How to play
Introduction
Welcome, farmers! You have a gardening challenge today – to grow plants with specific colors of flowers in your garden. For this, you need to learn about genetics so you can figure out which plants to breed to get the flowers that you want. First, learn the basics of genetics in the training garden. Then, put your skill to the test in the garden game, and finally, test your knowledge in the garden genetics quiz. Earn points by solving challenges, collecting flowers, and answering quiz questions. Try to get the highest possible score!
Starting a new game
When you first begin a new game, you have the option of entering a name which will appear on your score summary with your final score. This is the only place you can enter your name, and you cannot edit it later. You can only save one game at a time, so starting a new game will delete all your previous game data.
When starting a new game, you'll also have the option to take the pre-quiz for an additional 50 bonus points. The pre-quiz isn't graded, so don't worry if you don't know the answer to something yet – just do your best.
Training garden
The training garden has four sections to help you learn more about genetics.
The Punnett square training area will teach you how to set up and solve Punnett squares one step at a time. You can learn how to solve the different steps of a Punnett square in order, or skip ahead to a specific section using the submenu links at the top of the page.
The other three sections will give you the chance to practice breeding flowers in your garden. Each focuses on a specific type of inheritance (complete dominance, incomplete dominance, codominance, or mutations with lethal alleles) and offers limited flowers to choose from. To read more about the different kinds of inheritance, visit the introduction.
Garden game
In this section, you can solve challenges to create specific kinds of plants in your garden. In the game menu, you can choose what type of inheritance challenges you'd like to try to solve. You can solve challenges one type at a time, or select multiple challenge types at the same time for an extra challenge! If you select multiple challenge types at once, the same question may show up more than once.
Solving challenges
Once you've made your selection, you'll be taken to your garden. A challenge will appear near the top of the page. Select and breed plants to meet the challenge goal. Once this is done correctly, you'll receive a message that says "Challenge solved!". Scroll back up to the top of the page and click the "Next challenge" link to see the next challenge.
You will receive 10 points for every challenge solved. If you solve all challenges in a category, you will receive a special badge and an extra 100 points. Try to solve all the challenges!
Collecting flowers
When you select a type of challenge, two starter flowers will be added to your flower collection. But, you'll need to find and collect flowers with other genotypes to solve all the challenges. To add flowers to your collection, click on the flowers in your garden. If you find a flower with a genotype you don't already have, a message will appear and the flower will automatically be added to your flower collection.
You will receive 10 points for every type of flower in your flower collection. There are 14 possible flower types to find. Try to collect them all!
Sandbox
If you want to play with the garden as a sandbox that has multiple flower types, select the challenge types you want on the game menu page. Then, simply ignore the challenges that appear near the top of the page, and experiment with breeding different kinds of flowers on your own instead. Make sure to check out the garden stats at the bottom to see what interesting combinations of garden flowers you're creating.
Garden genetics quiz
Each quiz is six questions long. You will receive ten points at the end of the quiz for every question you answer correctly. You can take the quiz 5 times, and will earn additional points every time. Quiz questions are selected at random, so take the quiz multiple times to see new questions!
How to use your garden
You will be using your garden in the training garden sections and the garden game. This page lets you select and breed parent plants to see what the offspring will be.
To change one of the parent plants, click on one of the parents to open the flower collection, then click on the new flower you'd like to use.
Once you've chosen two parents, click the “Breed parent plants” button to see the results in your garden. Make sure to click on the plants in your garden to view more information about them, such as their genotypes. Sometimes, two plants appear to be the same, but actually have different genotypes.
Below your garden is the garden stats section. Here you can see the Punnett square, genotype outcome, and phenotype outcome for the flowers in your garden. This section also provides additional information on some special situations you might see in your garden, such as dead plants from lethal alleles or mutations.
Score summary
Your score will appear in the score summary, which will appear at the bottom of the page on the game menu page, garden game page, and at the end of the quiz. Your total score includes points earned from multiple areas. The maximum score possible is 1,390. Try to get the highest score possible!
Point breakdown
- Pre quiz: 50 bonus points possible.
- Garden game: 1040 points possible.
- Challenges solved: 500 points possible. 10 points per challenge solved.
- Flowers found: 140 points possible. 10 points per flower found.
- Badges earned: 400 points possible. 100 points per badge earned. You get a badge by completing all challenges of one type in the garden game.
- Quiz: 300 points possible. 10 points per question answered correctly. You can take the quiz up to five times.
Buttons
- Read basic instructions
- Turn the sound off or back on
- Return to the main menu