Atom @ TAK

A while back I ordered a card game from the Royal Society of Chemistry called Atom@TAK.

It took forever to arrive, but finally came today.

The cards represent chemical elements, and you score points by forming ionic compounds (maybe that's what they're called, I don't know—I'm no chemist).

For example, if you have two H (hydrogen) cards and one O (oxygen) card, you can form H₂0. Laying that compound on the table causes an explosion that destroys the most-recently formed compounds your opponent(s) may have formed already.

Only have the two "O" cards? If you have an "Energy" card, you can combine them to form O₂. But there's no explosion.

HCl and O₂

Radioactive compounds irradiate your opponents' most recently-played cards for two rounds, sending them irrevocably to the "graveyard", unless the opponent is able to form a lead "Shield" (Pb + shield card).

Your score is the sum of the atomic numbers of all the elements appearing in your surviving compounds after all the cards in the deck have been exhausted.

You don't need to know any chemistry along the way, and you learn the identities of some poisons also—for example, CN^- (cyanide).

cyanide

The "Antidote" card can be used to protect yourself from a cyanide attack.

the antidote

Great stuff!

flickr atom@tak slideshow
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NB: Of course, this still does not mean I'm a nerd.