Biomass ATP: 220
Vat Integrity
Fermentation Vigor
Wave 1 (0:00)
Rotate Device

Please rotate your device to landscape mode.

About Petriquarium

Feed cultures and balance fermentation runs in this free online microbial game about bioreactors and brewing science.

Petriquarium models the biochemical dynamics of industrial bacterial and yeast fermentation inside continuous stirred tank bioprocess reactors. Players cultivate valuable bio-manufacturing organisms including Pichia pastoris, Streptomyces coelicolor, Spirulina cyanobacteria and Zymomonas mobilis while monitoring substrate availability, dissolved oxygen tension and contamination control.

In high-density bioprocess operations, Pichia pastoris utilizes carbon substrates such as trehalose and glycerol to drive exponential cell growth and recombinant protein secretion, including human insulin hexamers. Co-cultivated Streptomyces species extend branching mycelia that synthesize secondary metabolite antibiotics, while Spirulina cyanobacteria perform oxygenic photosynthesis to sustain dissolved oxygen levels without shearing fragile cell walls.

Commercial bioprocesses face existential threats from bacteriophage contamination. Lytic podoviruses attach to outer membrane receptors and inject viral genomes to trigger rapid host lysis. Thermophilic Geobacillus endospores survive steam sterilizations and germinate into sticky biofilms that clog sparger nozzles. Through precision antimicrobial micropipetting and germicidal ultraviolet pulses, bioprocess engineers maintain axenic sterility and optimal product yield.

Key Science Concepts

What You'll Learn

Grade Level: Middle School, High School, College

Related Games

Explore more free science games at Science Games Lab

How to play

  1. Feed & Nurture Click vat to drop nutrient pellets (costs 5 ATP). Watch thought bubbles: yellow food when hungry, red exclamation mark (!) when starving. Fed microbes backflip with joy! Catch rare Golden Pellets for instant tier evolution.
  2. Sweep to Harvest Hold and glide your cursor or finger across the vat to vacuum up falling ATP coins, phycocyanin gems and insulin crystals. Chain rapid collections to trigger musical chime glissandos and build up to 8x COMBO multipliers.
  3. Pipette Defense Click lytic podoviruses and Geobacillus spores to zap them with your pipette laser! Blasts invaders back with knockback and frees latched microbes. Upgrade to Twin Pulse (Lv 2) and Plasma Lance (Lv 3) for heavy bounty showers.
  4. Pop Oxygen Bubbles Spirulina alga and spargers release buoyant oxygen bubbles. Click or sweep over bubbles to pop them for +5 bonus ATP, +2.5% Broth O2 and Fermentation Vigor!
  5. Companions & Automation Inoculate the Floor Scavenger Amoeba to crawl along the bottom and auto-vacuum sunken tokens before they dissolve. Install Peristaltic Drippers to automatically drop food pellets into the vat.
  6. Frenzy & Patent Victory Fill the Fermentation Vigor bar to unleash an 8-second Fermentation Frenzy with 2x ATP yield! Buy all 3 Bioreactor Patent pieces (400, 800 and 1500 ATP) in the shop to achieve commercial victory and complete the run.

Frequently asked questions

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

More like this

Back to the game