Videogames with paramecia players

David Pescovitz 10:57 am Wed Jan 19, 2011

Stanford University bioengineer Ingmar Riedel-Kruse and colleagues are developing "biotic games" where players control paramecia and other living microorganisms traveling across virtual playing fields. The researchers report on their progress in the scientific journal Lab On A Chip. From the abstract (L.A. Cicero photo):

Here we propose the concept of ‘biotic games’, i.e., games that operate on biological processes. Utilizing a variety of biological processes we designed and tested a collection of games: ‘Enlightenment’, ‘Ciliaball’, ‘PAC-mecium’, ‘Microbash’, ‘Biotic Pinball’, ‘POND PONG’, ‘PolymerRace’, and ‘The Prisoner's Smellemma’. We found that biotic games exhibit unique features compared to existing game modalities, such as utilizing biological noise, providing a real-life experience rather than virtual reality, and integrating the chemical senses into play. Analogous to video games, biotic games could have significant conceptual and cost-reducing effects on biotechnology and eventually healthcare; enable volunteers to participate in crowd-sourcing to support medical research; and educate society at large to support personal medical decisions and the public discourse on bio-related issues.

"Design, engineering and utility of biotic games" (Lab On A Chip)

"Paramecia PacMan" (Stanford Univ. School of Medicine)

"Stanford researcher uses living cells to create 'biotic' video games" (Stanford News)

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