Academic Squabble
by Maria Baker and Ryan Baker

Academic Squabble: A card game for 2-4 players, ages 5 to Endowed Chair
Version 1.0

All images used for educational purposes, under fair use
We're not making any money from this.
We're happy to substitute out images or remove you from the game upon request. Just ask.
Feedback welcome.
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Download Cards Here

Rules

Setup. Cut out the cards. One scientist per card. Cut out pieces of posterboard the same size as the cards. Use a glue stick to glue the cards to posterboard, one card per piece of posterboard. Draw something on the back of the cards. Don't eat the glue. (This advice is for professors as well as children).

Start. Shuffle the deck. Each player is dealt eight cards that go into their hand. Unused cards are not part of the game.

Turn.

• If a player has no cards in their hand, but has a capture pile, the player picks up the capture pile and places it in their hand.
• The player picks one card to play and places it face down.
• When all players have played their cards, they all turn their cards face up.
• If anyone has played Thomas Kuhn, that player must yell "PARADIGM SHIFT". A paradigm shift begins; see instructions below.
• Otherwise: If all players have played a card with the same field, all players must yell "ACADEMIC SQUABBLE". An academic squabble begins; see instructions below. Fields are denoted by color and by the name of a scientific field. If a card has more than one scientific field, it can be treated as either. Example -- Arthur Graesser, Kurt Godel, and Alan Turing can have an academic squabble, because all three belong to "Team CS (Computer Science)"
• Otherwise: If any player has played a card with two nobel prizes, the card with two nobel prizes and the most citations wins. Nobel prizes look like medals, at the top left of the card. Citations are in the top-right corner -- "k" stands for "thousand".
• Otherwise: If any player has played a card with one nobel prize, the card with one nobel prize and the most citations wins.
• Otherwise: The card with the most citations wins.
• The player who wins places all cards played in their capture pile.
• In case of a tie, everyone retrieves the card they played and puts it on their own capture pile.
• If a player runs out of cards, the game is over for them.
• The game ends when one player has all cards in their hand or capture pile. That player has won the Academic Squabble!

Academic Squabble. In an academic squabble, all players play another card. The rules are as in a regular turn, including the situation where another academic squabble ensues (i.e. when all players have played a card with the same field). The winner takes all cards that have been played in the current hand and previous hand. In case of a tie, all players retrieve the cards they played in the current hand and previous hand. If one player runs out of cards during an Academic Squabble, the game is over for them.

Paradigm Shift. In a paradigm shift, all players play another card. During a paradigm shift, nobel prizes do not count, and the card with the lowest number of citations wins. In case of a tie, all players retrieve the cards they played in the current hand and previous hand. Academic squabbles can still occur during a paradigm shift. If an academic squabble occurs, the rules of the paradigm shift continue until one player wins a hand or a tie occurs. If one player runs out of cards during an Academic Squabble, the game is over for them.

Pro Tip. The game is probably more fun if you refer to your hand as your "university", your capture pile as your "faculty on sabbatical", and your cards as "scientists".

Pro Tip. If you're playing with your kids, talk about one scientist or field at the end of every game.

FAQ.

• Q: Why do you include [insert Scientist A here]? Why not [insert Scientist B here]?
  A: Feel free to make your own version of the game.
• Q: Why did you choose these specific fields?
  A: Feel free to make your own version of the game.
• Q: Should [insert Scientist A here] really be considered to be in [insert Field C here]?
  A: Feel free to make your own version of the game.
• Q: I like this game! How can I thank you?
  Hug a scientist you know. If you don't know any scientists, hug the most empirical person you know.

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