Gene Pool

Gene Pool

A whole new semester comes, and game introductions will keep on, so stay tuned!

The game I'm introducing this time is Gene Pool. This first version was published in Fall 2006 as a limited edition of 200 copies. The second edition was available October 2009 and was sold out immediately.



The designer, Mark Goadrich, is an Assistant Professor and the Broyles Eminent Scholars Chair in Computational Mathematics at Centenary College of Louisiana. He teach courses in both Computer Science and Mathematics. He made this game just for fun, not for profits. That's why it's an limited edition.

The game is for only two players, who are DNA engineers that are fighting against rare genetic diseases. Players repair important genes with gene therapy by modifying and rearranging a common DNA sequence. Using strategies and spatial thinking to mutate, invert, delete and insert DNA. Compete with the other player to see who is faster in finishing researches, and the winners wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the game!

I like this game because it is really brain exercising. It takes a little strategy. You have to try to complete your own task in fewest moves and opponent's move must be considered. I didn't win often and we played the wrong rules at first, but I still like this game.

However, I don't have much time playing games this semester, but I'll do my best to make the blog content.