Periodic
- Board's Eye View
- Sep 10
- 2 min read
Game designers John Coveyou and Paul Salomon, and publishers Genius Games, have carved out something of a niche of board games with a scientific theme. Their games are educational but some, like Genotype, Cellulose and Cytosis, can seem prohibitively complex at the outset, which can sometimes be a barrier to new players. Not so with Periodic. This is a set collection game with simple rules and mechanics, so it's easy to play, but it's a game where you're bound to leave the table knowing much more about the periodic table and the elements than you did before you sat down.
The game is played on a board that represents the periodic table. It shows each of the elements, their symbols, atomic numbers and weights. You won't really need to make use of much or any of this information in order to play the game but you're likely to absorb some of it as an incidental effect of playing. Above the board there will be cards showing various groupings of two or three elements, including the reason why they are grouped together; again, you don't need to know for the purposes of the game why they are linked or share a characteristic but playing the game will likely embed those details in your mind.
Players each have a beaker marker on the board, and below the board are cards that give you a direction of movement for your beaker. These will each start off with an energy token on them. On your turn you simply choose one of these cards and either take the energy on the card and move your beaker accordingly, or you pay energy to use two or more of the cards. When, on completing a move, your beaker is on an element shown on one of the cards in the display, you place a cube on that card to show you've collected that element. The first player to collect in this way all the elements on a grouping card gets to take that card for its points value, along with a bonus token. This means it's a race to complete each card but this isn't a game of cutthroat competition: tho' it's certainly better to win the card and bonus token, anyone with their cube also on the card will at least earn points for their efforts.
In addition to the choice of direction and the decision over when best to collect and when to spend energy, there's a rondel, movement around which also earns players points.
In terms of game play, Periodic combines racing, set collection and puzzle optimisation as you work out the best combinations of movements to navigate your way across the periodic table. It doesn't force you to learn anything - you could play the game successfully in complete ignorance of the elements and their groupings - but it's a fun easy-to-play game that you'll find is incidentally educational.
