REPLICATE!
Replicate! You're a virus infecting a host organism. Your mission is to replicate throughout the host, in turn using the host to spread throughout a population. The goal of the game is to keep the host alive while maintaining a certain level of viral reproduction and survival within the host's organs and vascular system. Players try to quickly infect the host, while being careful to keep the host alive long enough to spread through the population. Skilled players learn how to read the body's immune system as they try to move through the body undetected.

The player navigates their virus through the human circulatory system. When the player manages to find a viable target, the virus enters the cell and sheds its protein coat. Inside the cell, the virus has a limited amount of time to reproduce before the cell is destroyed by phagocytosis. The player needs to enter the nucleus and make copies of herself inside the nucleus. Once accomplished, the virus begins to replicate and will cause the cell to explode, releasing copies of the virus back into the body.

The game will end when either the human host dies from the symptoms of infection, or the immune response of the host manages to disable all the viruses. Every half-minute, the game rewards the player with a transmission bonus based on the number of viruses 'alive' in the host and the method of transmission of the virus. Replicate rewards the player for being able to survive for longer periods of time through more challenging and artful gameplay.

Copyright 2002, MIT.