Game of Genes

In this game, we wanted to roleplay some aspects present in the daily lives of researchers in synthetic biology and other fields such as molecular biology. So the players will represent a scientist who will have to work to create a genetic circuit while worrying with problems common to a laboratory, such as cultivating your bacterial colonies. We went to look for inspiration in successful games that were dynamic, fun, competitive but also that would allow players to be creative. Some games that inspired us were War®, Bohnanza®, Munchkin® and Magic - The Dual of the Planers Walkers®. But in what consists our game? In the beginning of the game, each player will choose to roleplay a researcher from a different country and university that works with a microorganism who wants to genetically manipulate it to reach some goal. These goals are represented by the objective cards. Every player receives randomly and objective card and does not present to the others. His goal in the game is to assemble the genetic circuit that is on the card. The circuits were inspired by some project presented in previous iGEM competitions. To assembly the circuit the players will use the biobrick cards that they draw or exchange between other players during the game. But assembling a circuit is not as easy as it may seems. To represent this difficulty we created “metabolism points” which every player will receive in the beginning and that will have to administrate. You can lose some points by assembling a biobrick and gain when you cultivate your microorganism. However unexpected events can happen. Environmental factors such as pH, temperature and radiation can change or human failures made by researchers or technicians can happen and all of these will affect your microorganism, so you will lose metabolism points. These points represent your modified microorganisms and when it goes to zero they die. To stimulate interaction between players and also represent some aspects of academic life that go beyond the lab we created the dynamic cards. For example, these cards may represent a delay of reagent delivery, a visit from a foregoing professor or even people who are protesting against genetic manipulation in your lab. The game ends when the first player finishes to assembly the genetic circuit on the objective card provided