Reaction Rumble” Blends Chemistry and Arcade Combat

When David Breslauer was a teenager in the 1990s, his uncle, Rutgers University chemist Kenneth Breslauer, wished that there were more educational games. He particularly wished for one that could teach students how chemical elements interact with each other. “[My uncle] was like, ‘You should make it,'” said Breslauer.

At the time, popular fighting games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat featured pixelated characters executing a combination of punches, kicks, and jumps to defeat their opponents. “But I just didn’t have the resources at the time. I didn’t know how to make a game like that,” said Breslauer, but the idea of a chemistry game stuck with him for decades.

Breslauer, now a bioengineering entrepreneur and cofounder of Bolt Threads, decided to bring this long-awaited idea to life as a weekend project ahead of his uncle’s 79th birthday. Drawing on his own computer science background and the latest AI tools, he created the browser-based game Reaction Rumble.

Turning the Periodic Table into a Fighting Game

Much like the fighting games of his youth, Reaction Rumble takes on a nostalgic arcade art style. Here, players can choose between eight characters: Hydrogen, Carbon, Oxygen, Neon, Sodium, Chlorine, Iron, and Copper. Each element has unique features and moves. For instance, Chlorine’s caricature includes a gas mask and can attack using Acid Gas.

Players can choose their character. Each has their own special moves.

Players can choose their character. Each has their own special moves.

Breslauer remarked that these represented “a balance of elements across the table with different behaviors that would lead to the most interesting interactions.” Players can also pick their opponent and fight inside an arena under various conditions, including heat, oxidizers, magnetic fields, acid fields, and voltage.

One of Breslauer’s biggest hurdles was balancing between entertainment and accuracy. “You have to bridge this gap between scientific rigor versus exciting game mechanics,” he explained. While some players might strategically consider their attack combinations, others may button-mash their way to a victory. Either way, the follow-up screen details how and why an element won the fight, showing a specific chemical formula and product and additional text detailing the reaction.

“He was just delighted that the vision came to reality,” said Breslauer when he unveiled Reaction Rumble. “[My uncle] thought the Sodium and Chlorine [characters] were the two most interesting ones, though more so Sodium because that’s a staple of his lab.”

A Game Built for Fun Finds an Educational Purpose

Breslauer didn’t have a grand plan for the game beyond creating a quirky birthday gift for his uncle. But since sharing it online, he has received an enthusiastic response. “For a lot of people my age, [this] could have been the way to learn chemistry for non-chemists,” he said.

A few educators have told Breslauer that they plan to share the game with their high school students. The response has also prompted him to think about where Reaction Rumble could go next. There are certainly improvements to make, he said, but perhaps the game could eventually expand to include the entire periodic table, along with more chemical principles and increasingly dynamic gameplay.