Tested Studies for Laboratory Teaching
Proceedings of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education
Vol. 35, 53-56, 2014

Gene Rummy: A Card Game About Mendelian Genetics
Katrin Becker
Mount Royal University, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, 4825 Mount
Royal Gate SW, Calgary AB T3E 6K6 CAN
(kbecker@mtroyal.ca)
Many people struggle with the fundamental concepts underlying Mendelian genetics. The classic examples are
fine, but additional resources can be helpful. Here’s a visual way to learn the jargon and the basic principles of
Mendelian inheritance while playing a fast-paced card game using rabbit coat color genetics. Coat color in rabbits
demonstrates dominance/recessive traits, differences in pheno- vs genotypes, epistatis, and multiple alleles - all
of which blend together to form the color we see. This workshop is a demonstration of our prototype card game
and participants will have an opportunity to examine the cards, see how the games are played, and try a few hands
themselves.

Firstpage

Keywords: Mendelian genetics, genotype, phenotype

Introduction
Many people struggle with the fundamental concepts
underlying Mendelian genetics(Lewis & Kattmann, 2004;
Richards, 1996). As soon as we involve more than two traits,
things get complicated! The classic examples such as blood
types and fruit flies (Drosophila) are fine, but additional resources can be useful in helping students understand the fundamental concepts. The approach introduced in this workshop provides a visual way to learn the jargon and the basic
principles of Mendelian inheritance while playing a fastpaced card game using rabbit coat color genetics. Domestic
rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) are popular small livestockraised both commercially (meat & fur) and as a hobby, and
as a result considerable effort has been put into identifying
and understanding the genes that have a major influence
on coat color. Coat color in domestic rabbits demonstrates
typical dominant and recessive traits as well as partial dominance. It also demonstrates differences in phenotypes and
genotypes, epistasis, and includes several gene series that
contain multiple alleles - all of which blend together to form
the color we see in the coat.
Gene Rummy consists of a set of 56 - 78 cards (depending on which variant is used) and uses a form of gameplay
that is a variation of Gin Rummy. The workshop that was
presented was a demonstration of the prototype card game
and participants had an opportunity to examine the cards,
see how the games are played, and try a few hands for themselves.

© 2014 by Katrin Becker

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Materials
The game cards are in production and hopefully will be
available sometime later this year. Please contact the author
if you are interested in purchasing Gene Rummy.

Notes for the Instructor
This game is intended to be played as “open hands” where
all players get to see each other’s cards during gameplay.
Once the players are familiar with the game (which normally
takes 15-20 minutes), rounds typically take 5-10 minutes
to complete, with another 5-10 minutes taken to tally the
score. The game can be used in a single class period or it can
be used in multiple sessions, either consecutively or interspersed with other classes and activities.
Briefly, gin rummy involves players attempting to build
sets of cards according to specific criteria, and then placing
those cards that meet the criteria on the table. The main objective of the game is to be the first player to lay down all of
their cards. In Gene Rummy, the goal is to build sets of cards
that could represent a viable breeding. In other words, identify two parents whose known color genotype could have
produced the rabbit chosen as the offspring.
Three variants of the card game exist:

1. Novice: This set includes only the B- and D-series
of alleles (see Fig. 2) and consists of 7 identical copies of each of the four major shades as males and females, for a total of 56 cards. This version is intended
to be used when first introducing the game, or with
learners who are just beginning to study Mendelian
genetics. Gameplay for this variation is the same as
for Production except that the scoring is different.
2. Production: This set includes 36 cards showing distinct genotypes in each sex as well as 2 male and 2
female albino genotypes for a total of 78 cards. During play, once 8 cards have been dealt, the gameplay
for this variant consists of picking a rabbit from the
Gene Pool(stock pile of cards) and trying to find two
parents (one male and one female) from the player’s
hand who could produce this color. If the player succeeds, she lays her cards on the table, and discards
an additional rabbit from her hand to the Retirement
Pile.
3. Families: This variant is the most complex and here
the goal is to attempt to form families from the rabbits
in the player’s hands by choosing a sire and dam and
up to four babies that this mating could produce.

Figure 1. This figure shows each of the major shades (black, chocolate, blue, and lilac) along with the
albino. The P in the top left indicates that these are from the production set (as opposed to the novice
set). The name at the top is the commonly accepted name for the phenotype, while the term below
the image is the commonly accepted genotype name. The table shows the four gene series used in the
game. The top row shows the known alleles for this genotype, and the codes below the genotype list all
possible alleles for that series. A dash (-) in the genotype indicates that the allele is unknown, and the
alleles shown in the column below that pair indicate which alleles are possible, in decreasing order of
dominance. Those shown in grey are not possible choices for this genotype.

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Tested Studies for Laboratory Teaching

Mini Workshop: Game About Mendelian Genetics

While a portion of the instructional goals are met by playing the game, additional concepts can be reinforced through
the manner in which the game is scored. The score in all games
is tallied by assigning a point value to each of the possible alleles, with the most dominant alleles having the lowest point
values and the most recessive alleles having the highest point
values. In the Novice game a dominant allele earns 5 points
and a recessive earns 10 points. Further, it is often the case
that unknown alleles in either the parents or the offspring can
be determined once the “mating” is complete. For example, if
a black buck (male) having a genotype of B- D- is paired with
a black doe (female) and they produce a lilac offspring, which
has a genotype of bb dd, then it is possible to resolve the unknown alleles in both parents, as the only way they could have
produced the lilac kit would have been if both parents had the
genotype Bb Dd.
Since four gene series are used in the Production game,
there are many more alleles to consider, and the point allocation is different. Dominant alleles are worth 1 point, and then
each successive allele is worth double the points. For example
the C-series consists of the following four alleles (there are,
in fact, five known alleles in this series but one was omitted
as it does not yield sufficiently visually distinct phenotypes,
thereby eliminating the visual cues that are instrumental to

the learning aspect of this game.): C (full color), cchd(dark
chinchilla), ch (himalayan), c (albino), and so points would
be allocated as follows: C = 1 pt, cchd= 2 pts, ch =4 pts, c = 8
pts.
Both the color genetics and the scoring rules are fairly
complex, making this game unsuitable for students who
have just begun to learn about Mendelian genetics and inheritance. However, for students who are already familiar
with the basic principles, this game has potential for helping
to consolidate those basic principles as well as providing a
more complex example using an organism that most students
find appealing according to the in-class testing conducted by
the author. The fact that the cards depict real rabbits helps to
add a level of realism and to remind students that the principles being learned are not merely theoretical.
The game cards are in production and hopefully will be
available sometime later this year. Please contact the author
if you are interested in purchasing a set of Gene Rummy.

Figure 2. This figure shows the four shades used in the Novice set. It also includes a corresponding set
of female cards (not shown).

Proceedings of the Association for Biology Laboratory Education, Volume 35, 2014

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Acknowledgments

About the Author

The author wishes to acknowledge the guidance and support of Dr. Carrie Heeter and Patrick Shaw from Michigan
State University. They provided detailed reviews of the early
designs of the game and guidance on methodologies for testing it in the early stages. The author also wishes to acknowledge the support of the Faculty of Science and Technology at
Mount Royal University during various testing phases, and in
particular, Dr. Todd Nickle, who provided invaluable subject
matter expertise as well as enthusiastic support.

Katrin Becker is an award winning, internationally known
expert in the design and analysis of Serious Games. With
over 30 years of teaching experience in Science, Engineering, Education, and Art, she has taught computer science,
video game design, digital game-based learning, and technical writing. Her teaching innovations have been internationally recognized and she is widely published in the areas
of computer science education, educational technology, and
digital game based learning, including a book on simulations
and games for non-technical people. She designs and develops eLearning in all sectors, and has consulted for various
organizations on the use of digital games for instructional
purposes. She has designed and developed numerous educational and advertising games.
Finally, she runs a small farm where she has been raising
waterfowl and other animals for over twenty years. This farm
forms the basis for her Ducks in the Classroom program,
which provided eggs for hatching in classrooms locally from
1988-2011, and still provides information on school hatching projects globally. It is what keeps her grounded, and what
accounts for the occasional bit of dreck on her shoe.

Literature Cited
Lewis, J. and U. Kattmann. 2004. Traits, genes, particles
and information: re-visiting students’ understandings of
genetics. International Journal of Science Education,
26(2): 195-206. doi: 10.1080/0950069032000072782.
Richards, M. 1996. Lay and professional knowledge of genetics and inheritance. Public Understanding of Science
5(3): 217-230. doi: 10.1088/0963-6625/5/3/003.

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Citing This Article
Becker, K. 2014. Gene Rummy: A Card Game About Mendelian Genetics. Pages 53-56, in Tested Studies for Laboratory
Teaching, Volume 35 (K. McMahon, Editor). Proceedings of the 35th Conference of the Association for Biology Laboratory
Education (ABLE), 199 pages. http://www.ableweb.org/volumes/vol-35/v35reprint.php?ch=21
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Tested Studies for Laboratory Teaching