2. The Story of the “Cellular
Adventure”
It’s time to grow!!! Imagine you are a nerve signal, sent from the brain to each
cell in the body to initiate replication in that cell. Upon reaching the cell
membrane, you must enter the cell and navigate your way to the nucleus. On
your way, you will encounter several different cellular organelles and you
must be able to identify them (and their function) to know if they are to receive
your “replicate!” message. You will need to acquire energy in the form of
Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) in order to complete your mission and allow the
cell to begin replication. But watch out, some sneaky, sneaky viruses may
infiltrate your host cell if you are not adequately prepared for the trip! Fighting
these viruses will use up some of your ATP supply, so you will have to be careful
to have enough left once you reach the nucleus. If you don’t have adequate
energy once you reach the nucleus, you will have to acquire extra vitamins to
re-charge your supply and be able to complete your mission.
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3. Game Directions
The goal of the game is to provide a review of the parts of an animal cell and their function within the cell.
To play the game you have to have more than one, but no more than four, players. Each player will first roll
the dice to determine the playing order of the game.
1. Once the order has been decided, the first player will roll the dice again to see how many “spaces” in the
cytoplasm he/she can move.
2. If the player lands on an organelle, the player must first be able to identify the organelle. If the player is
correct, then he/she can “draw” a question card for that particular organelle by clicking on the organelle’s
button on the computer screen. If the player does not correctly identify the organelle, he/she must lose one
turn before answering a question card.
3. If the player can correctly answer the organelle question, the student receives five ATP points (ATP
point tallies must be recorded on the ATP/Virus Point Chart). The next player in order can then roll the dice
and start their turn. If the first player cannot answer the question correctly, they must accept two virus
points.
4. Players must make their way to the nucleus to initiate replication. On the way, they must only pass
through each organelle once (no back-tracking), unless they skipped that organelle on the first pass. While
following the path to the nucleus, if a player lands on an ATP space, they receive an extra three ATP
points.
5. If a player rolls a number on the dice that could take them past the next organelle on their path, they
have the option to skip that organelle. However, players must be warned that they have to have enough
ATP points once they reach the nucleus to initiate replication, and the way to receive the majority of ATP
points is to correctly answer organelle questions.
6. Upon reaching the nucleus, virus points are subtracted from ATP points. If the total is 19 – 30, then the
player wins. If the point total is 18 or less, then the player must click on a Vitamin card. If the vitamin
question is answered correctly, three ATP points are awarded. If this new total is still not enough points to
initiate replication, then the player must wait another turn and “draw” another medicine card.
To win the game you have to reach the nucleolus first and have enough ATP points to initiate replication.
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4. Game Preparation
• Game board: Print out slides 18 and 19, tape together to create a
unified cell game board.
• Point Chart: Print out slide 17 to allow players to keep a tally of their
acquired points.
• Game Pieces: Print out slide 5 and allow players to select and cut out
their game piece if desired. Other objects may also be used as game
pieces (paper clips, buttons, etc).
• Other Supplies: You will also need a dice and access to a computer to
play this game because the questions are accessible from the “Time to
Play…” screen within the PowerPoint presentation.
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7. Educational Objectives
• Audience
Students in grades 9 to 12, depending on the complexity of the questions that
the teacher wants to write/change.
• Subject Area
Students will be able to identify the parts of an animal cell and answer questions
pertaining to each organelle’s function within the cell.
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8. Time to Play
“Cellular Adventure!”
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Game Directions
Mitochondrion
Golgi
Apparatus
Endoplasmic
Reticulum
Ribosome
Centrosome
Membrane-bound
Organelle
(vacuole, peroxisome,
lysosome)
VITAMIN!