Quander is a game world that contains five QIS-themed mini-games and collectable rewards. The mini-games integrate QIS concepts including superposition, probabilistic outcomes, entanglement, measurement, and quantum circuits. All of the main characters have a superposition aspect, featuring vampires (bats + people), zombies (dead + alive), and a werewolf. You are a young vampire, Molly Cule, whose genius cat, Tangle, has had an explosion in her lab while experimenting with her quantum computer. Parts of her quantum computer have landed throughout the village, and you are helping her get back her parts. This is complicated by the fact that others found the parts!
Name: Molly Cule Role: Friendly neighborhood vampire, cat lover, and caretaker of Tangle Hobbies: Eating qupcakes, creating video games, reading detective novels Favorite fruits: Neck-tarines, blood oranges Favorite subject: A-count-ing Birthday: October 31
Name: Wane Role: Molly Cule's bestie Hobbies: Digging holes, tunneling, and leading Molly Cule (in bat form) on a hunt Favorite toys: Anything in a quantum computer Birthmonth: January (on the Wolf Moon)
Name: Bat Molly Cule Role: Bat version of Molly Cule, Wane's bestie Hobbies: Flying, because it's awesome Birthday: Wait, do I get two birthdays?
Name: Byte Role: Tangle's archnemesis Hobbies: Flipping coins and guessing what they land on, beating Tangle in a game of QueueBits, rubbing socks on carpet, leaving batteries out for DeeCee Favorite Music Genre: Math Rock Birthday: August 26th
Name: Chef Riley Scatter Role: A brilliant yet absent-minded chef. Makes qupcakes at the Qupcakery. Hobbies: Laser tag, retelling jokes, opening and closing gates. Favorite Flower: Forget-me-nots Birthday: April 4
Name: Tangle Role: A wonderful quantum computing mastermind Hobbies: Being simultaneously inside and outside of boxes, beating Byte in a game of QueueBits, receiving the correct number of belly rubs Favorite Toys: Laser (coolers), Schrodinger boxes Birthday: March 17th
Name: Fran Role: Cautious security guard of the regional blood bank, Ken's responsible older twin sister Hobbies: Synchronized swimming and tandem bicycling Favorite games: Seesaw, hide-and-seek Birthday: Jan 1, 1818
Name: Ken Role: Adventurous security guard of the regional blood bank, Fran's mischievous younger twin brother Hobbies: Unsynchronized swimming and tandem bicycling Favorite games: Sawsee, seek-and-hide Birthday: Jan 1, 1818
Across the village, an absent-minded chef has been using quantum gates to fix his cupcake orders in Qupcakes.
Finally, in Tangle's Lair, you search Tangle's vaults for spare parts but using simplification rules to accelerate quantum circuits being used as pass codes to locked rooms.
In Buried Treasure, Byte also buried the parts in a cemetery, which your friend Wolfie is willing to help you find, but he's afraid of the cemetery in the dark (which is unfortunate, because he is only a wolf at night once a month), so you can't waste his efforts.
Her archnemesis next door, Byte the dog, is holding onto parts just out of spite, requiring you and Tangle to beat him at the QueueBits game.
Quander is a game world that contains five QIS-themed mini-games and collectable rewards. The area marked "Keep Out" is Molly and Tangle's top secret hideout, where Molly keeps her journal
Other parts were found in the yard of the local vampire blood bank, and villagers put them in their secured vaults navigated by the entangled twins (Twintangled) Fran and Ken.
Quantum Processor
A quantum processor is only good for solving certain problems, like searching a database or simulating a chemical reaction.
Quantum Science
Quantum lets us know how nature works when things get very small
Correlation
Two things are correalted when they appear to share a conncetion
Entanglement
Entangled particles share a relationship measuring on particle's properties affects the outcome of measurements of the other
Quantum App
Quantum Computers can help us understand special material, break certain type of codes, and search through data
Gate Simplification
Doing things with the least amount of gates is what we call the simplest circuit
Phase
In a quantum computer you cannot see a phase of a qubit directly
Quantum Processor
A quantum processor is only good for solving certain problems, like searching a database or simulating a chemical reaction
Measurement
​A Qubit that starts out as a superposition of 0 and 1 has only one of those values after being measured
Superposition
Quantum information can be a superposition of both a 0 and a 1 at the same time, but also neither 0 nor 1 at the same time
Probability
Probability lets us make predictions. So, if you flip a coin there is a 50% probability it will land on either heads or tails
Cast of Characters
Molly Cule
You are Molly Cule, and your genius cat, Tangle, has destroyed your basement ... again. Now you need to help gather Tangle's quantum computer components from your other friends around the town.
Tangle
Molly Cule's beloved, genius cat. "The basement is my lair, but quantum is my flair," she says! In order to focus on her work, she moved to the basement to remove herself from the temptation of sleeping in warm sun spots. She has been working hard on various implementations of quantum computers, but she drew so much power that it caused a surge and blew up her equipment. She needs your help to gather the computer components around town.
Byte
Tangle's arch-nemesis - the dog next door. An equally cerebral creature, he typically spends his time playing games of chess and tic-tac-toe with neighborhood dogs, stealing their treats when they lose. He just happened to find a grid of qubits, so he challenges you to a game to win them back!
Fran and Ken
Raised from the dead, these twins have a special connection - when one steps forward, the other does, too, even if there is a wall in from of them! This skill makes them uniquely qualified to guard specially-constructed dungeons that no other creature can navigate. Control the twins to search for the computer parts that are secured within the vampire blood bank!
Chef Riley Scatter
The chef at the local Qupcakery is the nicest guy you'll ever meet - but accuracy is not his specialty. This absent-minded chef makes delicious chocolate, vanilla, and mystery cupcakes, but always seems to give the cupcakes to the wrong customers. Imagine his delight when he found some of Tangle's quantum devices, allowing him to quickly fix his mistakes and deliver the customers what they want. He just wants to get far enough ahead to fund his own purchases. Help him by fulfilling his orders fast enough to purchase the new devices, and he'll let you give the parts back to Tangle.
Wane "Wolfie" the Werewolf
Wane is Molly's (sometimes) human BFF. Wane loves to joke and explore, just like Molly. But, there's just one problem. Wane is afraid of the dark, and his fears keep him from exploring too deep into the graveyard. However, with the support of his friends (and his ability to change into a wolf at night), he is slowly overcoming those fears.
Mini-Games
Buried Treasure
In Buried Treasure Molly (in bat form) enlists the help of Wane (in wolf form) to search for some quantum computer parts that Tangle thinks Byte buried in the local graveyard. Molly acts like a quantum sensor taking many measurements by flying in and out of foggy graveyard. She marks where she thinks parts are buried with lanterns and Wane goes in to hopefully dig them up!
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Download the Buried Treasure Educator Facilitation Guide Here
QueueBits
In QueueBits Molly and Tangle work together to compete against Byte in a Connct4-stye game with quantum twists! Instead of tokens being either red or yellow, some tokens are in a superposition of both colors, and you won't know what color the token will be until later in the game. Tangle is a sleepyhead and keeps dozing off during the games, so it's up to Molly to pick up where Tangle left off and beat Byte!
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Qupcakery
In Qupcakery Molly must help Chef Riley Scatter deliver customers their correct cupcake order. Chef is forgetful and frequently sends out the wrong flavor cupcake. Molly must correct the orders by dragging and dropping different quantum cooking gadgets onto conveyor belts. Each gadget changes the cupcakes' flavor in a different way!
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TwinTanglement
In TwinTanglement Molly works with the frankentwins Fran and Ken to navigate the local blood bank in hopes of finding some quantum computer parts. Fran and Ken's motion is entangled. When one twin moves so does the other! Molly helps the twins navigate the complex maze in the blood bank by telling each where and when to move. The can only get out of the maze with each other's help!
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Download the TwinTanglement Educator Facilitation Guide here!
Tangle's Lair
In Tangle's Lair Molly has to help Tangle get back into her basement lair. Tangle likes to keep her work super secret, so she locked her lair behind 25 doors! Each door is protected by a complex quantum circuit. To open each door Molly has to simplify each circuit as much as possible by learning new ways to combine and reduce gates.
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Download the Tangle's Lair Educator Facilitation Guide here!
Keep Out! Secret Hideout
The area marked "Keep Out" is Molly and Tangle's top secret hideout. This is also where Molly keeps her journal. As Molly explores the town helping her friends she learns more about quantum computers and the townsfolk. Each time Molly learns something new she makes a note of it in her journal. Players can review all 40 collectable notes by visiting the Keep Out area.
Discover Quantum Information Science with Quander! Girl Scout Fun Patch Resources
Coming Soon!
UChicago
David Maldonado
Irina Lee
Tianle Liu
Grace Williams
Jonathan Liu
Shivani Puli
Liuhao Wu
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UCSB
Danielle Harlow
Devon M Christman
Liliana Garcia
Matthew Bennett
Kaylee Laub
Collin Lejano
Charlene Patenaude
William Huang
Edwin Yee
Raina Kakani
UIUC
Emily Edwards
Paria Peyravi
Filament Games
Funded by National Science Foundation
2115780 and 2115843
