Dr Gail Davies

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The GeneticonsAn Alien Population Game
Populate Your Alien Planet Breed the Next
Generation Migration to New Places Who Will
Survive?
Dr Gail Davies
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Alien Population In the Beginning

• Many years ago, and many light years away, there
  was a lesser known planet in our Solar system
  called Geneticus. This planet was inhabited by
  small Alien creatures known as the Geneticons.
  They suffered a terrible fate, a disaster
  equivalent to the one that wiped out the
  dinosaurs.
• The Geneticons were extinct.
• But then an Alien Geneticist, discovered the DNA
  that made up the original Geneticons and using
  spectacular Alien technology decided to re-create
  the Geneticons. But he is very busy and this is
  very labour intensive so he has asked for some
  help.
• He needs you to create the first population, the
  first generation of Geneticons.

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Alien Population Creation Rules

• 5 main characteristics make up a Geneticon
• Body Shape
• Eyes
• Nose
• Feet or something similar to allow movement
• Antennae
• Whether they are Male or female is determined by
  the antennae
• Within each of these there are 6 possibilities
• 6 different genes determining a characteristic
• These are conveniently numbered 1 6 for ease of
  creation by the role of a die

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Geneticon Creation

• Start with Body type
• Roll the die, see which body gene you have. Draw
  your Geneticons body.
• How will your Geneticon Move?
• Roll the die, see which movement gene you have.
• How fine a looking specimen do you have?
• Roll the die a couple of more times to add eyes
  and a nose.
• The final touch is an antenna.
• Remember that this also tells you whether you
  have a boy or a girl.
• If you wish you can name your Geneticon.
• .

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Characteristics Key - Body

• 1- Round
• 2 - Triangular
• 3 - Blob

• 4 - Square
• 5 - Heart
• 6 - Spiked

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Characteristics Key - Movement

• 1- Wings
• 2 - Spring
• 3 - Wheels

• 4 - Flippers
• 5 - Feet
• 6 - Ski

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Characteristics Key - Eyes

• 1- Round single
• 2 - Round double
• 3 - Round triple

• 4 - Two on stalks
• 5 - Round single with lashes
• 6 - Round double with lashes

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Characteristics Key - Nose

• 1- Red blob
• 2 - Blue blob
• 3 - Green blob

• 4 - Orange blob
• 5 - Yellow blob
• 6 Purple blob

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Characteristics Key - Antennae

• 1- Red triangle (girl)
• 2 - Red coil (girl)
• 3 - Red cross (girl)

• 4 - Green triangle (boy)
• 5 - Green coil (boy)
• 6 - Green cross (boy)

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Picture Gallery
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Alien Population Founder Generation

• You have now created your starting population,
  your founder generation. They have all grown up
  and are now ready to find their ideal partner to
  settle down and have their own little Geneticons.
• The Alien dating agency is not that
  sophisticated. Pool your Geneticon females and
  pool your Geneticon males.
• Now select a random card from each pool. These
  are your happy couple.

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Making Geneticon Babies

• Take your Geneticon pair.
• What do you think their baby will look like?
• Whos eyes will it have? Whos body shape?
• This will be decided by the genes for those
  characteristics.
• Will it get its Mums or Dads gene?
• For every characteristic you will flip a coin
• Heads It will inherit Mums gene
• Tails It will inherit Dads gene
• The Geneticons have large families.
• Each couple have a minimum of 6 babies

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Mum
Dad
Babies
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Baby Competition

• The local Mayor of Genesville has decided to hold
  a
• baby competition. He cant decide whether to
  make it
• the Cutest or Ugliest. So hes holding both
• You may like to have regional heats within your
  groups
• Each group can enter one baby into each
  competition
• Make sure that your babies get entered for the
  right category! You never know your cute one
  might win the Ugly baby competition!
• Time to vote and announce a winner
• Congratulations or should it be commiserations?

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• You Have Created a Fine Set of Geneticon Families

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Alien Population Migration

• The Geneticons have been so successful at
  breeding that they are becoming overcrowded and
  the new generation are restless.
• A few intrepid explorers venture out and chart
  the whole of the planet. The stories of these
  beautiful far off places are tempting. It is
  time to move from the overcrowded Metropolis of
  Genesville.

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The Blue Yellow mountains where the sun shines
and there is not a cloud in the blue sky.
Chartered Regions of Geneticus

• The Green Red marshlands where the planets
  natural springs produce clear fresh water.

The Purple Black lowlands where the rocks are
hard and minerals are abundant.
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Migration- Where to?

• The Geneticons are very family orientated and
  will only migrate as a family unit of brothers
  and sisters. Say goodbye to the parents who
  remain in Genesville.
• For each family migrating you must roll the
  colours die.
• Blue or Yellow means migration to the Mountains
• Green or Red means migration to the Marshlands
• Purple or Black means migration to the Lowlands

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To Determine Your Geneticons Fate

• Look at your Geneticon Families and read
  carefully which characteristics are suited to the
  environment and which ones are not.
• Say goodbye to those who die and remove them from
  the game
• All others are survivors.
• Give a tick for each advantageous or ideal
  characteristic that your Geneticon survivors have.

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Migration Fate Card Blue
Yellow Mountains

• Body shape - The ideal body shape is round and
  compact Give them a tick. There is just one body
  shape that is unable to survive, Spiked. The
  surface area is too great and these poor
  Geneticons lose all their body heat and die in
  the night. Remove all family members with a
  spiked body.
• Movement The ideal way to travel in the
  mountains is by flying, skiing or using feet to
  climb. Give them all a tick.
• Wheels may prove difficult and half the
  Geneticons with wheels suffer a fatal accident.
  If they land on their head they die, if they land
  on their bottom they survive. Flip a coin to see
  if your Geneticons with wheels survive. If it
  lands on heads, it is curtains!
• You may think it is unfortunate to have wheels,
  but not as unfortunate as flippers. These poor
  creatures cannot climb at all, they are destined
  to die at the foot of the steep slopes. Remove
  all family members with flippers.

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Migration Fate Card Blue Yellow Mountains
- continued

• Eyes - To see over the craggy terrain, eyes on
  stalks are ideal. Give them a tick. However most
  eyes are suitable with one exception. So that
  the Geneticons can judge distance they need at
  least two eyes. Those poor individuals with just
  one eye keep falling off the Mountain and die.
  Remove all family members with just one eye.
• Noses - The ideal noses are those which blend in
  with the scenery, the blue and yellow noses are
  best. Give them both a tick. All the other noses
  are fine.
• Antennae - There are no problems with any of the
  antennae on the mountainside

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Migration Fate Card Green
Red Marshlands

• Body shape There is no ideal body shape here
  and most body shapes survive well. However, the
  Geneticons are a tasty delicacy for the Marshland
  water snakes and they particularly like the plump
  juicy ones. The round bodies are liked best and
  they are more likely to be eaten than any of the
  others. Flip a coin, if it is heads then they
  have just entered the snakes mouth. Remove them
  from the game. If it is tails, they have had a
  lucky escape.
• Movement The ideal way to travel in the wet
  marshlands is by flying, water skiing or swimming
  with flippers. Give them all a tick. While it is
  not ideal it is possible to swim with feet, but
  it is certainly not possible to swim with springs
  or wheels. These poor creatures cannot swim at
  all, they just flounder and drown. Remove all
  family members with wheels or springs.

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Migration Fate Card Green Red
Marshlands
- continued

• Eyes All eyes are acceptable in the Marshlands,
  but triple eyes may be advantageous, allowing the
  Geneticon to keep a lookout for those nasty water
  snakes. Give them a tick. Those individuals with
  just one eye are less likely to see the water
  snake creeping up and are going to be in more
  danger of being eaten. For all one-eyed
  Geneticons flip a coin. If it is heads they have
  just been swallowed by the snake. Remove these
  individuals from the game. If it is tails they
  have just escaped.
• Noses - The ideal noses are those which blend in
  with the scenery, the green and red noses are
  best. Give them both a tick. All the other noses
  are fine.
• Antennae - There are no problems with any of the
  antennae in the marshlands

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Migration Fate Card Purple
Black Lowlands

• Body shape There is no ideal body shape for
  this environment. Most body shapes survive well.
  But the heart shaped Geneticons find this
  environment tough and pine for their home city of
  Genesville. Half of these die of a broken heart.
  Flip a coin, if it is heads then they are ruled
  by their head and survive. If it is tails they
  are ruled by their heart and die. Remove these
  individuals from the game.
• Movement The ideal way to travel in the hard
  lowlands is by wheels and springs. Give them both
  a tick. It may be fine to fly but the problem is
  landing. Many of these creatures manage to land
  badly on the hard stone or even worse down a
  mineshaft. Flip a coin, if it is heads, they
  have landed badly and die. Remove these
  individuals from the game. If it is tails they
  have just bruised their bottom, a narrow escape.
  Skis are useless on this terrain. These
  Geneticons are unable to move and die where they
  stand. Remove all family members with skis.

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Migration Fate Card Purple Black
Lowlands
- continued

• Eyes All eyes are acceptable in the lowlands.
  But because of the dust from the mining it is
  advantageous to have lashes to keep the grit and
  dirt out. Give them a tick.
• Noses - The ideal noses are those which blend in
  with the scenery, the purple noses are best. Give
  them a tick. All the other noses are fine.

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Migration Fate Card Purple Black
Lowlands
- still continued

• Antennae Most antennae are fine in the
  lowlands. But, there is one problem with the
  cross shaped antennae. This region has a lot of
  birds but very few trees. This means that the
  birds will perch and nest almost anywhere.
  Unfortunately, the cross shaped antennae look
  like an ideal resting place to a bird. It is not
  just the inconvenience of walking around with a
  bird on your head there are serious health
  problems for these Geneticons. The birds can
  transmit a nasty disease called antennae rot, and
  if they do these Geneticons become infertile,
  unable to breed. Flip a coin for every Geneticon
  that has a cross shaped antennae. If it is heads
  then they have caught antennae rot and can have
  no children

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Migration Survival

• Were your Geneticons successful in their
  migration?
• How many did you lose because they were not
  suited to their surroundings?
• Make sure that these have been removed from the
  game
• Did you have many with ideal or advantageous
  characteristics?
• Did you have many with one tick?
• Did you have any with more than two ticks?
• You can stop at this stage and see who has the
  most survivors. Give five points for a survivor.
  Give two points for every ideal characteristic.
  Who has the most points? They are the winner of
  this level

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Migration The Next Generation

• The Geneticon Survivors have got used to their
  new home and now want to settle down, find a
  partner and have a family.
• Pool all of the surviving Geneticons for each
  region. Once you have paired your Geneticons
  using the rules on the next slide, divide the
  pairs between players to create the next
  generation.

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Migration The Next GenerationBreeding Rules

• The most desirable Geneticons are those that have
  ideal or advantageous characteristics for their
  environment. The ones with the most ticks These
  naturally stick together.
• Make piles of males and females with the same
  point value.
• Make pairs starting with the highest point values
  first.
• Any odd males or females get the first pick of
  the next point value down.
• Keep making pairs moving to the next value down
  and so on until you have paired all the males and
  females.
• Any remaining males or females that are not
  paired cannot have babies, discard these.

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Migration The Next GenerationMaking Alien
Babies

• You are now ready to create your next generation
  of Geneticons.
• Remember, for every feature you flip a coin
• Heads It will inherit Mums gene
• Tails It will inherit Dads gene
• What characteristics do this next generation of
  Geneticons have?
• What characteristics have been lost in your
  region?
• Have any characteristics become more common than
  before?

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You Have Created a Fine Set of Geneticon Families
Suited to Their New Environment