- Title: 'Infection' game: how to beat lockdown boredom and stop virus?
- Date: 14th May 2020
- Summary: WEJHEROWO, POLAND (MAY 12, 2020) (REUTERS) NEUROBIOLOGIST AT UNIVERSITY OF GDANSK AND AUTHOR OF 'INFECTION' BOARD GAME, WOJCIECH GLAC STARTING GAME BY THROWING VIRUS CHIP ON BOARD VIRUS CHIP LANDING ON BOARD MORE VIRUS CHIPS BEING PUT ON BOARD SHOWING VIRAL REPLICATION GLAC SHUFFLING SITUATION CARDS GLAC PUTTING MORE VIRUS CHIPS ON BOARD VARIOUS OF VIRUS CHIPS BEING PUT ON BOARD (AUDIO OF GLAC EXPLAINING THAT INFECTION IS SERIOUSLY SPREADING ATTACKING MORE CELLS) TOKEN SYMBOLISING NATURAL KILLER CELL BEING MOVED TOWARDS VIRUS (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) NEUROBIOLOGIST AT UNIVERSITY OF GDANSK AND AUTHOR OF 'INFECTION' BOARD GAME, WOJCIECH GLAC, SAYING: "My name is Wojciech Glac. I work at the University of Gdansk at the Faculty of Biology and the "Infection" game was created for people to get knowledge and skills about how our immune system works and how our immunity is able to beat the coronavirus." NATURAL KILLER CELL TOKEN BEING MOVED AND KILLING VIRUS GLAC SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) NEUROBIOLOGIST AT UNIVERSITY OF GDANSK AND AUTHOR OF 'INFECTION' BOARD GAME, WOJCIECH GLAC, SAYING: "The gaming board illustrates our organism, so there are fields symbolizing our body cells, we have fields symbolizing blood and fields that are lymph nodes." GAMING BOARD WITH VIRUS AND LYMPHOCYTE CHIPS TOKEN SYMBOLISING GRANULOCYTE BEING MOVED (AUDIO OF GLAC EXPLAINING GRANULOCYTE IS EATING VIRUS) (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) NEUROBIOLOGIST AT UNIVERSITY OF GDANSK AND AUTHOR OF 'INFECTION' BOARD GAME, WOJCIECH GLAC, SAYING: "Everybody (each player) is one of the leukocytes (white blood cells). They need to work together and that means coming up with a common strategy, have a plan on how to beat the virus. They need to react fast because the virus is spreading and infects other cells." GLAC PUTTING GRANULOCYTE TOKEN ON BOARD GLAC SPEAKING GLAC HOLDING PLAYERS' CARDS - VARIOUS TYPES OF LEUKOCYTES (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) NEUROBIOLOGIST AT UNIVERSITY OF GDANSK AND AUTHOR OF 'INFECTION' BOARD GAME, WOJCIECH GLAC, SAYING: "(To beat the virus) players have 21 days, so 21 rounds, as this is how this game is planned, but you can lose or win faster depending on the course of the infection and how our immune system would react." CHIP BEING MOVED ON TIMELINE SHOWING START OF SECOND ROUND AND ANOTHER VIRAL REPLICATION VARIOUS OF GLAC PUTTING VIRUS CHIPS ON BOARD (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) NEUROBIOLOGIST AT UNIVERSITY OF GDANSK AND AUTHOR OF 'INFECTION' BOARD GAME, WOJCIECH GLAC, SAYING: "The idea (for the game) was born out of boredom. I mean you need to do something get your head around something when you are at home. I cannot do a lot of things that I would normally do and my brain has already been kind of circling around this subject (the coronavirus)." VARIOUS OF GLAC PLAYING GAME (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) NEUROBIOLOGIST AT UNIVERSITY OF GDANSK AND AUTHOR OF 'INFECTION' BOARD GAME, WOJCIECH GLAC, SAYING: "I did not include the situation card with the co-existing condition, because I wanted this game to optimistic and not referring to the reality we have now so much. So (in the game) there are more universal things referring to stress or good mood, something that always has an impact on our immune system despite the type of disease or type of the virus we have." VARIOUS OF GLANC PICKING UP GOOD MOOD SITUATION CARD WHICH READS (Polish): "Support of your loved ones improved your mood and boosted your immunity. Your cell has an extra move on board." (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) NEUROBIOLOGIST AT UNIVERSITY OF GDANSK AND AUTHOR OF 'INFECTION' BOARD GAME, WOJCIECH GLAC, SAYING: "The mortality of the organism in this game is definitely higher than the mortality caused by a coronavirus in real life. So this game is way more dangerous in a sense than the virus in reality." GDANSK, POLAND (MAY 13, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BIOLOGY TEACHER, KAROLINA TOPA AND HER BOYFRIEND, MAREK PLAYING 'THE INFECTION' GAME PLAYER'S CARD SHOWING DIFFERENT TYPES OF WHITE BLOOD CELLS (FROM LEFT: GRANULOCYTE, CYTOTOXIC T CELL, B CELL) (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) BIOLOGY TEACHER AND PLAYER OF "THE INFECTION" GAME, KAROLINA TOPA, SAYING: "So far our (game) statistics include one win, so our patient survived once and about three times we were defeated but the battle was fierce, we did not forfeit the game, but it turned out only at the very late stages of the game that we failed." VARIOUS OF TOPA AND MAREK PLAYING (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) BIOLOGY TEACHER AND PLAYER OF "THE INFECTION" GAME, KAROLINA TOPA, SAYING: "My boyfriend and I simplified things a little bit. He, as a person that has nothing to do with biology, he gave his own names to these cards, so it is easier for him. For example, cells like granulocytes or monocytes which are phagocytes meaning they swallow the bacteria, he called them the 'catchers'." MAREK PUTTING VIRUS CHIPS ON BOARD TOPA AND MAREK PLAYING GAME, MAREK SAYING TOPA IS THE CATCHER NOW (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) BIOLOGY TEACHER AND PLAYER OF "THE INFECTION" GAME, KAROLINA TOPA, SAYING: "I think I am going to definitely use it (during the online class with students) because I would like to see their reaction to this game and see if they get into it, like for example me and my boyfriend because we are fascinated by it, and I really hope that they will catch this gaming bug a bit." VARIOUS OF TOPA SHOWING 'THE INFECTION' GAME TO HER STUDENTS DURING ONLINE CLASS
- Embargoed: 28th May 2020 08:00
- Keywords: 'Infection' board game coronavirus game lockdown game
- Location: WEJHEROWO AND GDANSK, POLAND
- City: WEJHEROWO AND GDANSK, POLAND
- Country: Poland
- Topics: Human-Led Feature,Human-Led Stories
- Reuters ID: LVA001CDWKPX5
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: As scientists across the world grapple with coronavirus and race to create a vaccine, a Polish scientist has created a board game in which players can join the fight by using the power of human's immune system to defeat the virus.
After the virus attacks the body and the first virus chip drops on the board, players take on the roles of various lymphocytes (white blood cells) and come up with a strategy to boost the immune system and fight the infection by engulfing and consuming the virus particles.
"They need to work together, come up with a common strategy ... and react fast because the virus is spreading and infects other cells," neurobiologist at the University of Gdansk and creator of the game, Wojciech Glac explained.
To make the game as realistic as possible, players have 21 rounds, the average number of days a viral infection lasts, to beat the enemy, but depending on their strategy and the course of the infection, they may save or lose the patient faster.
"The mortality of the organism in this game is definitely higher than the mortality caused by a coronavirus in real life," Glac said, making the game more dangerous than the virus in reality.
The game, which Glac created to ease his boredom during lockdown, can be played by both children and adults with no academic knowledge of biology.
Biology teacher Karolina Topa said that she simplified the game when playing with her boyfriend, who has no scientific background, by changing the name of cells which swallow bacteria such as granulocytes or monocytes into 'catchers'.
Topa added that she would use the game during online classes with her students and hoped that they would catch the gaming bug.
Glac said he created the game to educate people about the power of our immune system and that's why he's made it available to download and print from the internet, free of charge.
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