How to play Neon Alchemist
You are the keeper of a glowing neon laboratory, and your bench holds just four primal elements: Fire, Water, Earth and Air. Your goal is to transmute all 12 hidden elements concealed in the recipe book. Every element you discover joins your palette and can itself be combined again, so the deeper you go, the more possibilities open up. Watch the recipe book on the side — each ??? is a secret waiting for a name.
Controls
Click or tap any element to select it, then click a second element to attempt the combination. A successful mix bursts into your palette with a flash; a dud simply fizzles. Prefer keys? Use the arrow keys to move the glowing cursor across the palette, Enter to select, and Esc to cancel a selection. The Hint button reveals one full recipe, and Clear drops your current pick.
Scoring
You begin with 1200 points. Every failed combination costs 25 points and every hint costs 50, with a floor of 100 — so wild guessing is expensive but never fatal. Mixing an element with itself only earns a shake, never a penalty, and re-mixing an already discovered pair is free. When all 12 elements shine in your recipe book, the lab declares victory and shows your final score.
Tips for master alchemists
New elements love old friends — try each discovery against the four base elements first. Pairs that fizzle in one order fizzle in both, so don't retry reversals. If you're stuck, spend a hint on the earliest ??? in the book; its ingredients are always things you can already reach. Keep an eye on your failed count: a careful alchemist finishes near 1200.