Exographer, developed by SciFun Games, published by Abylight Studios
Try lecturing the excitement of subatomic particle discovery to physics students, and you might inspire several future physicists. Lecture physics to a layperson, and you might get a completely different response. Not everyone is excited about particle physics by listening to lectures alone. Sometimes video games can help.
Exographer, the brainchild of Raphael Granier de Cassagnac (CERN Courier March/April 2025 p48), puts you in the shoes of an investigator in a world where scientists are fascinated by what their planet is made of, and have made a barrage of apparatus to investigate it. Your role is to traverse through this beautiful realm and solve puzzles that may lead to future discoveries, encountering frustration and excitement along the way.
The puzzles are neither nerve-racking nor too difficult, but solving each one brings immense satisfaction, much like the joy of discoveries in particle physics. These eureka moments make up for the hundreds of times when you fell to your death because you forgot to use the item that could have saved you.
The most important part of the game is taking pictures, particularly inside particle detectors. These reveal the tracks of particles, reminiscent of Feynman diagrams. It’s your job to figure out what particles leave these tracks. Is it a known particle? Is it new? Can we add it to our collection?
I am sure that the readers of CERN Courier will be familiar with particle discoveries throughout the past century, but as a particle physicist I still found awe and joy in rediscovering them whilst playing the game. It feels like walking through a museum, with each apparatus you encounter more sophisticated than the last. The game also hides an immensely intriguing lore of scientists from our own world. Curious gamers who spend extra time unravelling these stories are rewarded with various achievements.
All in all, this game is a nice introduction to the world of particle-physics discovery – an enjoyable puzzle/platformer game you should try, regardless of whether or not you are a physicist.
