Open Science Alliance
Creators: name: GHOST collective
name: Hofstra, Tycho
name: de Boer, Lieke
name: Bartholdy, Bjørn Peare
name: Kirsch, Stefan
name: van de Sandt, Stephanie
name: Vermaas, Meron
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025

description: Open Science Alliance




How to play


Objective: Collect the most research credits over 6 rounds.



Setup


Players start with:



2 red research credits counter cards (1 tens, 1 singles) set to zero

A research team, consisting of:



1 Discovery Driver (DD) (Level 2),

1 Specialist of choice (Level 0),

1 randomly drawn Role (Level 0).




Players place their research team face up on the table in front of them.

Shuffle Event and Role decks seperately. Draw six Event cards and place as a deck face down in the center of the table. The remaining Event cards are not used during this game. Place the Role card deck face down next to the Event card deck. Place the eight Resource counter cards in the center of the table.

Per round, resources are tracked by overlaying the four types of Resource counter cards so that the numbers that are showing match the resource levels on the Event card.

The four Resource types are FAIR data (green), open research software (purple), citizen science and societal engagement (yellow) and open scholarly publishing (blue)) so that the numbers that are showing match the resource levels on the Event card.



Gameplay (6 Rounds)


A new round starts by revealing an Event card and setting resource levels on the Resource Counter cards. All players should obey any additional restrictions imposed by that round’s Event card.

In the first round, the player who has had the longest research support staff title begins. Players continue to take turns clockwise.

The round ends when the resources of two types are depleted. The first turn passes clockwise after a round. Unused resources of previous rounds are discarded.



End of the game


After 6 rounds the player with most Research Credits wins.

During a turn, players get to



Upskill (1a) or Hire (1b) and

Collect resources




1a. Upskilling (choose ONE of the following three)




Increase one Role by 2 levels (turn 1 role card 180°)

Increase two Roles by 1 level each (turn 2 role cards 90°)

Increase Discovery Driver by 1 (turn 90°)


A card should be oriented such that its current level is the number furthest away from the player.

Max levels: Specialists/Generalists: 4, Discovery Driver: 6



1b. Hire


If not upskilling, hire a new team member: draw a card from the Role deck. New team members start at level 0.



2. Collect Resources


Players can collect resources once during their turn. When collecting resources, players slide the central resource counter cards down, and receive personal Research Credits equal to the total number of resources consumed (slide card up). They can choose to do this in one of two ways:



a. Independent Action


A single Specialist or Transparancy Champion can turn resources into Research Credits equal to their level:



Specialists can only collect resources of their type

Transparency Champions can collect up to 1 resource of each type




b. Discovery Driver Collaboration


Discovery Driver can’t collect resources themselves. Instead, they can invite other roles to collaborate. This allows each specialist in the collaboration to collect their own type of resource up to their respective level.

On top of that, one bonus resource is collected per invited collaborator. Specialists collect a collaboration bonus resource according to their type.

Rules for a successful collaboration



The combined levels of specialists and generalists in a collaboration must meet or exceed the level of the Discovery Driver (see example on the next rule card).

The total resources to be collected must be available in the shared resource pool of that round. This includes bonus resources. If not enough resources are available, the collaboration can not occur.

The total number of base research credits (before collaboration bonuses) collected as a result of the collaboration must not exceed the level of the DD. If the combined levels of the collaborators exceed the level of the DD, the player decides how many of each resource type they collect so that the level of the DD is matched.


Rules for generalists in collaborations



Transparency Champions collect up to 1 resource of each type.

Social Glue can include ONE other player’s specialist of choice in the collaboration on that turn. Social Glue does not collect its own resources. If the resources collected thanks to Social Glue exceed 1, the player passes 1 of that resource to the player who owns the specialist card.


The above is an example of a successful collaboration. The levels of the role cards (both at level 1, 1+1=2) equal the DD’s level (2).

In this example, the following Research Credits MUST be collectable:



1 open research software resource for the Code Conjurer

1 resource of choice for the Transparancy Champion.

Collaboration bonus points:



1 open research software resource for the Code Conjurer

1 resource of choice for the Transparancy Champion Total: player receives 4 Research Credits, open software resources go down by 2, 2 central resources of choice go down by 1.




The total Research Credits collected will be equal to DD level + 1 bonus point for each collaborator (excluding DD, including level 0 collaborators).



Inventory of cards


5 knowledge liberators 5 code conjurers 5 data wizards 5 public engagement gurus 5 Discovery Drivers 5 transparency champions 5 social glues 11 events 5 tens research credits 5 singles research credits 8 counting cards (2 of each type) 3 rules cards

total: 67 cards