The Apothecary's Bench Support

Questions, problems, or ideas? Email [email protected] (yes, that's the right address for The Apothecary's Bench too) and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Helpful things to include: your device model, iOS version, the level number, and what you were doing when the problem happened.

How does pouring work? Tap a jar or vessel to pick it up, then tap where it should go. A pour fills the target to the brim or empties the source, whichever happens first — you never choose an amount, which is the whole puzzle.

My vessel turned brown. That is caput mortuum: three pigments in one vessel is dead ground whatever the proportion, and it cannot be recovered. Undo is free and unlimited, and reset is one tap.

What does "par" mean? The fewest moves in which the bench can be solved, worked out by the game's own solver. On all but three benches it is proven to be the shortest possible; those three are too large to search completely, so their par is the best solution found, and it can be beaten. Solving a bench earns a blue seal; solving it in par earns a red one.

I am stuck. Tap the lightbulb for a hint: it lights up the next move from wherever you are. There is one per attempt, and resetting the bench gives it back. Some benches can also be put beyond rescue by a pour you cannot take back — an emptied jar, a spoiled crate. The game will not stop you, on purpose, but if you ask for a hint then, it will tell you the bench can't be finished from there. Undo or reset; nothing is lost but the moves.

What is Market Day? One extra bench a day, the same one for everybody, drawn fresh and solved by the machine before you see it. There is no streak and nothing is lost by missing a day.

My progress did not follow me to another device. Both devices need to be signed in to the same iCloud account with iCloud Drive on. Progress only ever merges — nothing you have earned on either device can be lost by syncing.