Remember the Serious Games I created with my company SciBoard Games for anyone to learn about DNA manipulation and genetics? Well, it's fully available for free by clicking on the link at the very bottom of this post. Starting today and for the coming month I will be posting a series of tutorials for you to learn how to play this simple, easy and extremely realistic and enticing game:
This is a great example of how powerful card can determine so much of the progression of a game.
(0:12) Player initiates the game as he/she was the one to get the methionine (ATG codon sequence) first.
(0:56) Another good strike with the agarose gel pulling some cards to the deck. Playing bases to one's chain is always a good move as the first player getting to the final first is the winner. But one can be a winner with few points (using little reactions and enzymes) or with lots of points (by combining so many reactions and enzymes that the opponent will flip). It's all about strategy, and that's what happened next...
(01:21) RNA (uracil) is played onto the opponent's chain thus contaminating it. The opponent won't be able to progress if such contamination is not removed. From now on it is a fight against time to get rid of this uracil or just watch the opponent slide victorious to the finish line!
(01:31) Now check how great a game the 'SciBoard' player is pulling with some really nice temperature cards played on the chain so the temperature can be manipulated according to his/her interest. With some cards you pull down a few levels, with other cards you pull up a few more until you get that nice temperature that will do the trick of your preferred enzyme! Bear in mind the game always start at 25C as this is conventionally accepted as the room temperature!
(03:23) The losing player plays a really nice card 'Ultra-Violet Light' that can be counteracted by only two cards, the 'Goggles' card that will protect against light with mutational effects, or messing the whole working bench with a lot of 'Detergent' to clean away the trouble and eliminate the mess!
(04:12) The SciBoard player really wants to humiliate his/her opponent and decides to start playing some powerful temperature cards. The one used in this instance is the 'Thermal Cycler' that allows one to select the final temperature of the reaction.... only this time a response came in handy in the shape of a mess cleaner!
(05:01) But he/she didn't give up. Some 'Dry Ice' and a 'Thermal Block' and the reaction temperature is right on the spot for a good enzyme to be played in.
(07:27) Here is a restriction enzyme with a sequence that can be found in the chain... But wait, the winning player is cutting his/her own chain?!!!! Why is that? That's because he/she is winning as the opponent is still stuck trying to get rid of the 'Uracil' contamination. The winning player then sees that his/her chain can be cut, does so, wins some more points, plays some more bases and reaches the finishing line whilst the opponent is still trying to snail his/her way out of that contamination. Smart move! This video really demonstrates how contamination of DNA by RNA can be terrible for your game strategy!
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