Open Science: The Game is a card game that was developed during the eLife Innovation Sprint 2019. The game intends to teach players about the benefits of Open Science.
The aim of the game is to Achieve a Scientific Breakthrough. In order to do that you must, collaboratively as a group, Research and Publish at least 5 Insights.
The game consists of a series of cards and tokens.
- Each Player chooses a Role card.
- Seperate the Starting Idea cards from the Ideas Deck, and deal two to each player.
- Shuffle the Event cards, remaining Starting Ideas and other Ideas together to form the Ideas Deck.
- Place the Ideas Deck face down on the playing table.
- Suffle the Tool cards, and place the top 3 cards face up on the playing table to form the Tool Box.
- Place the rest of the Tool cards face down on the playing table to form the Tool Deck.
- Place Open Access and Restricted Access tokens in a pile in the playing area.
- Choose which Player will go first. As a suggestion, perhaps who travelled the furthest to join.
Setup is now complete, and each player should have 2 cards in their hand.
Players take it in turns. At the start of their turn, a Player must draw a card from the Ideas Deck. If they draw an Event it must be resolved immediately. They can then take up to 2 additional Actions before handing over clockwise to the next player.
The Group Objective is to Research and Publish 5 Insights. If the Players accomplish this the game ends and the Players win.
In addition to the Group Objective, Players also have an additional Personal Objective to complete that is determined by their Role card. If the Group Objective is completed, Players who complete their Personal Objective get a Personal Victory in addition to the Group Victory. If the group objective is not completed all Players lose, even if they met their personal objective.
If the group Run Out of Ideas (i.e. a Player cannot draw a card from the Ideas Deck at the start of their turn) the game is lost.
During the game, a Player on their current turn may perform up to 2 Actions. The list of possible Actions are given below. Players can choose to play 2 of the same Action.
- Ponder: Draw a card from the Ideas Deck add it to their Hand.
- Research: Turn an Idea card in their Hand into a Research Output by placing it in front of them on the table.
- Publish: Player places a Open Access or Restricted Access token onto one of their Research Outputs.
- Learn: Select a Tool from either your Hand or the Tool Box, and place it under your Role Card such that you can see the effect. Each Player may only have 2 Tools active at any one time. If a Player with two active Tools chooses to Learn a new one, they must return one of the other active Tools to their Hand. It can then be Relearned at a later date.
- Teach: Select a Tool from either your Hand or your Active Tools to Teach to another Player. This Tool immediately becomes Active for that Player. If they are at their limit for Active Tools they may choose one to Forget.
Ideas can be Researched in order to produce Research Outputs. When an Idea has been Researched place it on the play area in front of you. There are 4 types of Idea card listed below.
- Experimental Methods
- Data Sets
- Analytical Methods
- Insights
Each Idea card may have a list of requirements that must be met before they can be Researched. For Data Sets this will typically entail Access to a particular Method. For Insights this will typically entail Access to a particular Data Set and a particular Analytical Method, and so on.
Tools grant Players the ability to perform certain Actions, or reduce the cost of certain Actions.
Events must be acted upon immediately when drawn and may be permanent or one-off and only affects the current Player. Events can either be positive or negative, for example limiting a players ability to perform a specific action. Global Events affect all Players.
Each Role has Skills and Limitations alongside a Personal Objective. Roles are used to vary gameplay by providing players with various different strengths. Skills typically allow a player to perform an Action at a reduced cost.
A Player is said to have Access to a Research Output if they have either Researched it themselves OR one of the other Players has Researched AND Publishd it.
If an Event or Role indicates that a Player cannot access Restricted Access Research Outputs then they do not have Access to ANY Research Outputs bearing a Restricted Access token EVEN if they Researched it themselves.
If a Player is instructed to Retract a Research Output the Player should shuffle the card of their choice back into the Idea Deck, along with any other Research Outputs that depended on it. For example, if an Insight relied on a Data Set which relied on an Experimental Method and the Experimental Method is Retracted the Data Set and Insight must also be shuffled back into the Ideas Deck. However, if there are 2 copies of that Experimental Method that have been Researched AND Publishd the Data Set and Insight do not have to be Retracted.