A general overview of game play for the Human Gut Game.
| Start | Teams pick seven green bacteria cards and three red bacteria cards from the piles. They can be any species of bacteria. Students get familiar with the cards and record the number of each species and the total number of species on their handout. |
| Round 1 | Junk food: Students choose food cards to represent the junk foods or fast foods that they might eat. Bad bacteria will increase and good bacteria will decrease. Species diversity will decrease. |
| Round 2 | Life event: Students roll dice to figure out which life event happens to them. Diversity will decrease if they get a stress-related or antibiotic event. Diversity will increase if they get a stress-free or exercise-related event. |
| Round 3 | School day food: Students choose food cards to represent foods they would eat on a typical weekday. Bacteria will change depending on what they choose. |
| Round 4 | Life event: Students roll dice to figure out which life event happens to them. Diversity will decrease if they get a stress-related or antibiotic event. Diversity will increase if they get a stress-free or exercise-related event. |
| Round 5 | Improve diet: Students choose foods to improve their gut bacteria diversity. They should choose healthy, unprocessed foods. Side effects will improve. |
| Start | Teams pick seven green bacteria cards and three red bacteria cards from the piles. They can be any species of bacteria. Students get familiar with the cards and record the number of each species and the total number of species on their handout. |
| Round 1 | Junk food: Students choose food cards to represent the junk foods or fast foods that they might eat. Bad bacteria will increase and good bacteria will decrease. Species diversity will decrease. |
| Round 2 | Life event: Students roll dice to figure out which life event happens to them. Diversity will decrease if they get a stress-related or antibiotic event. Diversity will increase if they get a stress-free or exercise-related event. |
| Round 3 | School day food: Students choose food cards to represent foods they would eat on a typical weekday. Bacteria will change depending on what they choose. |
| Round 4 | Life event: Students roll dice to figure out which life event happens to them. Diversity will decrease if they get a stress-related or antibiotic event. Diversity will increase if they get a stress-free or exercise-related event. |
| Round 5 | Improve diet: Students choose foods to improve their gut bacteria diversity. They should choose healthy, unprocessed foods. Side effects will improve. |