Pyramid Review
Mad Scientist University
Published by Atlas Games
Designed by Zachary Anderson
Illustrated by Steven Sanders
168 Full Color Cards; $24.95
Mad science and mad scientists make for a great theme for a game, as GURPS IOU and Igor: The Mad Scientist's Lament have proven. Atlas Games' Mad Scientist University is the latest game to harness this cutting-edge -- but dangerously unstable -- power source. It is a card game of insanely inspired improvisation, maniacal mirth, deputized despotism, and crazed corruption. It needs at least three players, though as many as seven can participate, aged eight and up. The playing time is given is between 30 and 60 minutes.
The game consists of two sets of cards: Insane Assignments and Unstable Elements. Insane Assignments are tasks that each budding scientist must propose an insanely inventive method of achieving. They range from the mundane, like "Learn to DANCE" or "Clean your room," to the fantastic, such as "Create perpetual motion" or "Develop the UN-common cold." Unstable Elements are ingredients that the scientist must include in his proposal, and again include the mundane (Dental Floss or Clipboards for example) and the fantastic (such as Zombies, Rubber Chickens, Decoder Rings, and Ninja). Curiously, the Laser is completely absent from the deck of Unstable Elements. So no "Frickin' laser beams" then . . . Fortunately, our budding brainiacs can still have their fun with kittens, monkeys, penguins, and squirrels. (Not at the same time, . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: March 21, 2008
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