Description

Welcome to the middle ages, where life was short and medicine was terrible. You and 1 to 3 other players are masters of herbal remedies and potions who have come to make new lives for yourselves in a small town. Will you be a helpful addition to the community, becoming the Apothecary, or will you be a snake oil salesperson, only in it for a quick buck before moving on to the next town?

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Apothecary is a medieval-themed game of medicine-making and disease management for 2-4 players. You and your friends play competing herbalists who have set up shop in a small town. You will buy resources (represented by cards and tokens) and use them to treat sick villagers (represented by cards). You will have the choice to actually treat or filmflam the villagers with snake oil—but watch out—too much lying and you’ll get run out of town. Do it right and you’ll be made the Apothecary!

The game is played in a series of phases, (A-E).

- In Phase A (Auction), players will bid for turn order, and the prices for the herbs players will use will be set.
- In Phase B (Barter), players will buy supplies from the market, forage in the woods, or trade with other players.
- In Phase C (Collect), players will select villager cards for treatment.
- In Phase D (Disease), players will use their resources to treat their villager cards, either honestly or dishonestly.
- In Phase E (End), the market will be reset, and disease tokens will be added to villager cards, bringing them closer to death!

In order to win the game, players must either accomplish a unique objective they've been dealt at the beginning of the game, or treat enough villagers honestly so that they land on the Apothecary space of the Apothecary track. If one player is Run Out (the other end of the track), the player(s) who were not Run Out and who have the most money win the game.