Subatomic: an Atom Building Game (2nd Edition) | A Chemistry Game About Elements, Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons | Educational Science Board Games for Teens, Adults, Classrooms, Schools, and Family

We love to play science based games as a family. I already owned a few chemistry and math based games and was looking for physics based game. this is really challenging game. Cards and pieces are of high quality and the game teaches a lot of atomic concepts. great for middle and high schoolers.

This game was gorgeous straight out of the box. I literally gasped when I opened it - the components are beautiful and the box insert is laid out well. This is a deck building game, where you can add better cards to your personal deck and discard weaker ones in order to claim different elements. Aside from the rule book, there is another booklet that is all about the science behind the game. It explains the meaning of the science cards used in the game (quarks, protons, atoms, energy, etc.), describes the elements you are working to claim, and highlights the scientists used in the game (which play as power-up cards for your deck). I love the theme of the game, and since this is an area of science I’ve never understood well, I felt like I was actually starting to grasp the concept of building atoms to make elements while I played. The addition of different scientists as “power up” cards was brilliant, and their different abilities were really unique and added a really great twist to the game. Overall this is a well-made game with a great theme and fun game play!

I really like this game. It might be my favorite chemistry game from genius games. The only reason for 4 instead of 5 stars is that they don't use all the Electrons for each atom built. I really would have loved if they had included the Electrons being filled in the appropriate orders/orbitals. But, still a great game that we will play often.

I thought this game might be a fun way to learn about different elements and the atomic aspects of each (mass, number of particles, etc...), but there are only like 4 different elements you build in the game. Not impressed at all.

We have played this twice- ages 47, 11 & 10. Once you figure out how it's played (which isn't too difficult), it's really fun. My biggest problem is that my kids like to run off between turns which makes the game drag out forever. I would really enjoy this with a group of adults. I plan to play tomorrow with just my 10 year old. She played it for the first time tonight and had no idea what was going on in terms of science but she caught onto the game play quickly and literally jumped up and down when she was able to pay for beryllium. Who knew? Great educational (and fun) game!

My kids (10-14 yrs old) love the game! I love using games to supplement/reinforce their learning.The game was easy to learn and game play moves quickly enough no one gets bored between turns.

Review I wrote for Opinionatedgamers.comWhen deck builders (Dominion, Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game and the like) were becoming popular I tried a number of them, but never felt like I was doing anything meaningful in the game. Pick up some cards, put down some cards. I kind of thought to myself, This is apparently not a mechanic I enjoy. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a solid mechanic and is extremely popular within the gaming community. It just didn’t click with me and so I didn’t embrace the concept. I never did poorly when playing deck building games, but I just didn’t feel like I was really making any meaningful decisions (I want to buy as many of those 2 types of cards and then VP cards to win the game.) Draw 5, play 5, draw 5, play 5. Then I was introduced to Fantastiqua by Alf Seegert. Boom! I found a deck builder I enjoy! He added a little puzzle to the game that takes place in a clever fantasy world and I was in.Introduce Subatomic: An Atom Building Game by Genius Games. A deck building game where you get to do some particle physics and make atoms and elements without having to wear all the sweaty hazmat gear that make your glasses fog up! Add some up quarks with some down quarks or gamma rays together and create protons, neutrons and electrons! Add those together and create some elements. Is it magic? No! It’s Science!Often in games based on science, you get a game with solid science, but crappy gameplay, or a game with solid gameplay but crappy science. Rarely do you get games that offer both solid science and solid gameplay. Enter Genius Games, who take science, mix with some solid game mechanics and come out with fun, scientifically educational, strategic games.In Subatomic, players begin with a small deck of up quarks and down quarks (elementary particles that make up protons and neutrons) and gamma rays (which make up electrons). You draw 5 cards, and have the ability to do any of the following:Purchase cards to make your deck stronger (neutron, proton or electron cards)Build an element (there are 4 different elements you can work towards, Helium, Lithium, Beryllium or Boron) by adding electrons, protons or neutrons to your atom player boardTurn cards in for energy tokens orClaim an element card.You can enlist the help of scientists by spending energy tokens to purchase scientist cards with the likes of Einstein, Madam Curie or Schroedinger (but not his cat…) amongst others. These help give players special abilities when creating their elements.Each time a player claims an element, they place 2 of their 10 goal markers on elemental spaces that will give them bonus points at the end of the game. Once all 10 of a player’s goal markers are placed, players finish the round and the player with the highest number of points at the end of the game wins.COMPONENTS:The card quality is a good weight and quality, with easy to read, easily identifiable cards. The cardboard pieces, wooden cubes and particle markers (glass tokens) are of a good size and quality and the colors are easily distinguishable. The player boards and game board are a good quality and thickness and are easy to read. The rulebook is colorful, nicely laid out and easy to follow. My biggest gripe with the rulebook, however, is that the “Game Setup” diagram is on the backside of the “Game Setup” directions, so you have to flip back and forth between the two pages when setting up the game. It would’ve been nice to have them on the same spread inside the rulebook. (Game setup once you’ve set up once or twice is really not that difficult.) A really brilliant addition to the game is a rulebook-sized 6 page manual entitled, “The Science Behind Subatomic An Atom Building Game” for science nerds. Or people that just want to know…MECHANICS:The deckbuilding (or Atom building in this case) mechanics work really well for the game. The addition of building your elements using the deck, thrown in with the different scientist abilities give the game a fun twist in the deck building genre.TIME & AGES:The game runs within the 40-60 minutes as listed on the box. This is the perfect time for what the game is and doesn’t run to long or too short. It fits in that “just right” for time. The ages listed on the box 14+ seems a bit high while the 10+ on the website seems a bit low, so I’m recommending in the middle at 12+. To date I have only played with adults. I believe the game would play well with middle school and high school students, as well as adults, and might be great with students that are learning basic sciences. I used to run a board game group of 10-20 teens for a military library and this game would’ve been a regular go-to for those playersARTWORK:The art in Subatomic is great. The artwork on the cards is bright, colorful and easily distinguishable. The player boards are nicely created and have a player aid on each board, which I greatly appreciate in any game. The first edition had cartoony artwork that was super cute, but the designer didn’t want people to confuse the game with a younger kids game so the artwork was changed for the second edition but still works and looks great.FINAL THOUGHTS:While I find straight deck builders may not be my mechanic, throw a little twist and I’m onboard. I quite enjoy this one and find it gets my mind working in trying to figure out what I can best do with the hand I’ve drawn. I think this might help any budding, school aged scientist have fun and maybe learn (a little.) The addition of “The science behind” book is a really nice touch and explains the concept behind the science and how it differs from science within the confines of the game. The game itself is fun if you don’t happen to be a science nerd, and you could learn something as well!THOUGHTS FROM OTHER OPINIONATED GAMERSPatrick Brennan: It’s a workable little deckbuilder game. The theme is both excellent (if you’re a science nerd) and completely non-engaging (if you’re anything but). Your deck starts with quark and photon cards and you use these to buy neutron, proton and electron cards. Once your deck is strong, you start playing these to build up your proton/neutron/electron count that allows you to build atoms (rather than using them to buy more cards) as scoring atoms wins the game. Start again, build another atom. While it works, it seems like there’s going to be minimal variety from game to game, and any deck-thinning strategy that ends up proving successful is going to be repeated. It’s slow progress building up, but then it’s rush, rush, rush for points – once you have a strong working deck you just keep playing it through. The game ends quickly as a result, which isn’t a bad thing. Swingy though.

Bought for a Christmas gift. Still a few months before being opened.