Drops of Evil - a board game about witches and deadly potions

What is Drops of Evil?

Drops of Evil is a strategic board game for 2-4 players ages 12 and up. Players take on the roles of witches who gather ingredients in a dark forest and use them to brew deadly poisons. A game lasts around 60 minutes and is played over three rounds. The goal is to score the most points through alchemical experiments.

The game was designed by Hjalmar Hach and Lorenzo Silva, with illustrations by Weberson Santiago. The publisher, Horrible Guild, is also known for other board games, including Railroad Ink, Vampire: The Masquerade - Vendetta, and The King's Dilemma.

What does the forest hide, and how do witches gather ingredients?

In Drops of Evil, the forest comes alive at night. Rats scurry among tangled roots, bats flutter through the darkness, and mushrooms hide beneath the moss. Witches send their Familiars to collect ingredients for their poisonous brews.

At the start of each round, players place five Action pawns. Four represent Familiars with different gathering abilities. Crows collect all Resources from one space, Cats gather from two, Toads cover four, and Snakes collect along an entire column.

The Familiars return in a fixed order: Crows, Cats, Toads, then Snakes. Faster creatures may empty spaces before others arrive. For each empty space their Familiar would have gathered from, a player receives one Worm instead.

Each Familiar has specific placement rules. Crows can only gather from spaces in the clearing, while the other Familiars must use spaces marked with the appropriate arrows. The position of a player's Snake also determines turn order in the next round. The player whose Snake is farthest to the left goes first.

Players can also hire Assistants by placing their Coin Pouch pawns on the appropriate spaces. Their abilities offer extra Resources and other advantages during the round.

How do you brew the deadliest poison?

In Drops of Evil, the ingredients gathered from the forest are brought to the Alchilab, a personal laboratory with two parts: the Brewer and the Distiller.

The Brewer contains Vials for the main Ingredients. Each Vial can hold only one type of Ingredient, except for Spiders, which act as wildcards and can share a Vial with other types. Filling every space in a column unlocks the Bonus tokens beneath it. These may provide extra Resources or Scrolls, while some reveal Income icons that earn Poison Points.

The Distiller is reserved for Mushrooms, which must be placed from the lowest available Vial upward. Completing a Vial grants a Bonus token from beside it or from a Vial below it. The topmost Vial works differently: every pair of Mushrooms placed there earns an additional bonus.

Scrolls increase the Toxicity value of specific Ingredients. The higher the value, the more Poison Points a completed Vial containing that Ingredient scores at the end of the game. Incomplete Vials score nothing.

Two Recipes are available in each game. Each requires a specific Ingredient type arranged in a particular pattern in the Brewer. Some reward groups of adjacent Ingredients, while others require 2x2 squares or certain combinations along the edges of the Brewer. Spiders can also count as wildcards when completing these patterns.

Rats can cause trouble if left in the Free Rats area. Each one costs a Poison Point during every Income phase. Players can use Cheese icons to move Rats into the Captured Rats area, where they score points at the end of the game based on their current Toxicity value.

After the third round, players add up points from Income icons, completed Vials, captured Rats, and Recipes. The player with the highest score wins. In a tie, the player earlier in turn order takes the victory.

Who will enjoy Drops of Evil, and where can you try it?

Drops of Evil will appeal to fans of witchcraft, dark fairy tales, and alchemical experiments. The game combines competition for shared Resources with a spatial puzzle where ingredient placement can make all the difference.

Witchcraft, forest discoveries, and dangerous experiments will especially interest players who enjoy:

• Worker-placement strategies and competition for shared Resources.
• Spatial puzzles and creating combinations from individual components.
• Games that offer different ways to score points and use special abilities.
• The atmosphere of witchcraft, magical Familiars, and unusual potions.

Ready to step into the role of a witch-alchemist? Try Drops of Evil on Tabletopia, send your Familiars into the dark forest, and turn strange discoveries into dangerous potions.