Gutsy

PLAYERS WILL EXPLORE THE UNSEEN WORLD OF MICROBES LIVING IN AND ON US

The American Museum of Natural History is introducing an original card game in conjunction with its exhibition The Secret World Inside You, which opens on Saturday, November 7. While working on the development of The Secret World Inside You, exhibition co-curator Susan Perkins, an avid tabletop game enthusiast, pioneered an idea to create a card game allowing players to learn about the community of microbes that live in our guts, known as the gut microbiome. Gutsy is based on the various ways we interact with those microbes on a daily basis and turns those interactions into a fun and educational card game.

The object of the game is for players to attempt to be first to create a healthy gut by diversifying their gut microbiome, which is influenced by what we eat and drink, whom we interact with, and the medicines that we take.

Two to four players draw from a common card deck, collecting microbes and pathogens to build their respective guts.

The first player to have six different kinds of gut microbes wins. The game is intended for players ages eight and up.

Perkins worked with the Museum’s Associate Director for Digital Learning, Barry Joseph, and high school students in the Museum’s Lang Science Program, educators, as well as Eric Teo, from the New York University Game Center MFA program, to create Gutsy.

Playing on the popularity of social card games like Sushi Go! and Killer Bunnies, the developers used illustrations, photos, and information created for The Secret World Inside You exhibition.