2013 | Designer: Darrell Louder | Artist/Graphics: Darrell Louder
Compounded is a game for 2 to 5 players, ages 13+
Compounded is a game about building chemical compounds through careful management of elements, a fair bit of social play and trading, and just a bit of luck. In Compounded, players take on the roles of lab managers, hastily competing to complete the most compounds before they are finished by others – or destroyed in an explosion. Some compounds are flammable and will grow more and more volatile over time; take too long to gather the necessary elements for those compounds and a lot of hard work will soon be scattered across the lab.
Although Compounded does involve a fair share of press-your-luck tension and certainly some strategic planning, the most successful scientists will often be those who strike a good trade with their fellow lab mates. Players are able to freely trade elements, laboratory tools and even favors – if there is truly honor among chemists!
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Press
“The game flow of Compounded is pretty simple but there is a lot of strategy to it… The simplicity of the core game means that it would be great for both children and adults, but then because there are modifiers and abilities that you can level up there is a depth that makes the game more accessible to anyone who enjoys strategy gaming.” – Scott King, Writer. Photographer. Educator. (and non-tabletop gamer)
“I had a blast playing this game, and can’t wait to play it again. The design is very solid, and seeing the graphic design work that they’ve started on this, I can’t wait to see how nice the final product looks.” – Jason Tagmire, Fruitless Pursuits
“I loved it… I’m a fan of “draw X blindly” mechanics. I know it introduces a lot of luck and randomness, but I personally think it increases tension and makes for a more dramatic game, so I loved drawing for elements. Honestly, I’m not a big trading game guy. But with Compounded, I actually loved the trading mechanic. The fact that you could barter items, element placement, and elements themselves really added a fun dimension to it… I would have bought it mid-game, if I could’ve. That’s how much I liked it.” – Chris Copac
“After finishing our initial demo, I wanted to play again and employ strategies that slowly became apparent. This game also gets major points for causing my wife–a biology major–to completely nerd out… it’s something awesome when her eyes light up over a game. Because of this, and the overall enjoyment I had playing, Compounded will almost assuredly be an insta-back when the Kickstarter campaign drops.” — Eric Leath, Games and Grub