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About Clade Connections

Group organisms by common ancestry and dodge convergent evolution traps in this free online phylogenetics puzzle game about taxonomy and cladistics.

Clade Connections is a phylogenetics game about reading the tree of life. Every board deals sixteen organism tiles and hides four clades among them. Your job is to group the organisms that share common ancestry, not the ones that merely look alike, which makes it a taxonomy game about how biologists really classify living things.

Every mechanic maps to real cladistics. A correct group is a clade: an ancestor plus all of its descendants, revealed through shared derived traits called synapomorphies, like feathers for birds or mammary glands for mammals. The trap tiles teach convergent evolution. Sharks, dolphins and extinct ichthyosaurs all streamlined independently, so body shape alone can mislead. The mushroom sitting beside the plants teaches that fungi form their own kingdom, closer to animals than to plants.

This is exactly how modern biology organizes life. Where Linnaean taxonomy filed species by surface similarity, phylogenetic systematics builds branching trees from inherited traits and DNA evidence, then tests them against the fossil record. Learning to spot homology versus analogy is the core skill: analogous wings evolved separately in insects, bats and pterosaurs, while homologous traits like the tetrapod limb reveal genuine kinship between whales, bats and bears.

Key Science Concepts

What You'll Learn

Grade Level: Middle School, High School

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How to play

  1. Read the Board Sixteen organism tiles hide four clades of four. Each group shares one true ancestor.
  2. Select Four Tap tiles to pick exactly four organisms you believe share a clade, then hit Submit.
  3. Reveal the Clade A correct group locks into a banner that names the clade and its shared derived trait.
  4. One Away A One Away toast means exactly three of your picks belong together. Swap the odd one.
  5. Dodge the Traps Convergent lookalikes bait false groups: streamlined swimmers, winged fliers, mushroom plants.
  6. Four Mistakes Four wrong submissions fossilize the run. Solve all four clades to complete the phylogeny.

Frequently asked questions

Is Clade Connections free to play?
Yes. Clade Connections is completely free to play in your browser. There is no download, install or account needed.
What grade level is Clade Connections for?
Clade Connections is designed for Middle School, High School students and works well as a classroom activity or homework.
Does Clade Connections work on phones and tablets?
Yes. Clade Connections runs in any modern browser on desktop computers, Chromebooks, tablets and phones in landscape mode.

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