Anyone Can Be an Alchemist

Little Alchemy 2

Little Alchemy 2 is an app that anyone can download for free onto their smartphone. There is also a website version of the game available at littlealchemy2.com. I have decided to explore the second version of Little Alchemy because it offers more discoverable materials than the first game. The premise of Little Alchemy 2 is that the player is an alchemist, trying to create as many materials and objects from just four foundational elements: fire, air, water, and earth. Players combine elements to create new ones. For example, water combined with earth results in mud. Mud and fire can then be combined to create bricks. Bricks can them be combined with more bricks to create a wall. Such chain reactions add to the addictive nature of this game. Players find themselves on a streak of discovering new materials. However, they will also find themselves stumped at times, unable to find a new combination. If a player wants to, they can use a hint to reveal a new material. All recipes and formulas are recorded in the in-game encyclopedia for easy reference. Each new material is introduced with a quirky, oftentimes humorous description. Players can create everything from scorpions to robots. Little Alchemy 2 is a fun game to pick up when you have a free moment and want to try to find a few more combinations.

I am excited to see a free app that explores STEM topics. Little Alchemy 2 would have been just as interesting to me as a high school student than it is to me as a grad student. This is because it plays upon emotions that never leave us as we grow older: the joy of discovering something new and the pleasure in figuring out how the world works.

Reference

Recloak (2017). Little Alchemy 2.