Cellular biology may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think board games. But what if you broke the process down and tried to find a way to turn it into a game? Today we look at a game doing just that and see if it lives up to the challenge of making a board game that is fun and educational!
Cytosis is designed by John J. Coveyou with art and graphic design by Tomasz Bogusz. It plays 2-5 players. The game is published by Genius Games.
Summary
Cytosis is a worker placement game inside of a cell where players will take resources and actions to convert those resources. They are converted into enzymes, hormones or receptors which score points. The player with the most health points will win the game!
Setup and Gameplay
The player board is set up in the middle and all of the macromolecules and ATP are placed in piles near the board. The Event cards are set based on player count and the Goal cards are set as well. The Cell component cards are places in the market and each player is given 3 to start. Based on player count each player receives player pieces as flasks and starting ATP.
Each round a player will place one of their flasks in the first Phase and then refresh the board in the second Phase. There are four different types of flask placement spots:
1-Collecting Resources
2-Purchasing Cell Component Cards
3-Completing Cell Component Cards
4-Taking the First Player Marker
In Collecting Resources, you will take one of your player marker Flasks and place them on any spot with a number on it. These will allow you to take a certain amount of that object from the general supply. Any resources collected are added to your personal stock. These materials include mRNA, Proteins, Lipids, Carbohydrates and ATP.
Another option for your player marker is to purchase Cell Component cards to add to your hand. These cards are available for free and then for a cost in ATP resources as you take them down the row. These cards are collected into the players’ hands.
A player may also attempt to complete Cell Component cards over a series of turns by starting their player token on a Smooth or Rough ER path, trying to complete a Steroid or Protein Hormone card or Protein Hormone Receptor card in their hand. Each requires a certain amount of macromolecules on their Transport Vesicle disc that players will exchange based on the function of the area of the cell they are in. This will need another player token on the next turn to move it to the Golgi Apparatus where you will place one Lipid or Carbohydrate onto the Transport Vesicle that moves down from either the Smooth or Rough ER. The final step in completing a Hormone or Receptor card by moving their Transport Vesicle through the Plasma Membrane and out of the cell. This will complete the card once you pay the ATP on the card and gain the Health points indicated. Enzyme Cards are completed once a player has all the resources in their possession and then are turned in with the ATP cost to complete it and gain the Health Points in the Cytoplasm.
The Alcohol Detoxification cards can be completed in the same-named spots in the Smooth ER by playing a flask there and paying the ATP requirements. These will gain you Health Points and the player with the most of these cards at the end of the game will gain extra Points.
There are also cards with macromolecules on them, a player can play them at any time on their turn to gain the resources listed immediately. These are not scoring cards but they do help you gain resources.
Finally a player may also take the first player marker by placing into the Laureates in Biology spot and chose to either gain 1 ATP or place a Goal Marker on an available Goal card. The first Goal Markers placed on a card will earn that player 3 Health Points. The Goal Cards themselves are end-game scoring cards that will score out based on the description on the cards.
In Phase 2 the board is refreshed and players will retrieve all their Flasks and reset the Cell Component card area of the board. Then the top card of the Event deck is revealed and the events listed become active.
The game ends when the last Event card is flipped up and players will play one more round and more directly to the scoring phase. At the end of the game players will score points based on the extra macromolecules they still have in reserve, completed Alcohol Detoxification cards, completed Enzyme cards and Goal cards.
Impressions
Cytosis is a Cell Biology game. It says it on the cover and it literally lives up to that in every way. The game is dripping with science to the point that there is even an included “Science behind the game” insert that talks about the biology of it all. The game is focused on teaching the players cell biology and organelles like nucleus, rough ER, golgi, and mitochondria at middle school, high school or college levels and was designed to comply with STEM and NGSS standards.
The game is perfect for someone looking to teach but also looking to just enjoy a good worker placement game. The gameplay shines in both set collection and worker placement allowing players to experience fine examples of both of these mechanics. It flows well and doesn’t suffer from any boring spots that hamper some educational games. It is simple enough to be able to pick up but challenging enough to bring an adult gamer to the table for the challenge. I have played it with a variety of players and player ages/experience levels and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. My daughter who is very interested in science and a high school Honors student really picked up the mechanics quickly as a gamer and enjoyed the accuracy of the game to a world she continues to explore in school.
Along with being scientifically correct, the game is just pretty to look at. We played with the upgraded wooden tokens which really make it shine as well on the table. The art is colorful and appealing and makes you want to really explore the mechanics going on around the board. I hope to introduce this to some other friends and their kids in the future as well.
Overall Cytosis brings the perfect marriage of fun and education together on the game table. In fact I think it is done better than any game I have ever seen try and do it. I felt engaged through the whole game and saw the progression of things long since forgotten in my college biology classes. The game really spoke to the education aspect without being intimidating-it felt like a game you could enjoy no matter what your education or interest in the sciences was before you played. I can see this being a great launching point for younger gamers to pursue more information and exploration within the sciences. Cytosis is a solid recommendation from my perspective to players young and old who are looking for a fun game that brings everyone at the table a great look into the world of biology in a educational but still enjoyable way!
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