About Us

Zygote Games is based in Western Massachusetts. Our mission is to produce high-quality, fun-to-play games that also educate players about scientific facts and concepts.

The company began with a simple observation. According to a study by a trio of British zoologists in Science magazine, by age 8, kids in developed countries can recognize more Pokemon animals than real ones. We want to change that by creating games which are fun and challenging, but which are also based on real science.

We did some market research and were startled by the low quality of most science and nature games. The majority of them were either Trivial Pursuit knockoffs teaching kids to memorize science trivia, or versions of traditional playing-card games like Old Maid or Go Fish with dinosaurs or wildebeests on the cards. In several cases, the "science facts" in the games were oversimplified or just plain wrong.

We aim to do better than that.

Our games are original and entertaining, and incorporate scientific principles into the actual rules of the game. In our first release, BONE WARS, the game simulates the process of creating a scientific hypothesis and testing it against new data. But that aside. . . you're having too much fun stealing bones, exposing hoaxes, and generally conniving and backstabbing!

People

Zygote Games was formed by the combination of three individuals (aka the gametes--a gamete is a haploid cell; they fuse together to form a zygote).

Diane A. Kelly, Chief Science Director

Diane A. Kelly is Chief Science Officer of Zygote Games. Diane has a Ph.D. in Zoology from Duke University, and vets the scientific chops of our games. She wears many hats around the company, including production coordinator, art direction, background research and a bit of writing and editing.

James L. Cambias, Chief Game Architect

James L. Cambias is Chief Game Architect at Zygote Games. Jim began writing games in 1990, and worked for Steve Jackson Games, HERO Games, Game Designers' Workshop, and Iron Crown Enterprises before joining Zygote Games. He is in charge of game development and editing, and coordinates our playtesting and demonstration teams.

Joseph Steig, Business Director

Joseph Steig is a CFO and advisor to entrepreneurial businesses and non-profits. More information and his blog can be found on his website.

Diane Martin , Sales Director

More information on our other Diane coming soon!

Advisors

Jay Adan

Jay started his career in gaming in the mid 1980’s where he learned the retail and distribution side of the business before moving on to game production. He set up and ran World Wide Wargames’ roleplaying games division as well as being the managing editor of Spacegamer/Fantasy Gamer magazine. Since 1998, Jay has been using his enthusiasm for gaming to promote Cyberlore’s products with the press, at tradeshows and online. He was responsible for creating and maintaining the Majesty fan community. Jay used guerilla marketing techniques to create interest in the game and a connection with the fans unlike anything that they were used to seeing from a game developer. Because of this work, Cyberlore now has a regular following of fans, both in the gaming public and in the media. In 2000 Jay started up Griffon Games in Greenfield, MA along with two friends. It quickly grew to become the largest dedicated gaming retail store in Western Massachusetts.

Judith Giordan

Judith Giordan has extensive experience in science and technology product research, development and commercialization in the consumer products and materials science industries; K-12 and university science and entrepreneurial education; and as an entrepreneur in business services and intellectual property monetization. As VP of R&D for Fortune 500 companies PepsiCola, International Flavors and Fragrances and Henkel, she was responsible for overseeing the development and commercialization of many well-known international consumer product brands and product lines as well as for business, technology and intellectual property strategy development. Currently, she is Managing Director of Technology Option Capital, an intellectual property monetization firm and VP and Partner at Aileron partners, a strategic services provider. Judy is also active in the educational aspects of science and technology development and commercialization and has created and implemented curriculum, programs and courses for K-12 and higher education. She has held academic positions as Visiting or Adjunct Professor at Dartmouth College , Rutgers University and North Carolina State University. Currently, Judy is Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurialism at the University of Southern Mississippi where she focuses on assisting new technology start-ups in medicinal chemistry and polymer science.

Thomas Porter

Tom has extensive experience as a consumer leisure products innovator and business venture operator, including successes creating international product lines, developing educational science & nature software, producing TV programming, and distributing classroom offerings for schoolchildren. In addition to over 20 years continual involvement as a strategic planner and business developer, Tom has recruited and headed a national retail sales force (Discovery Multimedia), served as Controller (National Geographic Television), and worked as a Marketer (EDS) and Market Researcher (Communications Technology Management). Fifteen 15 years of executive responsibility - heading Strategic Planning and Finance for National Geographic TV and then running Discovery Channel Enterprises - enabled Tom to design and execute numerous highly-promoted, cross-media, multi-product-line editorial and content initiatives, and to effectively coordinate the involvement of commercial partners/underwriters, non-profit institutions, and the educational community for maximum market impact and benefit to vested partners.