Santa Monica Studio Game Jam. Erica Pinto. Quentin Ramsey. Loren Bordas. Kate Salsman. Joe Kennedy. Dustin Dobson. © 20
Dendrites
A brain-building cooperative tile game Time: 15 - 30 minutes Why wait for the next Einstein to be born? Assemble your team of neuroscientists and work together to build a super brain! Increase the complexity of the brain tissue to score big on the IQ test, but be sure to support your growing neural network with a structural membrane; you don’t want the brain to leak!
Placing tiles: Choose a player to go first. You can determine this in any manner you like, but the first player needs to have at least one pink block in their hand.
In addition, tiles must touch at least one other tile of a matching color when placed. Pink tiles must always touch another pink tile.
In the example below, the dendrites are each marked with a “D”:
On each turn, a player takes one of their tiles and places it adjacent to an existing tile. A tile can be positioned in a variety of places, as long as it maintains a grid-like structure. Examples of valid tile placements:
Object of the game: To grow a successfully contained brain with the highest IQ, based on the number of dendrites, the perimeter size of the brain matter, and the cohesiveness of the membrane.
The tile placement below may look odd since there is a yellow square adjacent to a pink square. However, it is valid You can increase the perimeter of the since there are two pink blocks brain by strategic placement of the adjacent to each other. pink tiles:
Contents: Dendrites uses a set of 49 tiles, each consisting of 2 color blocks in either pink, blue, yellow, or green. The pink blocks represent brain tissue, and the other colors are used as supporting membrane. Setting up the game: Set aside one solid pink tile from the rest of the set. This tile will be the start of your embryonic brain!
Examples of invalid tile placements:
Developing the neural network: Your team’s goal is to build a network of all the pink brain tissue blocks. There are two ways to gain IQ points from building the brain matter:
Shuffle the rest of the tiles by placing them all face-down in the play area. “Stir” the tiles by pushing them around until they are well mixed together. Divide the tiles evenly among the players. (It’s ok if a few players end up with an extra tile.)
Create Dendrites – Dendrites are branching extensions of neurons that transmit information to the nerve cells. In this game, dendrites are represented on a macro level by branching blocks of pink tissue with three open sides. Each dendrite adds to the brain’s IQ.
Place the first solid pink tile in the center of the play area. Players should now flip over their tiles and organize them as they see fit.
Increase Perimeter – The more wrinkles a brain has, the more neurons it can contain! Stretch the perimeter of your brain to increase its IQ.
Notice that the 14-perimeter example also created 3 dendrites. Sweet!
Building the support membrane: Brain matter is very fragile and needs a support membrane to keep its shape! Membrane tiles are yellow, blue, and green. To start building a membrane, place a hybrid tile that contains both a pink block and a membrane block (step 1 below). Then use more membrane tiles to build out a structure surrounding the pink brain matter, (steps 2 – 4):
Note the arrow pointing to an empty spot kitty-corner to a pink brain matter tile. This is ok, the brain will not leak through empty kitty-corners. Membrane chains: The support membrane’s cohesiveness helps strengthen the brain’s ability to function. By connecting membrane tiles of the same color together, you create membrane “chains” which earn IQ points. A membrane chain contains three or more tile blocks of the same color, with at least one block positioned adjacent to a pink brain matter tile. Let’s examine a sample brain:
Ending the game: Players continue to take turns until all tiles have been used. If the brain matter is fully enclosed and players have extra membrane tiles, they can continue to add them to membrane chains to gain extra IQ points. If all tiles have been used but the brain has not been fully enclosed by the membrane, then the brain is leaking! You must rearrange tiles to close the gaps. However, you will lose one IQ point for each tile that must be moved. The IQ Test (scoring): IQ points are awarded in 3 ways: Dendrites: 2 points per dendrite Brain matter perimeter: 1 point per perimeter edge Membrane chains: 1 point for each tile over 2 (a 3-tile chain gets 1 point, a 4-tile chain gets 2, 5 tiles gets 3, etc.)
The support membrane is complete when it fully surrounds all of the pink brain matter in the tile set. You cannot close the membrane if you still have pink tiles left in your hand!
If the brain leaked – lose 1 IQ point for each tile that was moved to fix the membrane
Here is an example brain in progress. The last blue-green tile will close the gap to form a full membrane. This membrane has three chains: Yellow – 4 blocks Green – 10 blocks Blue – 5 blocks In the example above, there are also a few scattered blocks of color that do not form chains of 3. While they do not contribute IQ points, they are still useful for enclosing the brain tissue.
Add the total points of your dendrites, perimeter, and membrane chains, and subtract any brain leakage points if necessary to determine your brain’s IQ! How does your lab-grown brain rank on the IQ scale? IQ POINTS 130 AND ABOVE
IQ RANK Very Superior
120 – 129
Superior
110 – 119 90 – 109 80 – 89
High Average Average Low Average
70 – 79 69 AND BELOW
Borderline Extremely low
A few tips: Support your team! Examine each other’s tiles often, and work together to form a winning strategy. Don’t wait too long to place your brain tissue tiles. It may be hard to find enough membrane tiles to surround them towards the end of the game. Forming solid blocks of brain matter makes it easier to enclose the brain in a membrane, but you’ll lose out on perimeter points! Stretching out your brain is riskier, but more rewarding. Variations and challenge ideas: Solitaire – Dendrites works fine as a solo game! Try dividing the tiles into 3 or more draw piles to add an extra building challenge. Under par – Like in golf, try to get the lowest score possible. The brain stem – Create a long, skinny brain! How far can you stretch the brain “stem” before the membrane breaks? Working blind – Keep the tiles flipped upside down in a draw pile that all the players pull from. The Rorschach – Make your brain look like something!
Credits: Developed during the 2015 Santa Monica Studio Game Jam Erica Pinto Quentin Ramsey Loren Bordas Kate Salsman Joe Kennedy Dustin Dobson © 2015 Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC
