Peptide A Protein Building Game

In Peptide, players compete to link amino acids side by side, building what's called a peptide chain (another fancy word for a protein).

In order to build this protein, players must first make a series of careful selections from a number of openly available organelle cards. Selected organelle cards are removed from the available options in that round, creating an interactive open card creation mechanism.

Each turn occurs in two phases: the organelle selection phase and the organelle resolution phase. Before the phases can begin, the organelle area must be filled with cards. In the organelle selection phase the players, starting with the person who has the first player's card, will take turns selecting the organelle cards which they will place face up in front of them. This continues until each player has selected two cards each, discarding any leftovers.

During this phase (and at any other time during the turn) players can also choose to perform one of three ATP actions. These actions are the following:

1. Pay 1 ATP token and discard the two face-up RNA cards in play and draw two new cards to replace them.
2. Pay 2 ATP tokens to reset organelle area. All organelle cards on the table are discarded and then an equal number of cards are drawn to replace them.
3. Pay 3 ATP tokens to make both selections at the same time.

Additionally, when selecting organelle cards, a player can choose to turn their selected card upside down and take an ATP token instead (they do not gain the benefit of that card by doing this) OR they can claim the first player card to have an advantage in later rounds.

In the organelle resolution phase, starting with the person who has the first player card, players will perform all their actions. The order of the actions does not matter, but each action must be completed in its entirety before the next one is performed. The first person to add an Amino Acid card to their Peptide chain will win the +3 Bonus card. The second is +2 and the third is +1. The game ends immediately when either player draws the "codon" card from the amino acid deck. At this point, each player will add up the total of the Amino Acid cards that were collected, but not turned over, and this total will be subtracted from the total of the Amino Acid cards that were turned over. Any bonus card value is added to this total. The player with the most victory points will be the winner.

Content:
• 29 organelle cards
• 36 RNA letters
• 26 amino acid letters
• 9 player cards
• 32 energy tokens
• 1 Regulation

Peptide is great for the science classroom or game night with family and friends. It's easy to learn, but exciting to master. All of the concepts covered in Covalence are concepts that can be found in a basic high school chemistry course, and it does so in a way that is fun and intuitive for everyone.

Scientific concepts: Translation of RNA into proteins, polypeptide chains, proteins, amino acids, vacuole, mitochondria, nucleus, ribosome, mRNA, tRNA, ATP.