Zhalchemy - Hanzi Forge Help

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🔥 Zhalchemy: Hanzi Forge — Instruction Manual 

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Play the game here: https://vcip.mrchang.com/zhalchemy3

📌 TL;DR (Quick Summary)

1. Goal: Craft the target character shown at the top.

2. Each round, a new random character is added for players to use.

3. Drag a character → Element & Component Pool to break it into pieces.

4. Drag components/Character → Summoning Circle → Summon → type the pinyin spell to fuse them.

5. Tap a green/red character → enter compound word pinyin → all characters of the word are added.

6. The target character may be crafted using method step 4 or 5, except for special forbidden methods (e.g., using “?” or compound words ending with “子”).

7. Use Word List to learn words visited during the game and Unlock to learn more about a character.

8. Use Zhalchemy: Exploration Edition to practice and gather ideas for solving the puzzle.

9. PS: Alot of the forbidden "nerfs" are due to my 8 year-old kid exploiting the rules creatively.

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🧙‍♂️ Welcome to Zhalchemy: Hanzi Forge

This is a Chinese character crafting game where every move helps you understand radicals, components, and compound words.
Your goal each game is simple:

Forge the target character before others do!

Below are the complete instructions.

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🎯 1. Objective of the Game

Your mission:

Craft the Target Character

The target appears at the top:

You win by being the first to create that character through legal merging or decomposition methods.

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🔄 2. New Character Each Round

At the start of every round:

• One new Chinese character appears automatically.

• This character is chosen strategically from vocabulary related to what players already crafted.

This helps prevent the game from getting stuck due to lack of ideas.

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🧱 3. Breaking Characters into Components

Drag any crafted character from the Crafted Characters tray into the:

⚗️ Element & Component Pool

The game automatically decomposes it into radicals/components.

Example:

This is how you gather resources for crafting.

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🔮 4. Crafting via Summoning Circle (Fusion Method)

To create a new character:

1. Drag two or more items (characters, components, or "?" wildcard) into:

   • ⭕ Summoning Circle

2. Press Summon

3. Type the spell name (the pinyin of the desired resulting character)

4. Choose the correct output character from the list

Example:

• 氵 + 青 → qing1 → 清

• 女 + 子 → hao3 → 好

This method gives you maximum freedom to craft characters logically.

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🀄 5. Crafting via Compound Word Method (词语 / 成语)

This is a powerful shortcut.

Whenever you see:

• Green characters = Primary vocabulary (P)

• Red characters = Harder non primary school vocabulary

You can tap them.

Then:

1. Tap the green/red character

2. The Pinyin input appears

3. Type the pinyin of a compound word the character belongs to

4. Then click "Add All". The game adds all characters of that compound to your Crafted Characters tray

Examples:

• Tap "美" → enter "mei3li4" → Adds: 美 + 丽

• Tap "安" → enter "ping2an1" → Adds: 平 + 安

• Tap "学" → enter "xue2sheng1" → Adds: 学 + 生

This is incredibly useful for expanding your available pieces rapidly.

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🚫 6. Forbidden Ways to Craft the Target Character

To keep the game intellectually meaningful, certain shortcuts are blocked, especially involving:

❌ Forbidden for crafting the target:

• Using "?" wildcard to directly produce the target character

• Using compound words that end with "子" to force generation

• Certain radical combinations that are not meaningful (the game will alert you)

• You are free to use it to craft intermediate words though.

If a crafting attempt violates rules, you will see an explanation message.

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📚 7. Learning Tools: Word List & Unlock Mode

Zhalchemy is designed as a learning game.

⭐ Word List (词语记录)

This button shows all multi-character words that appeared or were created during the session.

It’s perfect for:

• Reviewing vocabulary

• Revising meaning

• Identifying patterns

• Planning next moves

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🔓 Unlock Mode

Unlock mode lets you:

• Tap any character

• View its dictionary entry

• Ask the AI (Links to TapChinese)

• Explore vocabulary without using turn time

This mode is for learning, not gameplay.
(You cannot use it to Add All or cheat a merge.)

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💡 8. Tips & Strategy

🎲 Use Exploration Edition

Visit:

Zhalchemy Exploration Version
to freely experiment with merges and decompositions.

This helps you:

• Discover new character patterns

• Try strategies before using them in-game

• Learn radicals in a risk-free environment

🧠 Think like an alchemist

Everything can be:

• Broken down

• Fused

• Re-combined

Understanding radicals is the key to victory.

🎯 Always plan toward the target character

Ask:

• What components does it need?

• Which compound words contain those parts?

• What characters on the board can generate those components?

• Use Zhalchemy 1 Exploration tool to explore

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🏆 Final Goal

The game ends when the target character is successfully crafted.

The creator receives:

• Immediate 50-point bonus

• Victory announcement