Elixir magic object cards

[Michael Becker]

I have managed to trade my copy of Alibi for Elixir. After reading through
the rules and cards, I cannot understand the use for the Swiss army knife,
hot java, and magic sword card. Do these magic objects allow you to
substitute the card for any other find? I have found spell cards that
utilize the other magic objects, such as 10 yards of rope, pouch of gold
coins, ham, and torch; therefore these cards make sense. As for the other
three, I am at a loss. The rules don't mention what the upper left hand
symbol represents, either. If anyone knows what these cards do please let
me know.

Thanks in advance,
Michael Becker

[Jim Bolland]

I haven't seen or played the game, but I think I saw something somewhere on the
'net that mentioned some objects are of no inherent value. They just take up
space in your hand. I thought I remembered that the object that was supposed
to be worthless was the ham though. Maybe I'm thinking of a different game,
but still could those items be there just to be worthless and take up space in
you hand?

Jim

[David Vander Ark]

The symbol in the upper left corner that looks like a wrapped present
indicates that the item is magical, like the crumb collector. A
non-magic item, like the rope, has what looks like a crushed present.
In this way you can tell if the item is magical or not.

Non-magical items are useful in several ways. If a spell is cast at you
and you can either accept some ridiculous constraints on your behavior
OR give the caster 2 cards, why not give him a ham and a cup of java?
Why give up that piece of Ogre's Beard you need? (This works any time
you have to give cards away, not just to avoid a spell). Another
strategy is to sell "worthless junk" in an auction (face down) or a flea
market. It's fun to sell a piece of rope for that drop of vampire blood
you need to cast your four-card spell. Finally, at least one spell or
magic item (I don't remember which) says if you have a specific
non-magic item you get to do something...I think you need the torch or
the rope for at least one card, but I don't have the game handy and
there's too much blood in my caffeine stream to remember yet this
morning.
David