The first acquaintance with Mr. black and mr. White is quite intimidating. Armed with gas masks, a lab coat and sterile gloves, they greet their guest in the lunch room of PLNT, a multi-tenant building for young start-up companies in the center of Leiden.
But when the masks go off, two friendly young men emerge, each with a full beard and overflowing with enthusiasm. Rafael Jezior (29) and Dennis de Beeld (24) are master’s students of life science & technology at Leiden University and together they have developed the board game ImmunoWars. Their imposing alter egos are part of the game about infectious diseases and medicines against them. It was published in March, but it was preceded by more than two years of preparation. “We spent a total of about 6,000 hours on the game together,” Dennis says.
How did you come up with the idea to make such a game?
Dennis: “In 2019 we did our bachelor’s degree at the university here, with the same study for which we are now doing the master’s. It is about cells, microbiology, DNA and a little pharmacy. We both love gaming, and over a beer we thought we wanted to play a game related to the study, in which immune systems battle infectious diseases. But that didn’t exist yet, so we thought: let’s make it ourselves. In a short time we had already come up with a lot of map ideas with diseases: tuberculosis, polio, HIV. We cut paper cards and drew with pencil, and then we tested it to see if it worked.
“A little later we also had a mystery virus I made a card with the idea: a new disease will probably appear somewhere. Then you already have a card that can be anything. And a short time later, a really mysterious virus emerged in Wuhan.”
Rafael: “Depending on who you ask, we have predicted or caused the corona pandemic. mr. Black wants to infect the whole world and Mr. White wants to prevent that.”
People didn’t understand what a virus was, what a vaccine was
Dennis de Beeld
Has the corona pandemic and the monkey pox outbreak increased interest in your game?
Rafael: „It is very silly to say, but this has been a happy accident for us. At once, the whole world is working on the concept of a virus, something that people almost never thought about before. So that has indeed made our story easier to tell.”
But there are also people who just don’t want to know anything about it, right?
Dennis: “Later, when we noticed with corona that there was a lot of resistance to corona measures – people did not understand what a virus was, what a vaccine meant – we thought: maybe we can really make a good impact by using this game with very manageable scientific research. disseminate information to people.
Rafael: “Yes, that distrust has been turned upside down in recent years, partly due to covid. One of the big reasons that this can keep breeding in your head is ignorance. That leads to fear, fear leads to mistrust and mistrust leads to resistance. You can try to counter the resistance with logical arguments, but then you are really only fighting symptoms. So we decided – while we were developing the game anyway – to focus a little more on the scientific content, to be able to pull out all the ignorance at the root.
“For years we have told friends of ours about our study, which went in one ear and out the other. However, we only had to play one game of ImmunoWars and suddenly they started calling terms, they recognized cells and knew what they were doing.”
Most people are completely unaware of what is happening at all
Rafael Jezior
How does the game work? What is the goal?
Dennis: “As you can see, there are cards of all kinds of dangerous infectious diseases in the box. Here, for example, you have a map of triple E, a disease that few people know about. It stands for eastern equine encephalitis. The card shows how difficult it is to heal. In this case super difficult, you can’t actually get away from this. The contagiousness is indicated with another symbol, here: not contagious.
“What most games are all about: find the weakest link and kill him, in ImmunoWars the weakest link can have Ebola. If you get too close to that, you can also get Ebola yourself. So you also have to think strategically, do I still want to kick that person to kill him?”
“ImmunoWars is about learning what diseases exist and what you can do about them. It also contains techniques that are actually very new, such as 3D-printed personalized medicines, which contain exactly the right amount of medicine, so that you get fewer side effects.”
How do you get new information?
Dennis: “During the lectures we wrote down a lot of things, each time with the idea: we can make a map of this. And so we try to keep up with the scientific sector. And of course we also read popular science magazines like New Scientist and C2W where sometimes very cool articles come in. And they do it in a very accessible way.”
Rafael: “Most people are completely unaware of what is happening at all and what the latest developments are. The knowledge is also very inaccessible, scientific publications are unreadable for the average person. We want to offer it playfully, in a dynamic way to a very large audience.
“We put a layer of storytelling on top of that from Mr. black vs mr. White, bioweapons versus drugs. Through entertainment we can appeal to a larger group than just scientists. This way we can connect the serious sector and the fun sector.”
We can only carry out our mission well if the public trusts us
Rafael Jezior
You had an immunology exam yesterday, that shouldn’t have been a problem for you, right?
Rafael: „In the end it went reasonably well under the circumstances. It was tough, slept a little badly before, but in the end it ended well. Good enough.”
Dennis: “Yes, you fought to the end! But the questions in the exam were about cancer vaccines. It would be fantastic if there was such a cancer vaccine, then we could make a map of it. Because with our game we want to communicate all the latest innovations, medicines, vaccines and infectious diseases.”
Rafael: “Yes, that’s the beauty. Science is running at full speed and is constantly coming up with new discoveries and innovative solutions. We can do that right away gamify.”
How do you guarantee that you provide objective information?
Dennis: “Good question. we don’t do it sponsored or branded. So let’s say Pfizer has a new vaccine and wants it in the game, then we don’t. We just want to be educational.”
Rafael: „No, we are not a billboard. It’s very simple, we can only carry out our mission well if the public trusts us. That’s why it’s best for everyone if we can keep that layer of authenticity in there.”
I also have a six month old baby next to it, so it’s very hard work
Dennis de Beeld
Making such a game is quite expensive, how did you do that?
Rafael: “Part of it is own input and last summer we also held a crowdfunding campaign. It went well; we have achieved 140 percent of our target. There were also a number of companies that liked what we did and, for example, already ordered fifty games in advance. They paid up front, so we already had some money to produce some prototypes and do some market research.”
Dennis: „We are also participating in a collaboration between the LUMC and Rabobank and this building, PLNT. They offer small start-ups and enterprising students who have almost or recently graduated a very soft loan. Then you at least have a little liquidity, and that’s why we were able to realize the first edition of the game. That is why we also had to set up a company, the proceeds had to be deposited somewhere and the loan had to be in someone’s name. So yes, you can still do that in addition to your student debt.”
Are you already making some money with it?
Rafael: „Well, we have not made a profit yet. Profit from passion. But financially, it’s a lot of work. We often go to network events and conferences, for example during Museum Night Leiden we had a stall in Rijksmuseum Boerhaave. We’re already working on it full-time, but now we just need to make sure it expands to the point where we can pay ourselves some wages. It is a matter of taking a long breath.”
Dennis: “Yes, I also have a six-month-old baby next to it, so it’s a lot of hard work. Now we have a side job next door, sixteen hours a week, so that there is still bread on the table and we can buy an egg, haha. But we hope it can eventually become a full-time job for us.”