Culture, the game

What the game simplifies

The game is a toy. Each part of it stands for something real, and each note says what it leaves out.

• How fast it grows

  A tub fills in minutes here. A real culture takes weeks, because a young springtail moults several times before it can breed. In a laboratory study of one common species, the first eggs came about 18 days after hatching at 21 °C70 °F.

  How long it takes

• Water

  The game dries a tub in minutes so you can watch it happen. A real culture dries far more slowly. The aim is the same. Keep it damp, never wet. Clay should leave a little on a finger, with no standing water.

  Keep clay damp, not wet

• Food

  Sellers agree on the amount. Give only what the springtails can eat before the food rots or moulds. The game works the same way. They disagree on how often, from every 2 or 3 days to about once a week.

  Feed lightly

• Mould and air

  In the game, ventilation holes cut mould. In a real culture, mould is usually from overfeeding, and the usual fix is to stop feeding until it clears. A small vent with fine mesh lets gas out without drying the culture. The game folds both into one upgrade.

  Mould in a culture

• Harvesting

  Litter has no real counterpart. It is a score for the animals you take. The limit is real. Sellers advise taking only half to two thirds of the springtails to start a new culture, and leaving the rest to keep breeding. Taking them all stalls the source culture.

  Split a culture

• Tubs

  The bigger tub holds three times as many animals. A real container can be too big, and one seller advises nothing over a 2.2 quart tub. Keepers expand by dividing a culture between containers, which is what the second tub stands for.

  Container sizeExpand from a master culture

• Time away

  The colony keeps growing while you are away, for up to eight hours, and nothing in it dies. A real culture needs checking. In the worst case, too much yeast can kill it by raising the carbon dioxide level.

  What to watch for

• The jump

  A tap makes them jump. Real springtails jump with the furca, a forked organ folded under the body. A small clasp holds it in place until the animal lets go.

  Furca in the glossary

The pacing is checked, not guessed. Each time the site is built, the game is played 300 times for each of nine kinds of player, from one who tends the tub closely to one who does nothing. The build fails if the pacing drifts.