Healing Blade - Infectious Disease Card Battle: Healing Blade - Defenders of Soma - Infectious Disease Card Battle

Nominated as a Finalist in Fast Company's 2018 World-Changing Ideas Awards.


The world of Soma is under siege by the Lords of Pestilence. Ancient warriors like Penicillin, Cipro, and Tetracycline rush to its defense, but these invaders learn quickly how to resist. Some become even stronger when they are struck down.

Healing Blade: Defenders of Soma immerses you in a fantasy realm that represents the real world struggle against infectious disease and bacterial resistance. It’s a two player board game wherein one player attacks innocent villagers with infectious bacteria while the other defends with antibiotics. The game requires no prior knowledge of medicine, yet accurately reflects the current state of actual antibiotic use against the most common and most feared bacterial infections. Designed in a collaboration between gamers and physicians, Defenders of Soma offers a complex strategic gameplay experience, while also increasing familiarity with today’s medical quandaries in the face of waning antibiotic effectiveness.

The Second Edition comes with updated cards that reflect changes in antibiotic guidance, adds additional pathogens and some recently approved antibiotics, and includes some extras that were previously only available during the game's original Kickstarter campaign, like the Allergic villager and Pregnancy cards.

If you like high fantasy and also have an interest in medicine or microbiology, this one-of-a-kind game will definitely hit your sweet spot!