Invasion Busters

The invaders are coming! Hordes of nasty pests are threatening to invade your country. They can sneak in on container ships or even in the baggage of air passengers. Once here, they will secretly grow and spread, damaging your crops and wilderness areas.

Fortunately you and your biosecurity team have the skills to stop them in their tracks! Intercept them before they arrive, or find them quickly and eradicate. Can you bust every invasion?

The Invasion Busters board depicts a simplified version of a real biosecurity system (based on that of New Zealand). A deck of cards represents invasive species which may arrive, grow and spread. Players co-operate to allocate dice to different biosecurity activities, then roll the dice to see if their actions have been successful. At the end of the game points are gained for the species successfully excluded or eradicated, and points are lost for any species which have become established. Players compare their score to a scale printed in the rulebook to see how well they did.

Invasion Busters was developed specifically for use in the classroom, to help teach concepts of invasion, biosecurity and population dynamics to 8-12 year olds, but has also been enjoyed by their teachers and other grown up invasion busters.