The Game of the Month series highlights one of the many games in our libraries at Ravenwood Castle and the Malted Meeple. We will briefly describe the game, how to play it, and why we like it. The Game of the Month is written by the Meeple’s Head Game Master – and former Ravenwood Innkeeper – Karington Hess.

Eureka! Our July Game of the Month is BIOTIX, from our friends at Smirk & Dagger Games!

World-renowned Dr. Johannae has made a breakthrough in the field of micro-biology! She has discovered a new breed of microorganisms, codenamed: BIOTIX. These BIOTIX are extremely volatile, however; they can exist uneasily within a small system. As one of Dr. Johannae’s lab assistants, you have been tasked with growing a culture of the notoriously unstable BIOTIX. However, microbiology can be a cutthroat field, especially when a new discovery is on the line. You will need to carefully grow your own culture of BIOTIX in your petri dish while sabotaging the petri dishes of your fellow lab assistants. Dr. Johannae will only recognize the lab assistant who has produced the most promising results. But beware, turnabout is fair play. BIOTIX react in unpredictable ways, triggering bio-reactions with explosive results!

In a game of BIOTIX, all the BIOTIX Meeples are placed in the Bio-containment bag and each player is given a petri dish. On a player’s turn, he will draw two BIOTIX and place them in either his own petri dish or an opponent’s. Each type of BIOTIX has a different trigger number which may cause a bio-reaction! Each type of BIOTIX reacts differently when they reach critical mass. Some allow you to take BIOTIX from other players, while others force you to give away your own BIOTIX. Both can cause catastrophic chain reactions across multiple petri dishes.

After a number of rounds, the players add up their score during the “end of day” scoring phase. Each BIOTIX left in a player’s petri dish is worth a different number of points—some are even worth negative points. After the score is totaled each player discards all but two of their BIOTIX and begins the next day. At the end of three days, players total up their points and whoever has the most points has successfully earned the attention of Dr. Johannae and wins the game!

We hope you enjoy this light, fun, scientific game of bio-reactions and backstabbing for 2-5 players. The next time you visit The Malted Meeple or Ravenwood Castle, be sure to ask your game master for BIOTIX from our friends at Smirk & Dagger Games!

Jim Reed

Jim Reed is a lifelong gamer who started with the original red box Dungeons & Dragons. After spending 20 years in the corporate world, he decided it was high time that work be fun and struck out on his own. Jim now owns and operates Ravenwood Castle, and spends his days ensuring his guests have as much fun as he does.