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MUDCAKE MASTERS
A game to explore the hidden life of mudflats and the services they provide to our planet.
From concept to game: The card game inspired by the Mud-Cake Stories!
Another, even more playful way to understand the value of our mudflats!
The game principle
The game principle
The Mud-Cake Stories have explored the processes hidden within a mudflat. MUDCAKE MASTERS invites you to discover this invisible life through a card game.
The principle behind MUDCAKE MASTERS is quite simple: the cards in your hands represent the ecological processes presented in the Mud-Cake Stories. For a mudflat to function and continue providing its ecosystem services, it must host and maintain these processes. This is why, in the game, your objective is to collect a certain number of “Process” cards.
But a mudflat does not function in a static world. It is exposed to many pressures. The game incorporates this dimension through “Disturbance” cards, which allow you to prevent your opponent from collecting the processes they need to win — and to do so before they can stop you!
However, there are ways to reduce the impact of these pressures, preserve ecological processes and maintain ecosystem functions. This is the role of “Protection” cards.
“Action” cards represent the tools available to us to better understand, monitor or restore ecosystems, and can increase your chances of winning. But beware of “Special” cards, which represent particular events that can alter how mudflats function and therefore change the course of the game!
The Game Guide
The Game Guide
How do you play Mudcake Masters?
MUDCAKE MASTERS was designed so that the game mechanics are simple and easy to learn, without requiring players to have any scientific knowledge. Everything you need to discover the game, understand its mechanics and start your first game can be found in the Game Guide. A short, simple and illustrated document to guide you from setup all the way to victory.
→ CONSULT THE GAME GUIDE
The Scientific Booklet
The Scientific Booklet
What lies behind the cards?
Behind the deliberately simple rules, which you can quickly find in the “Game Guide” leaflet, lies a much more complex scientific reality. A single card obviously cannot represent the full complexity of an ecosystem. But each card corresponds to a real ecological process or function, and the game mechanics have been designed to echo this reality. For players curious to understand what lies behind each card, a Scientific Booklet has therefore been created and is provided with the game.
→ CONSULT THE SCIENTIFIC BOOKLET
Price & acquisition
Price & acquisition
MUDCAKE MASTERS is available from €15. The game is currently produced in small quantities, and its selling price corresponds to its production cost. The aim is not to turn MUDCAKE MASTERS into a commercial product, but rather to keep the project alive and offer another way of discovering mudflats.
However, MUDCAKE MASTERS is currently entirely self-funded. Buyers are therefore free to contribute more by choosing to pay above this minimum price. These additional contributions help support the project by gradually building up dedicated funds to finance new print runs and continue distributing the game.
For the time being, MUDCAKE MASTERS is sold directly at the events and activities in which the game takes part, as part of its presentation and promotion.
MUDCAKE MASTERS events
MUDCAKE MASTERS events
Upcoming events
Upcoming events
25 September 2026 — Researchers’ Night, Océanopolis, Brest, France
MUDCAKE MASTERS will be presented to the public during this evening dedicated to bringing science and society together. The game will be available to discover in the Game Corner. EVENT INFORMATION24–25 October 2026 — Migratory Birds Festival, Bourienne site, Langueux, France
MUDCAKE MASTERS will take part in the observation and educational stand at the 7th edition of the Migratory Birds Festival, hosted by VivArmor Nature and dedicated to discovering migratory birds and the natural environments of the Bay of Saint-Brieuc. EVENT INFORMATION
Past events
Past events
8 July 2026 — 16th European Diatom Meeting, Murcia, Spain
The original version of MUDCAKE MASTERS was presented to the public for the first time during an EDM 2026 Flash Talk. It was an opportunity to introduce the project to the international scientific community. EVENT INFORMATION
Support for the project
Support for the project
Winner of the 2026 Scientific Outreach Call for Projects, Université de Bretagne Occidentale (UBO)
MUDCAKE MASTERS received €1,300 through UBO’s 2026 Scientific Outreach Call for Projects, organised within the framework of the “Science with and for Society” (SAPS) initiative. This support, intended to contribute to the dissemination of the project and its scientific outreach activities, has already helped fund the printing of the first 100 french copies of the Game Guide and Scientific Booklet, as well as the production of 100 promotional pouches and stickers to accompany the distribution of the game in Brittany. It also contributes to travel costs associated with events where the game is presented.
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