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Launch Go Extinct! DIY Game Design

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Help us get the word out to kids that science is creative! We believe that games and -- even better -- game design communicates this message loud and clear.

Our April 29th launch event premiers an all-new online game design platform allowing kids to create their own versions of Go Extinct!, an award-winning board game about evolution and biodiversity. The platform and the event are both completely free to kids, families, teachers, and everyone else. 

We need your help to pay for the venue (a welcoming library space with a rockin' mac lab -- $750) and for print advertising ($250). If anything is raised in excess of our goal, we will pour it back into the free online platform to make it even more awesome for people around the globe. 


Here's our story of how we started teaching science with game design :

In 2013, Ariel Marcy started designing Go Extinct! because of her difficulty teaching Stanford students how to read one of science's most profound diagrams, the evolutionary tree. She realized there had to be a better way to teach the concept. She also recognized that the non-linear nature and systems-based design of games made them an ideal tool to teach scientific concepts in a thorough yet engaging way.

By 2014, Ariel was playtesting prototypes of Go Extinct! with San Francisco classrooms where she met Jane, a 5th grader and avid cat lover. Jane decided she wanted to design her own version of Go Extinct! all around the cat family tree. And so she did, navigating a scientific paper with zero trepidation. When she finished her game, she could explain her evolutionary tree game board perfectly to parents at the student project showcase:


Ever since, Ariel wanted to bring this hands-on, personalized game design experience to more kids. 

In 2016, she got that chance when, presenting her PhD research to a crowded nerdy bar in Australia, she met Tim Smith, the Director of Evidently So. Evidently So makes beautiful, interactive graphics specifically to communicate science better. So, evidently, Ariel and Tim teamed up to apply to several grants to make the platform a reality. 

2017 came through with grants from the U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Section and from the Queensland Government, so Ariel and Tim set to work on an a new online platform. They created a platform where kids can pick from several different evolutionary trees, decide on their favorite organisms, make aesthetic decisions, then print, play, and share their creations with friends and family.

Here's a sneak peak of what it looks like:

Now, in 2018, we are ready to launch our platform, DIY Go Extinct!, which allows anyone to create a board game about evolution featuring the myriad and charismatic flora, fauna, and fossils of Australia. 

Please help us launch this novel resource for learning science with game design -- all the way from Australia to the rest of the world!

If you can chip in just $5 or $10 dollars and spread the word on your favorite social media site, we'd be so grateful. Thank you!


P.s. As a thanks for reading all the way down, here are some possible cards from the Aussie Megafauna tree! Were you aware of carnivorous kangaroos? 

Organizer

Ariel Marcy
Organizer
Ferrisburg, VT

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