Humans vs. Mosquitoes

HvM card game 2.0 to debut at Meaningful Play 2014!

lien — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 00:32:17 +0000

Get excited – there’s a new and improved version of Humans vs. Mosquitoes available on The Game Crafter site. Thanks to new printing options, we swapped the game box for a smaller (therefore cheaper to ship) and stronger one! We also updated the design of the cards for improved play.

Check out the new and improved design at: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/humans-vs-mosquitoes

And if you’re going to be at Meaningful Play 2014, come play HvM during the October 16 game exhibition! See you in East Lansing!

HvM is a hit at climate resiliency games workshop in Barbados

lien — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 00:09:50 +0000

Thanks to funding from Invoking the Pause, Lien Tran along with Clay Ewing was able to partner once again with the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and for the first time with Red Cross Caribbean Disaster Risk Management Reference Centre (CADRIM) on a workshop to introduce humanitarian workers, Red Cross volunteers, and scientists to climate change games. As part of the 2-day Let’s Adapt workshop held at the Barbados Red Cross, participants played 2 versions of Humans vs. Mosquitoes: first the gesture-based version followed by the visual card version. Both versions brought out the competitive sides of the participants while also allowing them to see how the same game can be adapted and “polished” for different contexts.

As dengue fever is a particular concern in Barbados as well as across the Caribbean islands, a group of participants spent the game design portion of the second day working on adapting HvM for the Caribbean context including different breeding grounds and adding climate change event cards. There are plans to continue development of this Caribbean edition of HvM and to eventually disseminate for use throughout the region by CADRIM and its partners.

For more information on the workshop, please visit: letsadapt.eventbrite.com

Check out some of the moments caught at the Let’s Adapt workshop!

HvM at University of Miami’s World Health Day

lien — Tue, 27 May 2014 23:57:31 +0000

The World Health Organization (WHO) dedicated its 2014 World Health Day (April 7) to concerns regarding vector-borne diseases including malaria and dengue. Experts from the University of Miami gathered on campus to talk about the risks and actions necessary to prevent individuals from these ‘small bites with big threats’.

Clay Ewing wrapped up this day-long event with a rousing game of Humans vs. Mosquitoes (the card game). The game was so well received that Dr. Sherri Porcelain, Ph.D, MPH, at UM is interested in bringing the game to Panama as part of her summer public health course that provides situated learning to public health students. Students will adapt Humans vs. Mosquitoes for use with the Kuna Indians in rural Panama. Stay tuned from notes from the field!

For more information about UM’s World Health Day, please visit: UM Experts Target the Small Bites and Big Threats Posed by Mosquitos (April 2014)

Professor Clayton Ewing leads participants in a game of Humans vs. Mosquitoes at UM’s World Health Day 2014 event

HvM takes on the west coast at Come Out and Play San Francisco 2012!

lien — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:44:33 +0000

Humans vs. Mosquitoes took the Gene Friend Recreation Center by storm at the second annual Come Out and Play San Francisco Festival December 1-2, 2012. The rainy conditions during the festival weekend required the game to move inside, but the COAP SF organizers did a great job of setting us up with a large open space in the rec center gym. We ran 3 sessions of the game with 10+ players each session including locals from San Francisco and gamers from around the country. We also unveiled the official card game version at the Come Out and Play San Francisco game exhibition at SOMA Arts.

The game was led by HvM designers Lien Tran and Eulani Labay with the assistance of Amy Findeiss and Kelly Tierney. Take a look at some awesome action shots thanks to Ida Benedetto.

HvM Card Game Released

Clay Ewing — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 18:08:22 +0000

Building on the rules from the facilitated table top version played at COP-17, we published a card game version. Clay and Lien put the game together with illustration help from Julia Smart. The game was exhibited at SOMA Arts as part of Come Out and Play San Francisco. It’s available at The GameCrafter for $20.

Photos from DC Games Festival (Sept 1, 2012)

lien — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 15:55:45 +0000

Team members Lien and Clay ran Humans vs. Mosquitoes at this year’s DC Games Festival held in West Potomac Park (just south of Lincoln Memorial and west of MLK Memorial). It was a pretty nice backdrop with the Washington Monument peaking out from behind the trees, and we even got a wave from Air Force One (it felt like it was within arm’s reach). I guess Obama – or at least his crew – approves of HvM! It was a pretty hot and sunny day (felt like almost 100 degrees) so we are very appreciative of all the players who came out and ran like determined humans and mosquitoes. You’ll see Adam from Obscure Games got so into the game that he literally passed out in the grass when the game was over!

In this version of the game, the mosquito breeding grounds are actually blue and red disposable tablecloths pinned down with plastic yellow tent stakes. We also added some equipment for ease of play to represent human “health” and mosquito “eggs”. Like all previous version of the game, the humans are trying to remove eggs (represented with tennis balls which are easy to see) from the breeding grounds without getting bitten. Each human must wear a flag football belt with just 1 flag, which represents that he has some health left. If a mosquito grabs a human’s flag then that human must sit the rest of the round out (each round is 30 seconds). Each human must have at least 1 remaining unit of health to play in the next round (a Human team referee monitors human health levels). The mosquitoes are trying to deplete the humans’ health by “biting” them or are trying to strengthen their team by laying eggs in the breeding grounds. In each round a mosquito can either bite or lay but not both. If a mosquito wants to lay an egg, he or she must hold an egg and then stand on the breeding ground where he or she wants to lay the egg until the end of the round. After that the egg is laid and it’s fair game for the humans to try and remove it!

Everyone had a lot of fun playing HvM and we had a great time running it! Thanks DC Games for having us!

Humans vs. Mosquitoes at DC Games Festival 2012 from Lien Tran on Vimeo.

HvM Comes to Washington DC September 1st

Clay Ewing — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 21:57:11 +0000

Are you going to be in the DC area on September 1st? Drop by Potomac Park West and join us at DC Games, where we’ll be playing the field version of Humans vs. Mosquitoes.

HvM at WWF

Clay Ewing — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 15:29:58 +0000

Humans vs. Mosquitoes at WWF-US

Humans vs. Mosquitoes made an appearance at the WWF … yes at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington D.C. as part of a day dedicated to “Adaptation Games” and aiming to educate people about climate change and its impacts. Erin Coughlan, a representative from the Red Cross Red Crescent Center led the HvM session at WWF. To read more about “Adaptation Games” at WWF-US see the write up here.

Lauren Graham on Games and Combating Malaria

Clay Ewing — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 22:03:36 +0000

A boy from Manda Island in Kenya holds red glass beads used to play Humans vs. Mosquitoes. Photo: Lauren Graham

Team member Lauren Graham brought Humans vs. Mosquitoes to Kenya this summer through a climate risk management START grant. Her research was featured in AlertNet. You can read the full article here.

“Mosquito! Mosquito!

Catch it! Catch it!

Confuse it!

Shake it! Shake it again!

Kill it!”

Hello, Vietnam!

Clay Ewing — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 21:47:36 +0000

Pablo Suarez and Janot Mendler de Suarez decided to try the tabletop version of our game at Hanoi University of Science and Technology in Vietnam. The game was used to create a discussion about climate change. Perhaps next time we’ll get all 250 people in that auditorium to run around and play the field version!