How to play the Supercytes card game
Supercytes game instructions and rules.
Now that you have the Supercytes resource, you’ll be keen to get started with the game, but please first review the “Getting Started” document in your resource pack, plan how you will use the resource with your class and get the pupils to take the student quiz before using any of the resource.
The standard game
The following interactive takes you through the standard game rules, step-by-step. For e-readers all the same instructions (and those for the Simplified and Advanced games) are also detailed separately below. The Supercytes game instructions are also included in your resource pack / download.
Set up
This game is designed to be played after watching the Supercytes cartoons.
This is a game for 2 - 6 players (ideally 4 players).
The object of the game is to win all your opponents’ cards.
- Separate the purple-backed “Treatment” cards from the pack.
- Remove the “Combine” cards from these (“Combine” cards are only for use in the ADVANCED game).
- Shuffle the remaining “Treatment” cards together (“Block” and “Boost” cards) and deal 3 of these cards face down to each player (or 2 cards when 5 or 6 players).
- Any remaining “Treatment” cards are not used in the game.
- Players may look at their “Treatment” cards and choose when to play them.
- Shuffle all the other blue-backed Supercytes cards
- Deal an equal number to each player, face down
Step 1 – Start of the round
Each player looks at the top card from their pile, without showing the other players.
This is the card-in-play for each player.
Step 2 – Choosing
The player to the dealer’s left is the first “Caller” and starts by choosing which category they think is the strongest for that card.
The Caller states their chosen category from their card-in-play (e.g. “Repair”), but does not say what cell type the card it is, nor what their score in that category is.
Top tip
Note that the highest number on the card may not be that card’s best chance of winning. Check the worksheets you completed when you watched the cartoons to see what that cell, but not others, is good at doing!
Step 3 – Treatments
Each of the other players look at their card-in-play, checking their score for the category chosen by the Caller, to see how strong their score is.
Starting with the player to the left of the Caller and rotating left, the players each state whether or not they want to play one (or more) of their “Treatment” cards:
- BOOST: add 6 points to your score
- BLOCK: all opponents lose 4 points.
To play a “Treatment” card the player must lay it face up in the centre.
This card cannot be used again.
The Caller cannot play a “Treatment” card, but any other player can.
If more than one “Treatment card” is played in the same round, the effects of all the boosts and blocks apply.
Step 4 – Stand-off
Once all players have decided whether or not to play a “Treatment” card, the “Standoff” occurs to find the winner of that round.
Starting with the Caller and rotating left, the players each lay their card-in-play face up on the table, reading out the name of the card (e.g. “Macrophage”) and their score in the category chosen by the Caller, adjusted for any “Treatment” cards played.
The player with the highest adjusted score in the chosen category wins all the cards-in-play and adds them face down to the bottom of their pile of cards.
The player winning that round is now the Caller and the game returns to Step 1 for the next round.
In the event of a draw, where more than one player has equal highest adjusted scores, all the cards-in-play are placed face down in the centre and also won by the player winning the next round. In that case the Caller remains the same for the next round.
Going out
When a player has lost all of their cards, they are out of the game.
Winning
To win, a player must either be the last one with cards, or the person with the most cards after an agreed time limit has been played.
Alternative versions
In addition to the standard game, there are two alternative versions: simplified and advanced.
Simplified rules
Set up
This game is designed to be played after watching the Supercytes cartoons.
This is a game for 2 - 6 players (ideally 4 players).
The object of the game is to win all your opponents’ cards.
- Remove all the purple-backed “Treatment” cards from the pack.
- These cards are not used in the SIMPLIFIED game.
- Shuffle all the blue-backed Supercytes cards.
- Deal an equal number to each player, face down.
Step 1 – Start of the round
Each player looks at the top card from their pile without showing the other players.
This is the card-in-play for each player.
Step 2 – Choosing
The player to the dealer’s left is the first “Caller” and starts by choosing the category they think is the strongest for that card.
The Caller lays their card-in-play face up on the table, reading out the name of the card (e.g. “Macrophage”), their chosen category (e.g. “Repair”), and their score in that category.
Top tip
Note that the highest number on the card may not be that card’s best chance of winning. Check the worksheets you completed when you watched the cartoons to see what that cell, but not others, is good at doing!
Step 3 – Stand-off
The “Standoff” occurs to nd the winner of that round. Following the Caller and rotating left, the players each lay their card-in-play face up on the table, reading out the name of their card (e.g. “Macrophage”), and their score in the category chosen by the Caller.
The player with the highest score in the chosen category wins all the cards-in-play and adds them face down to the bottom of their pile of cards.
The player winning that round is now the Caller and the game returns to Step 1 for the next round.
In the event of a draw, where more than one player has equal highest scores, all the cards-in-play are placed face down in the centre and also won by the player winning the next round. In that case the Caller remains the same for the next round.
Going out
When a player has lost all of their cards, they are out of the game.
Winning
To win, a player must either be the last one with cards, or the person with the most cards after an agreed time limit has been played.
Advanced rules
Set up
This game is designed to be played after watching the Supercytes cartoons.
This is a game for 2 - 6 players (ideally 4 players).
The object of the game is to win all your opponents’ cards.
- Separate and shuffle all the purple-backed “Treatment” cards together.
- Deal 4 of these cards face down to each player (only 2 or 3 cards each when there are 6 or 5 players respectively).
- Any remaining “Treatment” cards are not used in the game.
- Players may look at their “Treatment” cards and choose when to play them.
- Shuffle all the other blue-backed Supercytes cards.
- Deal an equal number to each player, face down.
Step 1 – Start of the round
Each player looks at the top card from their pile, without showing the other players.
This is the card-in-play for each player.
Step 2 – Choosing
The player to the dealer’s left is the first “Caller” and starts by choosing which category they think is the strongest for that card. The Caller states their chosen category from their card-in-play (e.g. “Repair”), but does not say what cell type the card it is, nor what their score in that category is.
Top tip
Note that the highest number on the card may not be that card’s best chance of winning. Check the worksheets you completed when you watched the cartoons to see what that cell, but not others, is good at doing!
Step 3 – Treatments
Each of the other players looks at their card-in-play, checking their score for the category chosen by the Caller, to see how strong their score is. Starting with the player to the left of the Caller and rotating left, the players then decide whether or not to play one (or more) of their “Treatment” cards:
- BOOST: add 6 points to your score.
- BLOCK: all opponents lose 4 points.
- COMBINE: combine 2 cards-in-play at once and add their scores together by stealing the card-in-play from any other player to add to yours (the other player then replaces their card with the next top card from their own pile).
To play a “Treatment” card the player must lay it face up in the centre.
This card cannot be used again (unless bought back – see below).
The Caller cannot play a “Treatment” card, but any other player can.
If more than one “Treatment card” is played in the same round, the effects of all the boosts and blocks apply.
Step 4 – Stand-off
Once all players have decided whether or not to play a “Treatment” card, the “Standoff” occurs to find the winner of that round.
Starting with the Caller and rotating left, the players each lay their card(s)-in-play face up on the table, reading out the name of the card(s) (e.g. “Macrophage”) and their score in the category chosen by the Caller, adjusted for any “Treatment” cards played.
The player with the highest adjusted score in the chosen category wins all the cards-in-play and adds them face down to the bottom of their pile of cards. The player winning that round is now the Caller and the game returns to Step 1 for the next round.
In the event of a draw, where more than one player has equal highest adjusted scores, all the cards-in-play are placed face down in the centre and also won by the player winning the next round. In that case the Caller remains the same for the next round.
Step 5 – Buy back
All the played “Treatment” cards in the centre are turned face down and shuffled. Starting with the new Caller, then rotating left, each player can decide whether they want to buy back one “Treatment” card.
This costs that player 3 cell cards (using the next 3 cards from the top of that player’s pile). These 3 cards are placed in the centre and won by the winner of the next round. The “Treatment” card bought back is selected from the used cards face down in the centre (no peeking!).
Going out
When a player has lost all of their cards, they are out of the game.
Winning
To win, a player must either be the last one with cards, or the person with the most cards after an agreed time limit has been played.