Ahead of Antibiotic Awareness week (16-22 November) a microbiologist from the University of Glasgow has released a digital game to educate school pupils on antibiotic resistance and bacteria.

Microbiology PhD student Carla Brown teamed up with Future Fossil Studios to create an educational bacteria battle game titled Bacteria Combat. In this thrilling digital card game, players challenge Bacteria Bot using their unique card deck. Card decks are comprised of health boosting bacteria, harmful bacteria and shiny joker cards including Antibiotic cards! Every card in the game is based on science research carried out by microbiologists at University of Glasgow and Strathclyde University.

The game is aimed at ages 9-14 and is played in the style of Top Trumps and Pokemon. Through interactive game play, Bacteria Combat teaches players about different types of bacteria, antibiotic resistant bacteria and also gives great insight into the microbes that live on and inside our bodies! The first version Bacteria Combat Lite was launched online last week and is ready for testing!

Bacteria Combat Lite is free to download from Google Play:

And also free from the App store:

Brown believes that science games will play an important role in changing public perceptions on important health issues. However, we need to perform extensive audience testing to ensure utilised games are both educational and engaging!

The multiplayer version of Bacteria Combat is currently under development and will be available February 2016. However, we want to hear your feedback. Is there anything you would add / change to Bacteria Combat? Would you play the multiplayer version with friends?

Carla hopes to introduce Bacteria Combat into school classrooms across Scotland in order to raise an ‘antibiotic aware’ generation.

Carla Brown can be contacted on C.brown.4@research.gla.ac.uk