Subatomic: An Atom Building Game is officially my new favorite deck building game! If you don’t know what a deck builder is it is a game where you use cards to purchase more cards to build up your deck. The theme for Subatomic might turn some people off since its science based but I felt it made the game more interesting. I have become a huge fan of Genius Games and their goal to make science-based games fun. Players are building elements from subatomic particles to win the game. They begin the game with a small deck of up/down quarks and photons. Using these cards players purchase stronger cards by building protons, neutrons and electrons using the quarks and photons. Each turn, players draw a new hand of five cards and decide to either build up their atom to score points, or buy stronger cards for their deck. Eventually you will fill up your atoms to gain elements which give you victory points. With every element you gain, you get to place cubes that move you closer to ending the game. Plus you win victory points or additional card draws. The other kinds of cards you can purchase using energy are famous scientists that give you special abilities similar to Dominion’s cards.
I wish I had a chance to play this game in my High School Chemistry class. I would have memorized how many atoms make up elements like Helium. I highly suggest this game to game lovers, science lovers and schools everywhere. My favorite piece of this game is the atom board with the clear half spheres used to track the number of atoms in an element. The art, mechanics and theme are all great. I have zero complaints here.