Chemistry-style fun and games
Chemistry-style fun and games
Chemistry-style fun and games
By Alex Scott
August 02, 2020
Summary
Zach Thammavongsy, a postdoctoral fellow studying inorganic chemistry at California's Chapman University, is gaming the chemistry education system.
Rather, this pedagogical pragmatist is fast becoming one of the most prolific creators of educational chemistry board and card games for everyone from college students to five-year-olds.
Thammavongsy set up his chemistry game company, d-Orbital Games, so named after the orbitals of transition metals that are most involved in chemical reactions, in 2017, after raising $800 from a crowdfunding initiative.
D-Orbital has gone on to create six games, including Rare Earth Elements, Slap Count, and Tar Project.
The company's most popular product is 18 Electron Rule, a card game designed to help inorganic chemistry students with their valence electron counting for a metal complex.
Chemistry gaming enthusiasts-usually teachers-can either download a PDF of the game and print out the cards for free or pay $14.99 for a professionally produced pack of cards.
As with most of d-Orbital's games, 18 Electron Rule came about because Thammavongsy noticed his students were struggling in an area of learning.
"In developing the game, I talked to a lot of colleagues and my PhD adviser on how to design it," Thammavongsy says.
When Thammavongsy isn't teaching or running a reaction in his lab-he was synthesizing a silicon catalyst when Newscripts called-you might just find him cooking up an idea for his next chemistry game.
More than 3,000 chemistry gaming enthusiasts from 84 countries visited d-Orbital's website between July 2018 and early 2020.
Reference
Scott, A. (2020, August 2). Chemistry-style fun and games. Retrieved August 07, 2020, from https://cen.acs.org/education/Chemistry-style-fun-games/98/i30