To protect herself against Scissors, Paper wants to avoid attacking a certain rock (shown with red arrow).Paper player can use a sand dollar to shield a Paper against attack.
Scissors has the fewest pieces. But by not attacking a particular Paper (green arrow), Scissors lets Paper eliminate Rock packs, using an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” effect to win.
Skilled players can use this “enemy of my enemy is my friend” effect to their advantage. This effect exists in ecosystems.
The game is a balanced ecosystem model that you can learn to “tip” in your favor. The game dynamics of balancing, tipping and the “enemy of my enemy” effect are seen in competing bacteria, lizards, and many other ecosystems.
The rules are simple (click for rules movie) but yield complex system dynamics, such as rebounds, resilience, reversals of fortune, and oscillations that occur in nature.
Game and art by the Drs. Keane (copyright 2017). Thanks to several gamer families for play tests. Thanks to Cardboard Edison for multiple rounds of play testing and feedback. Thanks to several Game Crafter testers’ feedback on the rulebook.
Requirements: two, three or four players, ages 12 and up, 15-25 minutes
Components: board, 144 tiles, player aids, four sand dollar shields
Use just rock-paper-scissors for three players. Use “Goo” for a 4-way predator-prey interaction for two or four players. In the two player version, each player uses two predators! Flip over pieces for a microbial version.
Send us your drawings or photos and we will personalize your game.
Awesome Global Patterns
The rules of neighbor interaction are simple but there are many possible strategies to win. Regardless of player skill, global patterns emerge, making the game a self-organizing system. You also can study this global patterning and self-organization with the computer model global patterns in Little Tip (click here). Here’s our simpler model in Scratch. You can even change the model and code your own model. Here’s an example of a simple Scratch model with abstract art images and one with just colors. Gain skills used in all science and STEM fields.
To read more about the dynamics that can result, such as tipping, hydra effects and rebounds, see our paper on “Resilience, tipping and hydra effects.“
You can also personalize the game with your own drawings (instead of your photo). Below is an example of a personalized version in Scratch, following our lesson in abstracting the rock, paper and scissors.