Need another small-ish card game to support your child’s chemistry studies? Ion (another Genius Games favorite!), with its unique gameplay, may be just the thing!
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Similar to Covalence, Valence, Compounded, and Periodic, players use a selection of elements to build molecules. Like in Valence, the charges of ions are used to help create a neutral molecule. Players can even collect and play noble gases independently. However, Ion differs dramatically in the gameplay.
Ion Utilizes “Pick-and-Pass” Gameplay
While playing Ion, all players are dealt a hand of 8 element cards. No other element cards are used in the game; the rest can be put away. Each player picks one card to play and passes the rest of their hand to the player on their left. This “pick and pass” gameplay makes planning and choosing which cards to play more challenging, as you don’t know what you will be able to choose from next.
Each player ends up choosing a total of 6 cards. Using the charges on the ions, only neutral molecules will score points. Additionally, 3 compound goal cards are used in each round. Players can score extra points for getting one of the listed molecules or more points by getting both listed molecules. Compound goal cards contain salts, bases, acids, noble gases, and neutralization reactions.
Included Elements
Elements included in Ion include the noble gases
- Helium (He)
- Neon (Ne)
- Argon (Ar)
and charged ions
- Hydrogen (H+)
- Sodium (Na+)
- Potassium (K+)
- Magnesium (Mg+2)
- Calcium (Ca+2)
- Hydroxide (OH-)
- Fluoride (F-)
- Chloride (Cl-)
Each element includes, in addition to the charge and symbol, the atomic number and mass. There is even a drawing representing the ion that appears to be accurate! (I’m no chemist, so can’t say for sure, but it’s easy enough to see that hydrogen has only a proton and helium has 2 protons and 2 neutrons.) The second edition has slightly different artwork, but still the same basic idea.
The Expansion Offers More Gameplay Options
In addition, there are expansion cards including transition metals, radioactive elements, and polyatomic ions. There are also action tiles:
- Select Two
- Take From Center
- RXN (Reaction)
We have not played with the expansion yet, but I love games that include different ways of playing. It’s like getting 2 games in 1!
In addition to learning about common molecules, players are also practicing risk assessment and positive/negative numbers. Overall, we love Ion. This smaller game is definitely staying in our collection for many years!