How to Play
The Objective
Alchemy Blocks is played on a 4×4 grid. Three types of elemental tiles — Earth, Fire, and Water — spawn randomly each turn. You slide all tiles in one direction at a time. When two compatible elements collide they react and transmute into a new, more powerful element. The top of the reaction chain is the Philosopher's Stone.
What that means depends on the mode. In Classic and Daily Challenge, creating the Philosopher's Stone wins the run — but you only have 100 moves to do it, so speed matters. In Infinite mode there is no move limit and no win screen — the Philosopher's Stone is simply the ultimate tile, and you keep playing to chase the highest score you can. A run also ends early if the board fills completely with no valid moves remaining, or the Lab Stability Meter drains to zero.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Arrow keys (↑ ↓ ← →) | Slide all tiles in that direction |
| WASD keys | Same as arrow keys |
| Swipe on touchscreen | Slide in swipe direction (30 px minimum) |
Every swipe or keypress moves all tiles simultaneously in the chosen direction. Tiles slide until they hit the grid boundary or another tile. After each move one new tile spawns in a random empty cell.
Step-by-Step: Your First Game
Read the board. The game starts with two tiles already placed. Note which elements you have and where the empty cells are. You have 14 empty cells — guard them.
Make your first merge. Swipe in the direction that brings two matching base elements together. Two Earth tiles merging into Stone is a solid opening — Stone is the first step on the evolution chain and Earth tiles cost zero hazard.
Watch the Stability Meter. Once you have a Stone tile on the board the meter will begin to dip slightly. That's normal. As long as you keep merging — converting Stone and Magma into Metal, then Metal pairs into Gold — the hazard from intermediate tiles is temporary.
Use Steam reactions to vent pressure. When a Fire tile and a Water tile are on the same row or column, swiping them together creates Steam, which clears all tiles in the row or column you swipe along (whichever axis the merge happens on). This opens up space and gives your Stability Meter a boost. It's your best recovery tool.
Anchor your best tile in a corner. Once you have a Metal or Gold tile, park it in a corner and avoid swiping in the direction that would move it away from that corner. This makes it easier to chain merges without losing track of your most valuable piece.
Forge the Philosopher's Stone. Gold + Gold = Philosopher's Stone, the top of the chain. In Classic and Daily Challenge that's an instant win — and the fewer moves you spent getting there, the higher your score. In Infinite it's the ultimate tile and your run continues for score. The board doesn't need to be clean — you just need to get two Gold tiles next to each other and swipe them together.
The Reaction Chain
The full evolution path from base elements to victory:
Earth + Earth → 
Stone
Fire + Fire → 
Magma- Stone + Magma →
Metal - Metal + Metal →
Gold - Gold + Gold →
Philosopher's Stone 🏆
Two special reactions don't follow the evolution chain:
- Fire +
Water → ♨ Steam — destroys all tiles in the same row or column as the merge, depending on the direction you swipe. Useful but sacrifices both source tiles. - Water + Water →
Ice — the resulting tile is frozen and can't be merged for five turns. Avoid this unless you have spare board space.
The Stability Meter Explained
The Stability Meter shows how "stressed" your laboratory is, and it reads the whole situation on your board — not just a tally of dangerous tiles. It's recalculated after every move from how much open space you have, whether your tiles can react with their neighbours, and whether a Fire + Water steam escape is available. Base elements (Earth, Fire, Water) add no stress; higher-tier tiles do, in roughly this order:
- Ice (frozen Water): low stress
- Stone: moderate stress
- Magma: moderate–high stress
- Metal: high stress
- Gold: very high stress
- Philosopher's Stone: extreme stress
Two things calm the meter the most. First, open space — empty cells are escape valves, so a roomy board stays calm no matter what's on it. Second, resolvability — a high-tier tile sitting next to a partner it can merge with barely counts, because you can clear it next move. The same Gold is alarming when stranded alone and reassuring when it's beside another Gold. A Fire next to Water is actively positive: it's a steam escape you can trigger to clear a whole row or column.
The practical takeaway: don't panic at the raw number of high-tier tiles — panic when they get isolated on a crowded board. Keep dangerous tiles paired with merge partners and keep space open, and the lab stays calm deep into a run.
New player tip: If your Stability Meter drops below 30% and the board is crowded, look for a Fire and a Water tile you can merge into Steam. A well-placed Steam reaction can clear a whole line of up to four tiles at once and pull the meter back from the edge.
Game Modes
Infinite Mode is the default free-play mode. There is no move limit and no win screen — the Philosopher's Stone is the ultimate tile, and you keep playing to push your score as high as possible. A run ends only when the board locks up or the lab explodes. Your best score is saved locally.
Classic Mode is the goal-oriented mode: reach the Philosopher's Stone to win — within a budget of 100 moves. The reaction and stability rules are the same as Infinite, with two differences: creating the Philosopher's Stone ends the run in victory, and if you exhaust all 100 moves before getting there the run is lost ("Out of Moves"). A high score is saved only when you win, and it rewards efficiency — see Scoring below.
Daily Challenge gives every player the same board sequence for a given day, generated deterministically from the date. It runs in Classic mode, so the same 100-move budget and scoring apply. A fresh puzzle is available each calendar day, and your best result is saved per day.
Scoring
In Classic and Daily Challenge your final score combines two things:
- Alchemy Score — points for every reaction you trigger, with higher-tier elements worth more (a Philosopher's Stone is worth far more than a Stone).
- Speed Bonus — every move you don't use is worth 100 points. Win in 40 moves and you bank the bonus for the 60 moves you saved; win on your last move and the bonus is zero.
Your Total Score = Alchemy Score + Speed Bonus, and it's recorded as a high score only if you win. Running out of moves — no matter how many elements you discovered along the way — records nothing. The takeaway: reach the Philosopher's Stone, and reach it in as few moves as you can. (Infinite mode has no move limit; there your score is just the alchemy total.)
The Void Blast
The Void Blast is an optional power-up available from the footer whenever you have more than one tile on the board. Tap the Void Blast icon, watch a short rewarded ad, then tap any single tile to remove it from the board entirely. It doesn't cost a move.
In Daily Challenge mode you get a maximum of 2 Void Blasts per run — the remaining count is shown as a badge on the button. In Infinite and Classic modes there is no limit.
It's most effective when one tile is blocking a Gold merge that would otherwise win the game. Don't use it for routine board management — save it for a critical moment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did my game end even though the board wasn't full?
One of two things. Either the Stability Meter reached zero — which happens when high-tier tiles (Metal, Gold) pile up isolated, stranded with no merge partner nearby, while the board grows crowded — or, in Classic and Daily Challenge, you used all 100 of your moves before forging the Philosopher's Stone ("Out of Moves"). A lone Gold on a roomy board is fine; several trapped high-tier tiles, or a drained move budget, is what ends the run early.
I ran out of moves with a high score — why wasn't it saved?
In Classic and Daily Challenge a high score is recorded only when you actually win by forging the Philosopher's Stone. Running out of moves is a loss, so it banks nothing regardless of how many elements you created. Your score combines your alchemy progress with a bonus for every move you had left over — so winning quickly scores highest.
What happens if I merge Fire + Water when Water is frozen as Ice?
Ice tiles cannot be merged until they thaw (after five of your turns). Swiping Fire into an Ice tile doesn't trigger a Steam reaction — they simply block each other. You have to wait for the Ice to thaw back into Water first.
Does the Daily Challenge use the same rules as Infinite Mode?
The Daily Challenge runs in Classic mode, so — unlike Infinite — reaching the Philosopher's Stone wins the run. The reaction and stability rules themselves are identical to Infinite; the tile sequence is seeded from the date so every player gets the exact same puzzle.
Are my scores saved?
Yes. High scores for each mode (Infinite, Classic, Daily) are stored in your browser's local storage. In Classic and Daily Challenge only winning runs are recorded; Infinite saves your best score from any run. Clearing your browser data will reset them. There is no account or cloud sync — scores are local to your device.
Can I undo a move?
There is no undo in the free version. A planned premium upgrade (the Grandmaster Pack) will add one undo per game session.
Ready to play? Return to the Lab →
For deeper strategy including board control techniques and Daily Challenge tips, see the Strategy Guide.
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