Atom Smasher

An educational chemical-compound-building card game

The goal of the game is to create stable compounds. At the end of the game, all of your stable compounds are combined in the atom smasher. The player with the greatest atomic number wins.

• Play with a normal deck of playing cards, including Jokers
• All players start with three cards in their hand
• Your hand is the only place where unstable elements can be
• On your turn, draw 2 cards from the deck and/or discard pile
• Jokers can play the role of any element to stabilize a compound, but they don’t count towards your proton total at the end of the game
• Jokers cannot go in your hand
• You can break bonds of any stable compounds in your laboratory to rearrange elements
• Any unstable elements that don’t fit in your hand at the end of your turn must be discarded
• The game ends when the draw pile runs out

1. Hydrogen (Ace)

   • H2O (Water)
   • CH4 (Methane)
   • NH3 (Ammonia)
   • NaOH (Sodium hydroxide)
   • NaHCO3 (Sodium bicarbonate)
   • HNO3 (Nitric acid)

2. Helium: Stable

3. Lithium

   • Li2CO3 (Lithium carbonate)
   • LiOH (Lithium hydroxide)
   • Li2O (Lithium oxide)
   • LiH (Lithium hydride)

4. Beryllium

   • BeO (Beryllium oxide)
   • Be(OH)2 (Beryllium hydroxide)
   • BeF2 (Beryllium fluoride)
   • BeH2 (Beryllium hydride)
   • Be2C (Beryllium carbide)

5. Boron

   • B2O3 (Boron trioxide)
   • BN (Boron nitride)
   • NaBH4 (Sodium borohydride)
   • MgB2 (Magnesium diboride)

6. Carbon

   • CO2 (Carbon dioxide)
   • CO (Carbon monoxide)
   • CH4 (Methane)
   • NaHCO3 (Sodium bicarbonate)
   • H2CO3 (Carbonic acid)
   • HCN (Hydrogen cyanide)

7. Nitrogen

   • N2 (Nitrogen gas)
   • NH3 (Ammonia)
   • HNO3 (Nitric acid)
   • N2O (Nitrous oxide)
   • NO (Nitric oxide)
   • NO2 (Nitrogen dioxide)
   • CO(NH2)2 (Urea)
   • NaN3 (Sodium azide)
   • HCN (Hydrogen cyanide)
   • N2H4 (Hydrazine)

8. Oxygen

   • H2O (Water)
   • CO2 (Carbon dioxide)
   • O2 (Oxygen gas)
   • O3 (Ozone)
   • H2O2 (Hydrogen peroxide)
   • Al2O3 (Aluminum oxide)
   • HNO3 (Nitric acid)
   • NaOH (Sodium hydroxide)
   • MgO (Magnesium oxide)

9. Fluorine

   • HF (Hydrogen fluoride)
   • NaF (Sodium fluoride)
   • AlF3 (Aluminum fluoride)
   • LiF (Lithium fluoride)
   • MgF2 (Magnesium fluoride)

10. Neon: Stable

11. Sodium (Jack)

    • NaOH (Sodium hydroxide / Lye)
    • NaHCO3 (Sodium bicarbonate / Baking soda)
    • Na2CO3 (Sodium carbonate / Soda ash)
    • NaNO3 (Sodium nitrate)
    • NaF (Sodium fluoride)
    • NaBH4 (Sodium borohydride)

12. Magnesium (Queen)

    • MgO (Magnesium oxide)
    • Mg(OH)2 (Magnesium hydroxide / Milk of magnesia)
    • MgCO3 (Magnesium carbonate)
    • MgF2 (Magnesium fluoride)
    • MgH2 (Magnesium hydride)

13. Aluminum (King)

    • Al2O3 (Aluminum oxide)
    • AlF3 (Aluminum fluoride)
    • AlN (Aluminum nitride)
    • LiAlH4 (Lithium aluminum hydride)

Sean McPherson works as a software engineer at Khan Academy, and enjoys playing games and watching soccer. He lives with family in Pittsburgh, PA.