Below is a copy of the Museum’s press release, apparently no. 29.2 (as labelled at the bottom), focusing on Pterosaurs: The Card Game. Forgive me, but I had to share with all of you and kvell.
AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY DEVELOPS PTEROSAURS: THE CARD GAME TO ACCOMPANY SPRING EXHIBITION
Pikachu, make way for Pterodactylus antiquus. The American Museum of Natural History is putting all its cards on the table introducing a new trading card game in conjunction with its exhibition Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs, which opens on Saturday, April 5.
High school students in the Museum’s Science For The Win (#scienceFTW) afterschool program worked with educators and game designer Nick Fortugno (Playmatics) to create Pterosaurs: The Card Game based on an existing open-source biodiversity game called Phylo (phylogame.org). Playing on the popularity of trading card games like Pokemon and Magic: The Gathering, as well as science-related card games like Bone Wars and Parasites Unleashed, the students used illustrations, photos, and information developed for the Pterosaurs exhibition in addition to working with Museum paleontologists. The teens developed the game over 20 sessions of the program, which ran from October 28, 2013 through January 22, 2014.
The object of the game is to place and keep in play as many pterosaurs as you can by building up their required food chains while disrupting those of your opponents. Two players draw from a common Pterosaurs card deck, collecting different species of pterosaurs (including Ramphorhynchus, Pteranodon, and Tupuxuara) and connecting them with their food supply while matching appropriate time periods and terrains. Players can use Event Cards (Volcanic Eruption, Migration, Meteorite Crash, and others) to disrupt their opponent’s chains. When there are no cards left to draw, the player with the most points wins. Certain cards in Pterosaurs offer a bonus: players can download a free mobile app, Pterosaurs: The Card Game, and use an iPhone or iPad to scan the cards and trigger Augmented Reality (AR) including animations and more.
Visitors can bring Pterosaurs home by downloading free playing cards at amnh.org/PterosaursGame, where they can also watch gaming tips from the experts and access the free app.
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No. 29.2
