Tincture
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FroGames — Moments You'll Remember
Three patients waiting, two missing ingredients, one hour to decide. At the end of the day, someone will have cured everyone, someone else will have wasted time in the woods.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
A Renaissance pharmacy where every hour is a choice you can't undo
Designed by Franziska Stürzenhofecker and Jürgen Then, Tinctura puts you in charge of a pharmacy in the Renaissance. Patients arrive with their ailments, and you must find the right ingredients, train apprentices, and develop your skills to satisfy even the most complex requests. The illustrations by Roman Kucharski and Christian Schaarschmidt bring a world of alambics, herbs, and ancient recipes to the table.
You plan your day in hourly turns: you work in the pharmacy, explore the woods to gather resources, study in the city to improve your abilities. Each medicine requires specific ingredients and precise skills. Apprentices help you, equipment gives you advantages, but turns are simultaneous, and the order of execution depends on your stats. Whoever best cures their patients wins the game.
What they say abroad
Tinctura is a game that rewards those who can manage time better than others. Every hour counts, every choice leaves something behind.
— FroGames
A weight of 4 out of 5 means there are many options to evaluate and many ways to win. But also many ways to waste time.
— FroGames
Tinctura - English Edition
FrogScore · FroGames editorial rating · based on rules, international reviews and play sessionsYour pharmacy
What you have in front of you when you start the game
Ingredients
You gather them in the woods or buy them in the city. Each medicine requires a specific combination. If you don't have them, you can't cure anyone.
Apprentices
You hire them to help you create medicines. Each has different skills and frees up your precious time. But you must train them before they become truly useful.
Skills
You improve them by studying in the city or doing research. Each medicine requires specific skills. Without them, you can't prepare it, even if you have the right ingredients.
Equipment
You buy them to gain permanent advantages on the bonus tracks. Alambics, mortars, tools: each piece gives you a small advantage that accumulates over time.
In two hours you'll discover that that single hour wasted in the woods cost you the game. It always happens with Tinctura.
🧤 BUSTINE
A game in five moments
What happens at the table
Not the rules. The experience.
Everyone looks at their patients
The first five minutes are silent. Everyone looks at the patient cards in front of them, calculating what ingredients they need, what skills they need to develop. Someone counts the available turns. The initial plan is born here, even before making a move.
First actions intersect
You chose to go to the forest, but so did another player. Whoever has the highest stat goes first and takes the ingredient you wanted. Now you have to change your plan. Turn order suddenly becomes important.
Someone treats the first patient
A player completes their first medicine and scores points. The others are still gathering ingredients or studying. The difference in pace is felt. Will the one who started fast have enough time? Will the one who started slow catch up?
A wasted turn
You planned poorly. You went to the city to study, but you already had that skill. You lost an hour and now you're missing a crucial ingredient. Others are advancing, you're chasing. Tinctura is unforgiving.
The last patients are worth gold
Last round. Two players are neck and neck. One completes the most difficult patient, the other doesn't. Victory points are tallied, but the game was decided three turns ago, when someone chose to train an apprentice instead of going to the forest.
How to play
The flow of each round
Tinctura is played in hourly turns. You plan in secret, then execute in order of stats.
Choose where to go: pharmacy, forest, or city. You do this simultaneously with other players, without knowing what they will do. This choice determines everything.
Whoever has the highest stat in the chosen area acts first. If you're second, you might find the resources already taken. The turn order is not fixed: it depends on your skills.
In the forest, you collect ingredients. In the city, you study to improve skills. In the pharmacy, you create medicines or hire apprentices. Each action brings you closer (or further away) from your patients.
When you complete a medicine for a patient, you earn victory points. More difficult patients are worth more. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.
Why it's different from others
Six mechanics that make a difference
Simultaneous action selection
You don't wait for others to finish their turn. You secretly choose where to go, then everyone reveals together. No downtime, but also no chance to react to others' moves. You have to anticipate.
Stat-based turn order
Whoever has the highest skill in an area acts first. If you've studied a lot, you go to the forest first. If you've neglected a stat, you'll always be last in that area. The order changes every turn.
Skills and ingredients system
Every medicine requires both ingredients and skills. You can have all the ingredients in the world, but if you haven't studied enough, you won't prepare anything. You need to balance gathering and training.
Apprentices as multipliers
Apprentices are not just helpers: they are investments. You train them, specialize them, and then they free up valuable actions for you. But training them costs time that you could use to treat patients.
Bonus tracks with equipment
Buying equipment gives you permanent advantages on the tracks. An alembic improves your efficiency, a mortar saves you ingredients. These are small bonuses, but in a game where every resource counts, they make a difference.
Patients with variable difficulty
Not all patients are worth the same. Some require simple medicines and give few points. Others require rare ingredients and high skills, but are worth much more. Choosing which ones to treat is half the strategy.
How it ends
How to win and how to lose
The game ends after a fixed number of rounds. The player with the most victory points wins.
Victory
- Treating the most difficult patients to gain more victory points
- Training apprentices who allow you to treat more patients in the final phase
- Optimizing turn order to get resources before others
Ways to lose
- Wasting turns by going to areas where you gain nothing useful
- Neglecting skills and always being last in turn order
- Focusing on easy patients and leaving difficult ones to opponents
Tinctura is an optimization puzzle where every wasted hour is a lost point. It is unforgiving, but rewards those who plan.
Frequently asked questions
Tinctura FAQ - English Edition
How complex is it compared to other worker placement games?
Tinctura has a weight of 4 out of 5 on BoardGameGeek. It's more complex than Agricola or Lords of Waterdeep, less so than Brass or Lacerda games. The difficulty comes from having to simultaneously manage ingredients, skills, apprentices, and turn order. It's not a gateway game.
Does simultaneous selection really work with 4 players?
Yes, and it's precisely with 4 players that it becomes most interesting. With more players, the competition for resources becomes palpable. You have to anticipate where others will go, and the stat-based turn order adds a strategic layer that is missing in traditional worker placement games.
How long does a game actually last?
The box says 90-120 minutes, and BGG confirms. The first games easily reach two hours. Once you know the game, with 2-3 players you can finish in 90 minutes. With 4 experienced players, count on a good hour and a half.
Is it a game that can be replayed often?
Yes. Patients change every game, strategies are multiple (you can focus on apprentices, high skills, easy or difficult patients), and interaction with other players is always different. Replayability is high, even if the structure remains the same.
Is it available in Italian?
No. Tinctura is available in the English edition. The game has text on the cards (ingredient names, skills, patients), so knowledge of English is necessary. An Italian edition is not currently planned.
Tinctura is a resource management and worker placement board game for 2-4 players, with games lasting 90 to 120 minutes and a recommended age of 10+. Designed by Franziska Stürzenhofecker and Jürgen Then, published by Skellig Games, it transports players to the Renaissance to manage an apothecary. The simultaneous action selection mechanism and stat-based turn order distinguish it from traditional worker placement games. Each player must gather ingredients, develop skills, and train apprentices to treat patients and earn victory points. With a weight of 4 out of 5 on BoardGameGeek, it is a title for experienced players looking for a dense and competitive strategic experience. Available on FroGames.it in the English edition.
Tincture
Frequently Asked Questions
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📸Do the images match the actual product?
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