Evolution Board Games

The theme and the idea itself of evolution trespasses the boundaries of biological research, and has a pivotal role in contemporary philosophy, culture, and public perception. However, evolution is a complex net of interwoven phenomena, evidence, data, mechanisms, and rationales, and is often misunderstood or overly simplified, which is actually not different from misunderstanding.

The MoZoo Team aims to a correct popularization of the theory of evolution. To do that, members of the team commit in seminar and conferences, but other, less mainstream initiatives are pursued.

For instance, we are currently working on boardgames. Boardgames do represent a powerful vehicle for scientific content involving people motivated to play and win, which can be achieved only if rules are understood – if rules deal with a scientific subject, this is a paramount occasion of learning. However, the risk of oversimplification is common in boardgames, also because gameplay often need compromises between the actual subject and a smooth game flow.

We are currently studying boardgames themed at evolution (e.g., Dominant Species, Evolution, Bios: Meofauna), trying to understand pitfalls and potentialities. Moreover, we are developing Evolve and Survive, the MoZoo Lab own boardgame presenting evolution to primary and high school pupils.