Toys your kids will love


What is an Ant farm?

A formicarium is an insectarium which isant in a colony of black ants in the back
designed primarily for the study of antyard of a suburban home. The ant colony must
colonies and how ants behave. "Ant Farms,"battle against enemy red ants. The ultimate
similar to these, are popular subjects forgoal is to spread throughout the garden, into
school projects. Those who study how antsthe house, and finally to drive out the human
behave  are  known  as  myrmecologists.owners. In this respect, SimAnt differed from
other 'Sim' games, which largely had no "win"
A formicarium is usually an ant colonyor  "lose"  situation.
enclosed by a transparent box made of glass
or plastic. The first commercially-soldIn the Quick Game, the player establishes a
formicarium was introduced around 1929 andblack ant colony in a small patch of yard,
patented in 1931 by Frank Eugene Austin, anshown in top-down perspective. The computer
inventor and professor at the Thayer Schoolopponent establishes a competing red ant
of Engineering at Dartmouth College. Austincolony in the same patch. Underground ant
included painted or wooden scenes of palaces,colonies are depicted in a side view. The
farms, and other settings above the groundplayer has direct control of a single ant at
level,  for  a  whimsical  look.a time, indicated by a yellow color, and may
switch control to a different ant at any time
The best-known formicariums are examples of(by double-clicking the desired ant). (A
"Uncle Milton's Ant Farm," for which the antslittle known fact is that the spider in the
are sent to the purchaser through the mail,game can also be controlled by double
upon receipt of the coupon enclosed with theclicking it.) The player's yellow ant may
Ant Farm. The educational toy is made byinfluence the behavior of other black ants by
Uncle Milton Industries in Westlake Village,leaving pheromone trails to destinations such
California, and has sold over 20 million Antas food and enemy ant colonies and can
Farms since 1956 and which owns the brandcontrol the other ants in a limited way (by
name "Ant Farm" (a registered trademark).ordering a certain number to follow it, for
This type of formicarium is for observinginstance). The quick game is won or lost when
worker ants and its effectiveness in seriouseither the red or black colony in said patch
ant  propagation  is  limited.is  defeated.
Formicariums and "Ant Farms" are usually madeThe player's yellow ant may pick up food and
thin enough so the tunnels and cavities maderocks, regurgitate food for friendly ants,
by the ants can be seen and for theirand attack enemy ants, spiders, caterpillars,
behavior to be studied. They can be filledand antlions. Natural hazards include human
with soil, sand, vermiculite, other mineralfootsteps, spiders, antlions, lawnmowers, and
fragments, or sawdust. Newer formicariumsrain, which washes away pheromone trails and
filled with semi-transparent gel (picturedcan  flood  the  bottom  of  ant  nests.
right) can be made thicker. The gel provides
nutrition, moisture and a medium for the antIn the Full Game, the player begins with an
nest.ant colony in an overhead view, much like the
Quick Game. The region of this overhead view
Other types of formicariums are those madeis a single square of a map containing a yard
with plaster, or simply with no medium.and house, and the player wins by colonizing
Plaster nests can be made by placing modelingthe entire map. The player spreads to other
clay on a glass panel in the form of tunnelsareas by producing young queens and drones to
and chambers. The plaster is poured onto themate with each other. The full game is won or
mold and when it has dried the clay islost when either of the red or black colonies
removed and the remaining structure can beis  eliminated.
used for housing ants. The ants in this type
of formicarium are very easily seen, but itThe Experimental Game is similar to the Quick
can be less than comfortable for the ants.Game, except the player can also control red
Mediumless formicariums can be in anyants and has access to a set of experimental
container, with the ants staying in moisttools. These tools allow the player to place
test tubes or other small containers. Thispheromone trails, maze walls, rocks, ants,
also allows for better visibility, but can beand  food.
less interesting because no digging takes
place.The boxed game also comes with a thoroughly
researched instruction manual, which not only
Often, containing ants inside a formicariumcovers game mechanics, but also contains a
can be a problem. Several substances are usedlarge amount of information regarding ants
to repel the ants, including vegetable oil,and  ant  societies.
petroleum jelly, or fluon. They are applied
to the side of the formicarium to preventCreatures
escape. These substances are generally too
slippery for the ants to walk on. DespiteThere are a variety of creatures in SimAnt
this, some species of ants can build bridgessuch as spiders, antlions, caterpillars,
of debris or dirt on the substance to escape.pillbugs, birds, and even humans. All of
these creatures are hazards to a player's ant
Another way of preventing the ants fromcolony, though the player can switch to
escaping is to place the entire formicariumplaying a spider in order to destroy opposing
in a shallow container of water, creating aant colonies. The spider, caterpillars, and
moat.the antlions can all be killed by swarming
them with other ants you've gathered to
SimAnt is a 1991 life simulation computeryourself. Dead spiders and caterpillars will
game by Maxis focusing on ants. It waseventually turn into food. They will also
designed by Will Wright, maker of other 'Sim'return later on. Antlions stay dead once they
games  such  as  SimCity  and  The  Sims.are  killed.
The game is essentially a simulation of anThe ants' caste system in the game is simple.
ant colony (Ant simulation game) . The gameWorkers normally make up most of the colony
consists of three modes: a Quick Game, a Fulland their jobs are to gather food, dig out
Game, and an Experimental Game. It wasthe nest, and care for eggs, larvae, and the
released for the IBM PC, Commodore Amiga,queen. They also help defend the nest.
Apple Macintosh, and Super NintendoSoldiers are stronger than workers, and
Entertainment System. The Nintendo versionbetter at fighting other ants; they can do
also added eight scenarios, where the goal inmost of the same jobs as workers but need
each is to eliminate the enemy red ants inmore food and can't care for eggs and larva.
various locales, each with different hazards.The queen ant only has to lay eggs and is the
However, this edition of the SimAnt lacks themost important ant. New queens and males
Experimental  Game.(drones) have wings and their only job is to
mate and make new colonies.
In SimAnt, the player plays the role of an



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