ViRush

ViRush is a tower defense game where players must defend their research station from the attacking viruses.

There are four different attacking viruses -- but which virus should you focus on? ViRush players must decide how to arm their turrets and which viruses must be destroyed and which can survive

While playing ViRush, players learn about the theoretical concept of frequency dependent selection and the Red Queen Hypothesis. ViRush visualizes the outcome of each round so players can see how their decisions affect the distribution of each of the different virus types. Players also learn the role that chance (i.e. Drift) plays in evolutionary processes.

ViRush is a single player game that can be assigned as homework (i.e. flipped classroom) to introduce students to the concepts of frequency dependent selection for class discussions.

keywords: red queen hypothesis, frequency dependent selection, evolution, virus