Potion Brew: how it plays, odds and payouts

Potion Brew is a choice ladder: at every step you decide how strong an ingredient to drop into the cauldron. Weak ingredients almost always hold and grow the potion a little; strong ones usually blow it up but multiply it a lot. You can add up to eight ingredients, and you decide when to bottle the potion with Cash out (lock in the multiplier you hold).

How a round works

1. Set your bet and tap Start.
2. Pick an ingredient. The game draws whether it holds using that ingredient's chance, so the outcome is set by your choice of strength, not by how you tap.
3. If it holds, your take is multiplied by that ingredient's factor. If it blasts, the round ends and the bet is lost.
4. Bottle the potion any time between ingredients with Cash out, or add another, up to eight in total.
5. The brew ends by itself after the eighth ingredient and pays what it holds.

The four ingredients

Hold chance times factor is exactly 1 for each of them, so no ingredient is a better deal than another. The take starts at 0.97x (the 3% house edge) and every pick keeps its expected value there.

Worked example

Four newt eyes in a row hold 90% four times, 65.6% of the time, and pay 0.97 x 1.1111^4 = 1.478x. A bet of 100 coins returns about 148 coins.

Four feathers hold only 0.25^4 = 0.39% of the time (1 in 256), and pay 0.97 x 256 = 248.3x. A mix of one of each (newt, mushroom, crystal, feather) holds 8.44% of the time and pays 11.5x.

Spot the equivalence: two crystals (50% each) are a 25% shot at 4x, which is exactly one feather. Every pick has the same pay-to-risk ratio, which is why the return is 97% however you mix them. The order of the ingredients does not change the pay either, only which ones you chose.

Max win and limits

The top is 31,784.96x the bet: seven feathers and a crystal. An eighth feather would take the potion past the 50,000x payout limit, so the game refuses a pick that cannot pay what it shows. That brew holds about 1 time in 32,800. The overall game-wide limits (50,000x the bet and 250,000,000 coins per round) matter here more than in most games. Volatility is very high if you reach for feathers, and low if you stick to newt eyes and mushrooms.

What matters and what does not

• Ingredient strength: chooses your volatility, not your return. Many safe picks mean frequent small wins; a few strong picks mean rare large ones.
• Which ingredient icon you tap: the effect is exactly as listed. Colours and animations are cosmetic.
• Cashing out early: also a volatility choice. With a fair bet at every step, there is no best moment.

If you like a game where you pick your own risk every step, this is the closest in the lobby. The principle behind it, and why no mix beats the others, is explained in how ladder and tower games work.

How it differs from other cash-out games

Wire Cut and Mines set the risk of a step for you from a hidden panel. In Potion Brew you set it yourself, per step. Laser Heist offers a shield that forgives a slip, whereas a blast here ends the round.

Play with limits

Coins are virtual, have no cash value and cannot be withdrawn or exchanged for prizes. For adults (18+), for entertainment. Set a time limit before you play; see playing safely in Cashout Arcade.