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Amino is a
game of combining nucleotide cards to create amino acids. Each amino acid card
has a points value and first player to score 30 points wins. Games take anywhere from 15-30
minutes for 2-4 players. The game can be played in four “modes” that encompass
both competitive and co-operative play.
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The campaign
is looking for £500 to pay for a small print
run to allow us to send out games for demonstration and review.
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The focus of
the campaign is the basic Amino deck of 55 Cards; 20 amino acids, 32 nucleotides
and 3 player aids/rules.
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2 further
expansions are in testing right now “RNA” and “Proteins”. Both would add new cards
to the game as well as create new modes of play and assist in learning the concepts behind them.
- The nature of the information on the cards means it is suitable for ANY educational curriculum on the planet that includes the study of genetics. Click here for a list covering the UK, Ireland, USA and both the International and European Baccalaureates
- Weyrell Ltd is a company founded by Darren Barber with the support of the East Lothian council and Social Enterprise in East Lothian. It's goal is to produce STEM based games and generate additional resources for STEM subjects and research in Schools.
Welcome to
my small campaign! My name is Darren and I hope you will take a bit of time
to read about my plans for a card game that teaches both children and adults
about genetics. My goal is to be able to produce an initial print run of the game and
send it out to interested parties for both demonstration and review.
In May of this year I founded Weyrell Ltd. This company, envisaged as a social enterprise, Has received great support of the East Lothian Council and Social Enterprise in East Lothian. It's goal is to produce STEM based games and generate additional funds for STEM subjects and research in Schools. It is still very much early days for the company but we have great plans and a number of amazing products, 12 as of writing, which are both fun and educational.
The idea for
our first game, Amino, came out of a news report about GMO food I watched with my young son.
It invariably resulted in a lot of questions from him, questions requiring more
and more detailed answers… together with lots of post-it notes. I thought it
easiest to look around for a suitably STEM based game for kids. Finding none I
resolved to make my own.
How is Amino played?
In terms of the basic game each player begins with four nucleotide cards and one amino acid card. The game starts with the youngest player and moves clockwise. Each player can either play the DNA Codons required (see point 9 on the image below) or swap one or more of their hand for new cards. Once a player has "sequenced" their amino acid they draw another. This continues and players keep track of the points value of the amino acids they have made. The first player to get to 30 points wins.
Of course this seemed a bit too "fair" to me in terms of game play. I've therefore added in rules for both stealing cards (base pairs!) from your opponents and being able to force an opponent to discard their entire hand. In addition there are rules for players to be able to get rid of a low scoring amino acid card allowing players to quickly get high scores... if they have the right cards...
It was important for me to try and find the correct balance for the game where it can be used both as an entry point into genetics and also as a valid educational asset. I had originally pitched it as a game for high school students aged 12+ but the inclusion of the colour system allowed me to drop it down into the 8-12 range. As such I have envisioned it as being pitched in three bands;
- 8-12 Years: This is where colour
matching (DRuMS colour codes), simple addition (up to 30) and game play concepts are used as a platform to discuss genetics, biology and science in general. My son is amazed
that all life is made up of long combinations of those four nucleotides.
Given the factual nature of the topic and the associated biological principles this game can be of use within any educational curriculum in the world that includes genetics.
The £500 is
needed for a very small production run of decks that we can send out for review and demonstration. Any funds above that would be used to produce more decks to fulfil backers
and/or increase the opportunities of supplying the decks to local schools. The
funds raised are broken into three main areas.
- Production: We have a printing
company lined up to handle the print run with a couple of others identified
should any issues occur with the first.
- Fulfilment: Having all of the
cards produced and ready is great but I will need to be able to ship
them safely to the people who bought them. As shipping is included part of
the total raised will cover that.
- Admin: i.e. the cost of the
funding platform, PayPal fees and the time/calls/ communication needed to
make this all happen.
The Deck
Format.
Because this campaign is small and focused there is only one perk: the Amino deck itself. It is comprised of:
- 20 Amino Acid Cards
- 32 Nucleotide Cards. 8 each of
Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine and Thymine
- 3 Player Aid Cards. These
contain the rules including a list of actions a player can make per turn and the details of playing
a Stop Codon.
I've done a lot of work to get the game to this point getting a single set of cards printed!
Additional Goals
Because I’m a)
only looking for a small amount and b) there are no spare funds hidden within
the Perk donation amount I am limited with what I can offer at this time. I will be reviewing it regularly however as I would like to add in additional value for early backers for this game.
As with any
creative project the risks revolve around two key "delays"
- Printing Delays. We have a
printer lined up who is a) large b) helpful and c) quick. Understandably
this project will be on the lower end of the volume they deal with. The
chances of getting bumped are remote but it may happen.
- Shipping Delays. Once printed
the cards will obviously take a bit of time to get to me. Depending on
volume it may take a little while to package and ship the individual
rewards.
I should
also note that I'm the only person associated with both the production and fulfilment
of Amino. I'm a stay-at-home-dad with 2 kids so I'm not exactly 100% available
to the project at all times. Should my focus be needed elsewhere communication
might be less than perfect.
All of that said, I will be as transparent as possible on all aspects of the
project at all times.
If you've
made it down this far then you definitely have my thanks!
DB
Weyrell Ltd