In AMNH's Gutsy Card Game players will explore the unseen world of microbes living in and on us! Each of us has a community of microbes that lives in our digestive system. Scientists call this community our gut microbiome. It plays many important roles in our bodies, like helping to digest food, regulating our immune system, preventing diseases, and even affecting our appetites and our emotions. Many things, like what we eat and drink, who we interact with, and the medicines that we take, influence the kinds of microbes that live in our gut. A diverse microbiome is good for our health!
The object of the game is for players to attempt to be first to create a healthy gut by diversifying their gut microbiome, which is influenced by what we eat and drink, whom we interact with, and the medicines that we take. Two to four players draw from a common card deck, collecting microbes and pathogens to build their respective guts. Examples of card subjects include: Kiss (a single kiss can transfer up to 80 million bacteria between two people); Antibiotics (broad spectrum antibiotics work against many different kinds of bacteria, including the good ones); and Fecal Transplants (transplanting microbes from a healthy donor into someone with chronic bowel disease, a process known as a Fecal Microbiot a Transplant). Players can use Event Cards (like Adopt a Puppy or Mass Food Poisoning, and others) to disrupt an opponent’s hand. To win, be the first to diversify your gut microbiome by collecting 6 microbes. But beware of picking up a pathogen!
Recommended for ages 8+
Number of Players: 2-4
Playing time: 15-20 minutes
Designed by The Secret World Inside You exhibition co-curator Susan Perkins, Barry Joseph, the Museum's Associate director for Digital Learning, high school students in the Museum's Lang Science Program, educators, as well as Eric Teo, for the New York University Game Center MFA program.
| Skip FB/IG Feed? | No |
|---|---|
