Aug 19

Genotype: A Mendelian Genetics Board Game Review

Updated: Sep 23

In 1854 Gregor Mendel an austrian farm set up a greenhouse in the garden of St Thomas's Abby. Mendel's research was the birth of genetics as we know it today. The game Genotype: A Mendilan Gentic Game published in 2021 is a great way to explore the world of Mendilan genetics.

Setup

Genotype has a busy board that is very beautiful. I havent come accross many games where the back side of the game board is so good looking. The board really draws players into the game and is set up for an easy and imersive experience. The board is broken up into 2 halves. The left side has all the different traits that the scientist players are looking at. There are 4 sections of Punnett squares one for each trait group. There are a pool of 5 dice for each section. There are also tiles that allow players to change the values of the Punnett squares. Punnett Squares are a 4x4 grid that show the outcome possibilities for a particular trait passed down from the maternal and paternal genes. This is part of what makes this game a great educational tool. The game is dense with information and rolls it out to players in a fun way.

The game is dense with information and rolls it out to players in a fun way.

The other side of the board is where the cards for your pea plants are and the garden tools are. These cards will be drafted by the players during each of the 5 rounds. There is also a market to purchase upgrades for players research. a university space and a treasury space that will speed up a players research and get the player some extra cash. There are even some things that dont fit on to the beautiful game board. The assistant cards and some of the extra upgrade components are placed next to the board. This is a worker placement game and players will be placing their tokens onto each of the sections on the board to interact with them.

Game Play

Genotype is a worker placement game where players are helping Mendel in his famous pea plant genectic research. The game takes place over 5 turns each with three rounds except the last turn that only has 2. The three phases in Genotype are the Working, Plant Breeding, and Research Upgrade phases. Players score points for drafting dice to research specific traits on their pea plant cards played on their player mats.

The economy in Genotype is tight and the upgrades are all very helpful so this will be a particularly interesting desicion space in the game.

Each player starts with 3 pea plan cards in hand and the cars have 2-6 trait combos on them (RR, Rr, rr, ...etc). The goal with the pea plant cards is to draft the dice from the left side of the board to play onto the player mat and then cover up the trait that the die was drafted from. So if a player drafts a die from the Rr pool and has that trait on one of their planted pea plant cards they can cover up that trait. When all the traits are covered on a card players will score the value of that card. Players only have room for 3 dice to be drafted, however there are ways to get more for example you may place a worker onto the temporary die slit space and then you may use one extra die slot for the turn.

Planting the Pea Plants is done in the working phase as par of the gardening action. The gardening action is a big part of the game. This is a way players can get new pea plant cards or tools into their hand and then plant pea plants into their player mat.Other actions taken in the working phase allow players to manipulate the Punnet Squares and set goals. Setting goals allows players to claim bonus points for a certian trait. For example if a player cliams the goal for RR and Rr the player will score 2 points for each completed pea plant with those traits on their card. only one player can occupy the 8 goals. Players may alos get more coins at the treasury, Cover up a single trait on a pea card at the university or draft pea plant or tool cards as actions during the working phase.

The plant breeding phase is when the dice are rolled and plced into the trait areas based on the punnet squares. The dice are numbered 1-4 for each section of the punnet square and there are mutation symbols also. There are 4 colors of dice one for each of the gene types. The mutation symbols can act as a sort of wild card for players. Once the dice are rolled the players who placed a worker on the first shift spots get to draft a dife from they gene type first. then each of the players who placed a worker in the second shift spot. After that players starting with the first player will continue to draft dice until they run out of spots to place them on their player boards. As they draft they may cover up the matching traits on their pea plant cards.

The final phase of the turn is the research upgrade phase. This is a time where players may spend money to get new plots, new dice slots, get a new worker token, or hire assistants. The assistants can confer a great ability for players to use on their turns. The economy in Genotype is tight and the upgrades are all very helpful so this will be a particularly interesting desicion space in the game. The end of the game players will score for each of the completed pea plant cards, the goal spaces, incomplete cards score 1 for each trait covered and unspent coins score 1 point also.

Thoughts

This game is packed full of knowledege. In fact it does one of my favorite things that educational or historical games can do and that is add an exter booklet with context around the game. In Genotype there is a booklet explaning Mendels experiments and how this leads us into modern genetics. The game is very thoughtful and immersive into the theme. I would recomend this to anyone tasked with teaching Mendelaian genetics. This with some of the wrap around information would definitly solidify a lesson.

Aside from the educational aspects of the game. I find it very fun game to play. The game has a tight economy both finacially and with the worker placement aspect. This results in a lot of difficult choices for player. I use difficult in a good way here. The game is intuitive after one turn. The rule book is laid out in a way that is super easy to refernce and look up anything during the game quickly.

Genotype is a great game for game night. Even if you are not into genetics the game playe will draw in seasoned gamers. The intuitive nature of the game also makes it accessable to newer gamers however the table presence might cause hesitation. There is a lot going on on the board but is can be easily broken down and explained to players quickly. The teach for this game is light and the replay is high. Genius Games has a lot of great educational puzzles and games.

Players: 1-5

Year Published: 2021

Recommended Ages: 14+

Time to Play: 45-90 minutes