Game Review: Mad Scientist University

By J. Neil Edge
January 21, 2008

Publisher: Atlas Games
Designer: Zachary Anderson
Players: 3-7
Ages: 8+
Playing Time: 30-60 minutes
Rules Language: English
Price: $24.95

To preface this review of a neat idea of a little game, let me confess that when it comes to games that are not considered party games I am a theme whore. A full-fledged, street-walking, corner-working theme whore. I love a game with a theme, and even if the theme is kind of loosely applied I’ll still go out of my way to embrace the theme and play it up. For me, that’s part of the game itself even though no game mechanisms are put forth to support it. Hell, you should see me teach the game Himalaya; it was once medieval themed, but now I can sell the theme of that game of herding yaks, visiting Himalayans and meditating at stupas like no other!

With that said and out of the way, we come to the review at hand: Mad Scientist University, a card/party game from Atlas Games that first appeared in 2005. This is, as I was happy to see, a unique beast in that it’s a party game but with a fantastic theme that works into it quite well. This is something that I very much appreciate, and I applaud Atlas Games for picking up this little game and republishing it.

Mad Play...

Fundamentally, Mad Scientist University is a hybrid of the Atlas product Once Upon A Time and Apples to Apples. Atlas refers to it a storytelling game—and to a small extent it is—but game play moves along the lines of Apples to Apples as does scoring.

Inside the colorful and really quite keenly illustrated box you get a bunch of cards, and if you’ve ever seen the previously mentioned Once Upon A Time, you know exactly how many cards and how they are packaged. There are two card types: Insane Assignments and Unstable Elements.

The game play is easy to teach/learn and flows well. Each round an Insane Assignment is dealt to the table by the current round’s Teacher’s Assistant (TA), then every player is dealt a single Unstable Element card. As the TA sees fit, he calls on each student to explain how she will, to give one example, “fix everyone’s annoying habits” (the Insane Assignment) using her “beef jerky” (Unstable Element). The TA judges which response is best, rewards the Insane Assignment card to that budding genius, then the next player becomes the new TA. Everyone gets a new Unstable Element, and a new Insane Assignment is dealt to the table. You play to a pre-determined score or for a number of rounds, then the game ends. Simple, to the point, and if played with creative people, a good bit of fun.

...But Not Mad Enough

Ahhhh, yes, Atlas Games seems well known for great ideas, but the company has had varying success in the execution of those ideas. Such is the case with Mad Scientist University I’m afraid to report.

Fundamental problems arise in that there’s nothing here to force those who are less imaginative to actually try. The Unstable Elements are just a single thing or word, and in several rounds, a person won because he had the “Ninjas” Element and his appeal was, “Well, I’ve got ninjas, and they can do anything.”

Granted, the TA acts as sole judge on whether or not to reward said player—and sometimes pity points are issued for players who have yet to score—but that’s lame. This situation could be avoided by dealing each player two or three Unstable Elements and having them incorporate all of the Elements into their tale of how to accomplish the task. This change would force a bit of creativity from the quiet and dull while adding more fun to the game, but it would also add time and exacerbate my next issue:

Simply put, there aren’t enough cards. When Mad Scientist University first appeared in 2005 from Raiding Party Games, there was a base game of 250 cards along with 16—yes, you heard right—16 add-on course packets! If you owned them all, you could have expanded the playing requirements easily, but the Atlas Games’ version weighs in at 168 cards and you cycle through them quickly if you play the game with a large number of players. This isn’t necessarily a problem since creative people can always figure out a new and ingenious way to use a rubber chicken, but several at the table were disheartened to see repeated elements so quickly.

Mad Scientist University isn’t a horrible game, mind you. It did generate laughter and fun with different demographics of players and that alone is a huge plus for the game. That said, it’s unlikely to see frequent trips to the table since Once Upon A Time is a better storytelling game and Apples to Apples is a better object-collecting game. This hybrid has a cool theme, but that doesn’t rescue it for this theme whore, and I’m not planning on turning another trick with this one.

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