The Masquerade Game: The Natural History of Marine Mimicry Adaptation Between Egg-cowries and Octocorals

The Masquerade Game is a board game created by Sánchez, Fuentes-Pardo, Amhain, Ardila-Espitia, Cantera-Kintz, and Forero-Shelton (2016) and named for the mimicry adaptation of egg-cowries (marine snails) to coral hosts. It demonstrates principles of evolution and ecology based on the research of Sánchez et al. (2016), from observations of the eggcowries and Pacifigorgia spp. (sea fans) at Malpelo Island off the coast of Colombia in the Pacific Ocean. In order to reflect the natural processes in this ecological niche, event and impact cards were developed taking into consideration the probabilities of occurrence that were observed (Sánchez et al. 2016). Impact cards add information on natural and catastrophic events thereby defining the life or death of the ‘coral game pieces.’ Event cards describe phenomena related to the life cycle of egg-cowries and sea fans. This game simulates biologically relevant processes exposing the players to concepts in ecology and evolution while the game is being played. This game has been implemented with select classes in Bogotá, Colombia with positive feedback from students, as it made abstract concepts more concrete. We used the game in a marine ecology class as a demonstrative tool for an assignment, which included the development of a similar tool in any format. The students found that this was an interesting way to communicate to K-12 students or general audiences about life in the ocean and the constant pressures of selection.