start with the four classical elements, fire, water, earth and air, and mix them on a workbench to discover new things. Water and earth make mud. Fire and earth make lava. Bake mud and you get a brick. Keep going and you will build up to clouds, metal, rockets, pizza and, with an egg and a little time, a dinosaur. There are 221 discoveries to find in ten categories, and the game works on desktop, tablet and phone.

How to play

• Mix two items. Drag an item from your shelf onto the workbench, then drag a second item on top of it. If the pair makes something, the new item appears in their place and joins your shelf.
• Or tap instead of dragging. Tap one item, then tap another to mix them. Tap the same shelf item twice to mix it with itself, which is how two waters become a pond. Tap an empty spot on the workbench to put a picked item there.
• Order never matters. Fire with earth gives the same result as earth with fire, so you only have to try each pair once.
• Nothing happens? That pair has no recipe. Both items stay where they are, so just try another combination.
• Tidy up. Drag a workbench item back to the shelf to remove it, or press Clear to empty the bench. Items on your shelf never run out.

The tabs under the workbench filter your shelf by category: Elements, Land, Sky, Materials, Life, Dinos, Food, Tools, Places and People. Each tab shows how many of its items you have found. When the shelf gets full, use the arrows to page through it.

Sparks and hints

When you are stuck, press Hint. A hint costs one spark and names two items you already own that make something you have not found yet. You start with one spark, earn another for every 45 seconds you spend in the lab, and can hold up to three. The small bar next to the sparks shows how close the next one is.

The encyclopedia

Press Book to open the encyclopedia. It lists every discovery by category with a one-line description, the recipe that makes it and how many of its uses you still have not found. Items with no uses left fade on your shelf, so you can spend your time on the ones that still lead somewhere. Find all 221 and the game names you a Master Alchemist. Your discoveries, sparks and hints are saved in your browser, so you can close the tab and continue later.

Tips for finding everything

• Mix new items with the four elements first. Fire, water, earth and air combine with many things, and they are the quickest way to grow your shelf.
• Try items with themselves. Many things grow when doubled: earth and earth make a hill, two hills make a mountain.
• Think about what happens in real life. Heat melts sand into glass, water wears stone into sand, and time turns a seed into a tree. Recipes follow everyday logic, with a few playful twists.
• Time is a key ingredient. Once you find time, mix it with your older discoveries. It is the secret behind trees, cheese, bones and dinosaurs.
• Watch the faded tiles. A faded tile has no new recipes left, so leave it alone and focus on the bright ones.
• Save sparks for the tough categories. Food, Places and Dinos sit deep in the recipe tree, so hints help most there.

FAQ

Is this alchemy game free?

Yes. It is completely free, runs in your browser and needs no account or download.

How many items are there?

221, including the four starting elements. Every one of them can be made from fire, water, earth and air.

How do I make a dinosaur?

You need an egg and time. An egg comes from life and stone, and time comes from an hourglass charged with energy. Mix the dino with other discoveries to find more prehistoric creatures, like the T-Rex you get from a dino and a volcano.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. Drag with your finger, or tap one item and then another. Dragging on the game never scrolls the page.

Can I play with a keyboard?

Yes. Tab to a tile and press Enter to pick it, then Enter on a second tile to mix. H asks for a hint, B opens the book, C clears the workbench, the arrow keys change pages and 0 to 9 pick a category.

Will I lose my progress?

No. Progress is saved in your browser automatically. Clearing your browser data erases it, and Start over in the menu resets the lab on purpose.

Like science puzzles? Try our science game, or hatch something new in Dino Egg.