Lab wars

You are fixated on furnishing the lab with lavish equipment. Once the research group is kitted out, you’ll revolutionise the field. But you overhear a postdoc discussing the research with a rival group at a conference buffet. This cannot be happening; the competing lab has now published a paper and is being tipped for a Nobel prize. You pray the electron microscope you just ordered comes with a receipt…

This is just one of the many scenarios you’ll no doubt experience while playing the new card game Lab wars – minus the buffet lunch. Your goal is to build a research empire; one founded on money, papers and a healthy dose of industrial sabotage. Designed by Caezar Al-Jassar, a researcher at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, UK, and Kuly Heer, a psychologist, the game takes its cues from historical cases of scientific treachery and brinkmanship.

Lab wars is currently on Kickstarter and Chemistry World will review the game when it is officially released later this year.