Description

Bacterium is a free PNP territory-control game for two Players. You each represent different strains of bacteria, bred in a lab, which are competing to spread widely into as many Petri dishes as possible. But beware of the Penicillin mold floating in the air...

To play this game you will need:
This rule set
A 6x6 grid map
A sheet of game counters, but you can substitute poker chips, coins, buttons, beads, marbles, or any other game pieces of two different colors as Player pieces, plus 6 additional pieces of another color as Penicillin markers
1d6

Each Player starts by placing one game piece anywhere on the board. Players then place new game pieces on the board. They may choose to do this in one of two ways: they may place a single game piece anywhere on the board. Or they may make a “trail” by following any straight-line path from one of their already-placed game pieces (as a Bacterium, after all, you want to spread yourself as far as you can.) The Player then "reproduces" by placing his pieces in each empty spot in between along the three-space trail, reflecting the rapid growth of the bacteria. Every Petri dish game space he has thereby infected then becomes a potential source for further infections.

In addition to moving, game pieces can be captured by surrounding a Bacterium and starving it of resources so it dies and is replaced by the Player's Bacteria.

In addition, there are Penicillin Spores that are floating around in the lab which will land randomly, killing the Bacteria in some Petri dishes and replacing them. Every so often, Players roll dice to determine where the Penicillin has landed. If there are any Bacteria game pieces in these marked spaces, they are removed and replaced with an Opponent’s game piece.

Play continues until neither Player is able to make a legal move. The Player whose Bacteria occupy the most Petri dishes at the end of the game, is the winner.

—description from the designer