Quirkies Evolution
Free
4.1for iPhone, iPad and more
7.3
10 Ratings
Indiana University
Developer
51.7 MB
Size
Jun 5, 2016
Update Date
Simulation
Category
4+
Age Rating
Age Rating
Quirkies Evolution Screenshots
About Quirkies Evolution
This game teaches how evolution works: quirkies evolve through natural selection, reproduction, recombination and mutation of genes.
The basics: by selecting mates who get to reproduce, you and other players simulate the environment in which the best quirkies survive.
You can choose a trait that you would like the population to have (do this on the settings screen). As you play the game, try to select quirkies with that trait. In each generation, the offspring inherit the genes from the parents. The trait that you picked will become common throughout the population. Your fitness score at the top of the main screen will improve, and you win the game with high enough fitness over generations. But quirkies might also be rejected by mates, experience harmful mutations, and risk extinction.
As you play, quirkies will entertain you with funny comments (even with speech), quiz your understanding of evolution, and make suggestions from an amazing range of educational videos and podcasts. Earn badges through these activities!
Your quirkies will evolve new traits such as colors, nose, mouth, limbs, hair, and more by regulatory gene adaptations. Explore it all through the family tree (showing how genes are inherited) and population view.
You can also earn survival points with mini-games: help your offspring feed, fight challengers, and find their parents. And don't tell anyone, but if you get to the biolab, you can manipulate your quirkie's genes!
Evolved a really cute quirkie? You can give it a name (it will also get a scientific species name), save it for later, and share it with your friends! (Parents, no worries --- your kid cannot post on social media without your permission.) You can get news updates, when one of your quirkies has new siblings or offspring. And then you can explore the families of your quirkies: their parents, siblings, mates, and offspring.
Iris Menczer (4th grade) and her dad created this game for kids to have fun learning about evolution. Evolutionary biologists have helped make it more educational. Hope you enjoy both the fun and the learning!
The basics: by selecting mates who get to reproduce, you and other players simulate the environment in which the best quirkies survive.
You can choose a trait that you would like the population to have (do this on the settings screen). As you play the game, try to select quirkies with that trait. In each generation, the offspring inherit the genes from the parents. The trait that you picked will become common throughout the population. Your fitness score at the top of the main screen will improve, and you win the game with high enough fitness over generations. But quirkies might also be rejected by mates, experience harmful mutations, and risk extinction.
As you play, quirkies will entertain you with funny comments (even with speech), quiz your understanding of evolution, and make suggestions from an amazing range of educational videos and podcasts. Earn badges through these activities!
Your quirkies will evolve new traits such as colors, nose, mouth, limbs, hair, and more by regulatory gene adaptations. Explore it all through the family tree (showing how genes are inherited) and population view.
You can also earn survival points with mini-games: help your offspring feed, fight challengers, and find their parents. And don't tell anyone, but if you get to the biolab, you can manipulate your quirkie's genes!
Evolved a really cute quirkie? You can give it a name (it will also get a scientific species name), save it for later, and share it with your friends! (Parents, no worries --- your kid cannot post on social media without your permission.) You can get news updates, when one of your quirkies has new siblings or offspring. And then you can explore the families of your quirkies: their parents, siblings, mates, and offspring.
Iris Menczer (4th grade) and her dad created this game for kids to have fun learning about evolution. Evolutionary biologists have helped make it more educational. Hope you enjoy both the fun and the learning!
Show More
What's New in the Latest Version 4.1
Last updated on Jun 5, 2016
Old Versions
This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.
Few minor interface tweaks and bug fixes. We are excited to announce the many huge improvements in v.4:
* Quirkies Evolution is now a universal app, running on both iPhones and iPads
* Explore family (parents, siblings, mates, and offspring) of My Quirkies
* With app icon badge notifications, get family news updates (new siblings and offspring)
* Earn survival points with three mini-games: feed, fight, and find my parents
* Background music: choose among four options, or none at all
* All-new tutorial to introduce new players to the many game features
* Improved back-end --- all players share a single population!
All this on top of these other recent changes:
* New mating mechanisms: chase a mate or tap and hold one to be chased
* Follow the test tube to visit the biolab and manipulate genes
* Talking quirkies if enabled via Settings
* Badges for game and learning achievements
* From Family Tree, tap on a generation to explore how genes are inherited
* From Population, top on a quirkie to view its genes
* Hundreds of educational videos and podcasts
Few minor interface tweaks and bug fixes. We are excited to announce the many huge improvements in v.4:
* Quirkies Evolution is now a universal app, running on both iPhones and iPads
* Explore family (parents, siblings, mates, and offspring) of My Quirkies
* With app icon badge notifications, get family news updates (new siblings and offspring)
* Earn survival points with three mini-games: feed, fight, and find my parents
* Background music: choose among four options, or none at all
* All-new tutorial to introduce new players to the many game features
* Improved back-end --- all players share a single population!
All this on top of these other recent changes:
* New mating mechanisms: chase a mate or tap and hold one to be chased
* Follow the test tube to visit the biolab and manipulate genes
* Talking quirkies if enabled via Settings
* Badges for game and learning achievements
* From Family Tree, tap on a generation to explore how genes are inherited
* From Population, top on a quirkie to view its genes
* Hundreds of educational videos and podcasts
Show More
Version History
4.1
Jun 5, 2016
This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.
Few minor interface tweaks and bug fixes. We are excited to announce the many huge improvements in v.4:
* Quirkies Evolution is now a universal app, running on both iPhones and iPads
* Explore family (parents, siblings, mates, and offspring) of My Quirkies
* With app icon badge notifications, get family news updates (new siblings and offspring)
* Earn survival points with three mini-games: feed, fight, and find my parents
* Background music: choose among four options, or none at all
* All-new tutorial to introduce new players to the many game features
* Improved back-end --- all players share a single population!
All this on top of these other recent changes:
* New mating mechanisms: chase a mate or tap and hold one to be chased
* Follow the test tube to visit the biolab and manipulate genes
* Talking quirkies if enabled via Settings
* Badges for game and learning achievements
* From Family Tree, tap on a generation to explore how genes are inherited
* From Population, top on a quirkie to view its genes
* Hundreds of educational videos and podcasts
Few minor interface tweaks and bug fixes. We are excited to announce the many huge improvements in v.4:
* Quirkies Evolution is now a universal app, running on both iPhones and iPads
* Explore family (parents, siblings, mates, and offspring) of My Quirkies
* With app icon badge notifications, get family news updates (new siblings and offspring)
* Earn survival points with three mini-games: feed, fight, and find my parents
* Background music: choose among four options, or none at all
* All-new tutorial to introduce new players to the many game features
* Improved back-end --- all players share a single population!
All this on top of these other recent changes:
* New mating mechanisms: chase a mate or tap and hold one to be chased
* Follow the test tube to visit the biolab and manipulate genes
* Talking quirkies if enabled via Settings
* Badges for game and learning achievements
* From Family Tree, tap on a generation to explore how genes are inherited
* From Population, top on a quirkie to view its genes
* Hundreds of educational videos and podcasts
4.0
Jun 4, 2016
We are excited to announce many huge improvements in this version:
* Quirkies Evolution is now a universal app, running on both iPhones and iPads
* Explore family (parents, siblings, mates, and offspring) of My Quirkies
* With app icon badge notifications, get family news updates (new siblings and offspring)
* Earn survival points with three mini-games: feed, fight, and find my parents
* Background music: choose among four options, or none at all
* All-new tutorial to introduce new players to the many game features
* Improved back-end --- remember that all players share a single population!
* And of course, lots of interface improvements and bug fixes
All this on top of these other recent changes:
* New mating mechanisms: chase a mate or tap and hold one to be chased
* Follow the test tube to visit the biolab and manipulate genes
* Talking quirkies if enabled via Settings
* Badges for game and learning achievements
* From Family Tree, tap on a generation to explore how genes are inherited
* From Population, top on a quirkie to view its genes
* Hundreds of educational videos and podcasts
* Quirkies Evolution is now a universal app, running on both iPhones and iPads
* Explore family (parents, siblings, mates, and offspring) of My Quirkies
* With app icon badge notifications, get family news updates (new siblings and offspring)
* Earn survival points with three mini-games: feed, fight, and find my parents
* Background music: choose among four options, or none at all
* All-new tutorial to introduce new players to the many game features
* Improved back-end --- remember that all players share a single population!
* And of course, lots of interface improvements and bug fixes
All this on top of these other recent changes:
* New mating mechanisms: chase a mate or tap and hold one to be chased
* Follow the test tube to visit the biolab and manipulate genes
* Talking quirkies if enabled via Settings
* Badges for game and learning achievements
* From Family Tree, tap on a generation to explore how genes are inherited
* From Population, top on a quirkie to view its genes
* Hundreds of educational videos and podcasts
3.2
Feb 17, 2016
Wow, we have been busy! Few but big improvements in this version:
* All-new, much more fun mating mechanisms: chase a mate or tap and hold one to be chased
* Follow the test tube to visit the genetic engineering lab and see how genes affect the body
* Over 130 new educational podcasts about evolution
* New icons, interface improvements, and bug fixes
All this on top of the changes in recent versions:
* Quirkies will talk to you! (You can disable this feature in settings)
* Badges for game and learning achievements
* Adaptations (hair, arms, legs, colors, nose, mouth) can be acquired, inherited, or lost via regulatory genes
* During feed & fight plays, your quirkie can die if you are too slow or eat too much junk
* From the family tree screen, tap on a generation to explore how genes are inherited
* From the population screen, top on a quirkie to view its genes
* Improved fitness display and explanations of target genes
* Name, save, and share your favorite quirkies!
* Lots of educational videos (watch them again in the About screen)
* Parental gates for sharing evolved quirkies on social media
* All-new, much more fun mating mechanisms: chase a mate or tap and hold one to be chased
* Follow the test tube to visit the genetic engineering lab and see how genes affect the body
* Over 130 new educational podcasts about evolution
* New icons, interface improvements, and bug fixes
All this on top of the changes in recent versions:
* Quirkies will talk to you! (You can disable this feature in settings)
* Badges for game and learning achievements
* Adaptations (hair, arms, legs, colors, nose, mouth) can be acquired, inherited, or lost via regulatory genes
* During feed & fight plays, your quirkie can die if you are too slow or eat too much junk
* From the family tree screen, tap on a generation to explore how genes are inherited
* From the population screen, top on a quirkie to view its genes
* Improved fitness display and explanations of target genes
* Name, save, and share your favorite quirkies!
* Lots of educational videos (watch them again in the About screen)
* Parental gates for sharing evolved quirkies on social media
3.1
Jan 8, 2016
Huge improvements in this version, with advice from evolutionary biologists:
* Quirkies will talk to you! (You can disable this feature in settings)
* Badges for game and learning achievements
* Adaptations (hair, arms, legs, colors, node, mouth) can be acquired, inherited, or lost via regulatory genes
* Feed & fight plays are more fun, and your quirkie can die if you are too slow or eat too much junk
* From the family tree (genealogy) screen, tap on a generation to explore and visualize how genes are inherited
* From the population screen, top on a quirkie to view its genes
* Improved fitness display and explanations of target genes
* New icons, lots of interface improvements, and bug fixes
All this on top of the changes in recent versions:
* Name, save, and share your favorite quirkies!
* Random target gene rotation after victory to keep you challenged
* Popup with stats when you tap on fitness score or status bar
* Lots of new educational videos (watch them again in the About screen)
* Offline play without internet connection
* Parental gates for sharing evolved quirkies on social media
* Quirkies will talk to you! (You can disable this feature in settings)
* Badges for game and learning achievements
* Adaptations (hair, arms, legs, colors, node, mouth) can be acquired, inherited, or lost via regulatory genes
* Feed & fight plays are more fun, and your quirkie can die if you are too slow or eat too much junk
* From the family tree (genealogy) screen, tap on a generation to explore and visualize how genes are inherited
* From the population screen, top on a quirkie to view its genes
* Improved fitness display and explanations of target genes
* New icons, lots of interface improvements, and bug fixes
All this on top of the changes in recent versions:
* Name, save, and share your favorite quirkies!
* Random target gene rotation after victory to keep you challenged
* Popup with stats when you tap on fitness score or status bar
* Lots of new educational videos (watch them again in the About screen)
* Offline play without internet connection
* Parental gates for sharing evolved quirkies on social media
3.0
Oct 15, 2015
Huge improvements in this version, with advice from friends who are evolutionary biologists:
* Adaptations are now regulatory genes, with a more diverse population
* Quirkies with hair! (But you have to turn on the new genes through achievements...)
* New view of interactions among quirkies in the evolving shared population
* New feed & fight plays to survive until reproduction (make it more or less often via settings)
* Improved fitness display that tracks your target gene compared to the population average
* Popup with stats when you tap on fitness score or status bar
* Random target gene rotation after victory to keep you challenged
* Compatibility with iOS 9, bug fixes, and many other improvements
All this on top of the changes in recent versions:
* Adaptations with new traits via achievements
* Name, save, and share your favorite quirkies!
* Lots of new educational videos (watch them again in the About screen)
* Offline play without internet connection
* Parental gates for sharing evolved quirkies on social media
* Adaptations are now regulatory genes, with a more diverse population
* Quirkies with hair! (But you have to turn on the new genes through achievements...)
* New view of interactions among quirkies in the evolving shared population
* New feed & fight plays to survive until reproduction (make it more or less often via settings)
* Improved fitness display that tracks your target gene compared to the population average
* Popup with stats when you tap on fitness score or status bar
* Random target gene rotation after victory to keep you challenged
* Compatibility with iOS 9, bug fixes, and many other improvements
All this on top of the changes in recent versions:
* Adaptations with new traits via achievements
* Name, save, and share your favorite quirkies!
* Lots of new educational videos (watch them again in the About screen)
* Offline play without internet connection
* Parental gates for sharing evolved quirkies on social media
2.0
Aug 5, 2015
Quirkies are evolving! Lots of BIG improvements in this version:
* Evolve new traits such as colors, nose, mouth, limbs, and more by gene adaptations and other achievements
* Name, save, and share your favorite quirkies!
* Improved game interface to track fitness from target genes
* Bug fixes
All this on top of the recent changes in v.1.x:
* Lots of educational videos and more to come (watch them again in the About screen)
* Quizzes and videos about evolution
* A helpful startup screen for first-time players
* Offline play without internet connection
* Easier to evolve and win, but also possible to die!
* Parental gates for sharing evolved quirkies on social media
* Evolve new traits such as colors, nose, mouth, limbs, and more by gene adaptations and other achievements
* Name, save, and share your favorite quirkies!
* Improved game interface to track fitness from target genes
* Bug fixes
All this on top of the recent changes in v.1.x:
* Lots of educational videos and more to come (watch them again in the About screen)
* Quizzes and videos about evolution
* A helpful startup screen for first-time players
* Offline play without internet connection
* Easier to evolve and win, but also possible to die!
* Parental gates for sharing evolved quirkies on social media
1.4
Jun 13, 2015
* Quirkies have hands and feet, and display a bit more movement
* A helpful startup screen for first-time players
* Bug fixes
* Many new educational videos; more will be added without need to update the app
All this on top of the changes in v.1.2 and 1.3:
* Watch it again: full list of educational videos in the About screen
* Quirkies are more interactive and fun for kids
* Play in offline mode without internet connection
* It's easier to evolve and win, but also possible to die!
* Quizzes and videos about evolution
* Parental gates for sharing evolved quirkies on social media
* A helpful startup screen for first-time players
* Bug fixes
* Many new educational videos; more will be added without need to update the app
All this on top of the changes in v.1.2 and 1.3:
* Watch it again: full list of educational videos in the About screen
* Quirkies are more interactive and fun for kids
* Play in offline mode without internet connection
* It's easier to evolve and win, but also possible to die!
* Quizzes and videos about evolution
* Parental gates for sharing evolved quirkies on social media
1.3
Jun 2, 2015
* Many new educational videos about evolution; more will be added without need to update the app
* When you like a video, you can watch it again: find the full list in the About screen
* Interface improvements and bug fixes
All this on top of the changes in v.1.2:
* Quirkies are more interactive and fun for kids aged 9-13
* By popular demand, play in offline mode without internet connection
* It's easier to evolve and win, but also possible to die now!
* New learning resources (videos and quizzes) about evolution
* Educational videos can be watched in landscape orientation
* Parents: your kids can share their evolved quirkies on social media, but only if you grant permission through a parental gate.
* When you like a video, you can watch it again: find the full list in the About screen
* Interface improvements and bug fixes
All this on top of the changes in v.1.2:
* Quirkies are more interactive and fun for kids aged 9-13
* By popular demand, play in offline mode without internet connection
* It's easier to evolve and win, but also possible to die now!
* New learning resources (videos and quizzes) about evolution
* Educational videos can be watched in landscape orientation
* Parents: your kids can share their evolved quirkies on social media, but only if you grant permission through a parental gate.
1.2
May 17, 2015
* Quirkies are more interactive and fun for kids aged 9-13
* By popular demand, play in offline mode without internet connection
* It's easier to evolve and win, but also possible to die now!
* Many new learning resources (videos and quizzes) about evolution
* Educational videos can be watched in landscape orientation
* Interface improvements and bug fixes
* Parents: your kids can share their evolved quirkies on social media, but only if you grant permission through a parental gate.
* By popular demand, play in offline mode without internet connection
* It's easier to evolve and win, but also possible to die now!
* Many new learning resources (videos and quizzes) about evolution
* Educational videos can be watched in landscape orientation
* Interface improvements and bug fixes
* Parents: your kids can share their evolved quirkies on social media, but only if you grant permission through a parental gate.
1.1
Apr 22, 2015
Minor bug fixes.
1.0
Apr 10, 2015
Quirkies Evolution FAQ
Click here to learn how to download Quirkies Evolution in restricted country or region.
Check the following list to see the minimum requirements of Quirkies Evolution.
iPhone
Requires iOS 7.1 or later.
iPad
Requires iPadOS 7.1 or later.
iPod touch
Requires iOS 7.1 or later.
Quirkies Evolution supports English
