Locke's Gambit
Locke’s Gambit was created in collaboration with IEEE TryEngineering, an initiative inspiring the next generation of engineers through STEM learning. This puzzle strategy game takes place aboard a microchip fabrication ship in the distant future. Players explore a distant star system while researching materials, building supply chains, designing chips, and fabricating wafers, mastering the science and engineering of microchip fabrication along the way.
About This Game
Locke’s Gambit is an electrical engineering puzzle strategy game set on a space-fairing microchip fabrication ship in the distant future. Through a series of challenges, players explore the microchip creation process. They will source and research new materials, build a supply chain, design chips, and fabricate wafers. They will explore a distant star system while mastering the science and engineering concepts associated with chip fabrication.
Learners will:
- Construct microchip designs using metal, vias, n- and p-type semiconductors, and gates to create diodes and transistors
- Test different design solutions to solve problems and build understanding
- Analyze different supply chain routes, balancing costs to efficiently secure the materials needed to produce microchips
- Investigate the physical properties of semiconductors and learn how they are tested and used alongside conductors and insulators
- Develop their understanding of how semiconductor devices are manufactured, including the associated materials, technologies, and processes
Educational Standards
PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter - The changes of state that occur with variations in temperature or pressure can be described and predicted using these models of matter. (MS-PS1-4)
PS1.B: Chemical Reactions - Substances react chemically in characteristic ways. In a chemical process, the atoms that make up the original substances are regrouped into different molecules, and these new substances have different properties from those of the reactants. (MS-PS1-3) (Note: This Disciplinary Core Idea is also addressed by MS-PS1-2 and MS-PS1-5.)
ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions - A solution needs to be tested, and then modified on the basis of the test results, in order to improve it. (secondary to MS-PS1-6)
Structure and Function - Structures can be designed to serve particular functions by taking into account properties of different materials, and how materials can be shaped and used. (MS-PS1-3)
Interdependence of Science, Engineering, and Technology - Engineering advances have led to important discoveries in virtually every field of science, and scientific discoveries have led to the development of entire industries and engineered systems. (MS-PS1-3)
Influence of Science, Engineering and Technology on Society and the Natural World - The uses of technologies and any limitations on their use are driven by individual or societal needs, desires, and values; by the findings of scientific research; and by differences in such factors as climate, natural resources, and economic conditions. Thus technology use varies from region to region and over time. (MS-PS1-3)
HS-PS1-2 Matter and its Interactions - Construct and revise an explanation for the outcome of a simple chemical reaction based on the outermost electron states of atoms, trends in the periodic table, and knowledge of the patterns of chemical properties.
HS-ETS1-3 Engineering Design - Evaluate a solution to a complex real-world problem based on prioritized criteria and trade-offs that account for a range of constraints, including cost, safety, reliability, and aesthetics as well as possible social, cultural, and environmental impacts.