Human Practice

Biology is an all-encompassing domain of science that enormously influences human life. Therefore, there is a high necessity of giving young people an insight into its consequences. Thus, together with the team from Marburg, our team decided to create a boardgame explaining the basic principles of biology and evolution. Fortunately, our competent colleague from iGEM team Marburg (Tresor) came up with the idea of designing a board game called "Game of Cells" for our human practice collaboration.
The expressive name Game of Cells suggest the exploring and investigation of evolutionary processes and the construction of a cell. For this purpose the cell and its components are compared to a medieval castle to make it easier for young players to understand.
The principle item - the nucleus - is the king living in his castle (endoplasmic reticulum) and governing his kingdom. Vesicles illustrate carriages, which are needed for the transport of nutritions and proteins. A protecting, solid and reliable plasma membrane compartimentalizes the kingdom from the extracellular section. At the beginning of the game the players' cells only have the plasma membrane on hand, but as the game progresses, further cell components can be gained. Additionally, the players can acquire mutations that could lead either to positive or to negative effects for the cell. The first player that manages to gain all cell organelles and reach the finish wins and the game is over.

Here are the different game parts for free download. Now you only have to do some handicrafts and you're set to start the game!

• Game instructions
  
• Action cards
  
• Evolution cards
  
• Mutation cards
  
• Boardgame