Dendrites
A brain-building cooperative tile game
Time: 15 - 30 minutes
Why wait for the next Einstein to be
born? Assemble your team of
neuroscientists and work together to
build a super brain! Increase the
complexity of the brain tissue to score
big on the IQ test, but be sure to
support your growing neural network
with a structural membrane; you don’t
want the brain to leak!
Placing tiles:
Choose a player to go first. You can
determine this in any manner you like,
but the first player needs to have at
least one pink block in their hand.
In addition, tiles must touch at least one
other tile of a matching color when
placed. Pink tiles must always touch
another pink tile.
In the example below, the dendrites
are each marked with a “D”:
On each turn, a player takes one of
their tiles and places it adjacent to an
existing tile. A tile can be positioned in
a variety of places, as long as it
maintains a grid-like structure.
Examples of valid tile placements:
Object of the game:
To grow a successfully contained brain
with the highest IQ, based on the
number of dendrites, the perimeter size
of the brain matter, and the
cohesiveness of the membrane.
The tile placement below may look odd
since there is a yellow square adjacent
to a pink square. However, it is valid
You can increase the perimeter of the
since there are two pink blocks
brain by strategic placement of the
adjacent to each other.
pink tiles:
Contents:
Dendrites uses a set of 49 tiles, each
consisting of 2 color blocks in either
pink, blue, yellow, or green. The pink
blocks represent brain tissue, and the
other colors are used as supporting
membrane.
Setting up the game:
Set aside one solid pink tile from the rest
of the set. This tile will be the start of
your embryonic brain!
Examples of invalid tile placements:
Developing the neural network:
Your team’s goal is to build a network
of all the pink brain tissue blocks. There
are two ways to gain IQ points from
building the brain matter:
Shuffle the rest of the tiles by placing
them all face-down in the play area.
“Stir” the tiles by pushing them around
until they are well mixed together.
Divide the tiles evenly among the
players. (It’s ok if a few players end up
with an extra tile.)
Create Dendrites – Dendrites are
branching extensions of neurons that
transmit information to the nerve cells.
In this game, dendrites are represented
on a macro level by branching blocks
of pink tissue with three open sides.
Each dendrite adds to the brain’s IQ.
Place the first solid pink tile in the center
of the play area. Players should now
flip over their tiles and organize them as
they see fit.
Increase Perimeter – The more wrinkles
a brain has, the more neurons it can
contain! Stretch the perimeter of your
brain to increase its IQ.
Notice that the 14-perimeter example
also created 3 dendrites. Sweet!
Building the support membrane:
Brain matter is very fragile and needs a
support membrane to keep its shape!
Membrane tiles are yellow, blue, and
green.
To start building a membrane, place a
hybrid tile that contains both a pink
block and a membrane block (step 1
below). Then use more membrane tiles
to build out a structure surrounding the
pink brain matter, (steps 2 – 4):
Note the arrow pointing to an empty
spot kitty-corner to a pink brain matter
tile. This is ok, the brain will not leak
through empty kitty-corners.
Membrane chains:
The support membrane’s cohesiveness
helps strengthen the brain’s ability to
function. By connecting membrane
tiles of the same color together, you
create membrane “chains” which earn
IQ points.
A membrane chain contains three or
more tile blocks of the same color, with
at least one block positioned adjacent
to a pink brain matter tile. Let’s
examine a sample brain:
Ending the game:
Players continue to take turns until all
tiles have been used.
If the brain matter is fully enclosed and
players have extra membrane tiles,
they can continue to add them to
membrane chains to gain extra IQ
points.
If all tiles have been used but the brain
has not been fully enclosed by the
membrane, then the brain is leaking!
You must rearrange tiles to close the
gaps. However, you will lose one IQ
point for each tile that must be moved.
The IQ Test (scoring):
IQ points are awarded in 3 ways:
 Dendrites: 2 points per dendrite
 Brain matter perimeter: 1 point per
perimeter edge
 Membrane chains: 1 point for each
tile over 2 (a 3-tile chain gets 1
point, a 4-tile chain gets 2, 5 tiles
gets 3, etc.)
The support membrane is complete
when it fully surrounds all of the pink
brain matter in the tile set. You cannot
close the membrane if you still have
pink tiles left in your hand!
If the brain leaked – lose 1 IQ point for
each tile that was moved to fix the
membrane
Here is an example brain in progress.
The last blue-green tile will close the
gap to form a full membrane.
This membrane has three chains:
Yellow – 4 blocks
Green – 10 blocks
Blue – 5 blocks
In the example above, there are also a
few scattered blocks of color that do
not form chains of 3. While they do not
contribute IQ points, they are still useful
for enclosing the brain tissue.
Add the total points of your dendrites,
perimeter, and membrane chains, and
subtract any brain leakage points if
necessary to determine your brain’s IQ!
How does your lab-grown brain rank on
the IQ scale?
IQ POINTS
130 AND ABOVE
IQ RANK
Very Superior
120 – 129
Superior
110 – 119
90 – 109
80 – 89
High Average
Average
Low Average
70 – 79
69 AND BELOW
Borderline
Extremely low
A few tips:
 Support your team! Examine each
other’s tiles often, and work
together to form a winning
strategy.
 Don’t wait too long to place your
brain tissue tiles. It may be hard
to find enough membrane tiles to
surround them towards the end
of the game.
 Forming solid blocks of brain matter
makes it easier to enclose the
brain in a membrane, but you’ll
lose out on perimeter points!
Stretching out your brain is riskier,
but more rewarding.
Variations and challenge ideas:
 Solitaire – Dendrites works fine as a
solo game! Try dividing the tiles
into 3 or more draw piles to add
an extra building challenge.
 Under par – Like in golf, try to get
the lowest score possible.
 The brain stem – Create a long,
skinny brain! How far can you
stretch the brain “stem” before
the membrane breaks?
 Working blind – Keep the tiles
flipped upside down in a draw
pile that all the players pull from.
 The Rorschach – Make your brain
look like something!
Credits:
Developed during the 2015
Santa Monica Studio Game Jam
Erica Pinto
Quentin Ramsey
Loren Bordas
Kate Salsman
Joe Kennedy
Dustin Dobson
© 2015 Sony Computer
Entertainment America LLC