How this works

The Strategy Game
(for Regulatory Affairs)

A satirical clinical-trials-to-FDA-approval sim. You're the sponsor and the contagion is your own program. The web rebirth of a finished board game by Angela N. Johnson, PhD.

The goal

Take a real product — dealt from the live ClinicalTrials.gov registry — from first-in-human to FDA approval. Each turn you draw a card and spin the wheel to climb a board from $100k to a $9B exit, burning capital with every square, before the money runs out, a milestone gate stops you cold, or a competitor files first. Can you run your trials fast enough?

Your resources

💰 Product value — your position on the board. Climbing the snake is your valuation rising ($100k → $9B); the top is the win.
💵 Capital — cash, and your fuel. Every square you climb burns it, plus a little overhead each turn; hit zero and you're out of money (the original board's lose condition).
📊 Data — clinical/CMC evidence. The reviewer weighs this heavily. Data > narrative.
📈 Readiness — how prepared you are for the next milestone. Build it from deck draws; spend it to pass each gate.
🤝 Goodwill — your standing with FDA, KOLs, and investors. Cushions bad news.
⏳ Turns — runway. Generous, but dithering burns it.
🏁 Competitor — a rival dog racing you up the same board. If it reaches the filing line before you submit, you're scooped — second-to-market.

Each turn

Two beats: draw, then spin.

Draw a card from one of four decks — 🔬 R&D (slow, costly, clean data), 🧪 Enroll (fast progress, messier data, an integrity flag Dr. Vance will find), 🏛️ FDA (buys goodwill, slows the competitor), or 💵 Funding (refills the war chest). The card flips face-up and applies its effect. This is your decision for the turn.
Spin the wheel (1–4) and your cat climbs that many squares up the snake. Each square burns capital. The square you land on fires its event — funding, a hazard, a fork in the road, or a forced draw.

Milestone gates block the climb until your readiness meets the gate; the “Next gate” bar tells you how close you are. Clearing the last gate puts you in front of Dr. Vance. A spin of 1 also refunds a little cash — slow and frugal isn't always wrong.

Drug or device — the board knows

The pathway is set by the real trial you're dealt. A drug or biologic routes you through Pre-IND → Phase 1/2/3 → NDA/BLA, with Type B meetings, Breakthrough Therapy, Orphan Drug, and CMC. A device reroutes to Concept → Pre-Sub → Bench → Pivotal → 510(k)/PMA, and every card swaps to the right language — Pre-Sub instead of Type B, Breakthrough Device, Humanitarian Use Device, Parallel Review, Not Substantially Equivalent. The regulatory vocabulary is not interchangeable, and neither are we.

Your founder

Pick one of six archetypes from the original board — Dr. Curzitall, D. Lay JD, Brian the grad student, O. Vrsink PhD, Prof. Goetta Grant, Ms. N. Vested MBA — each bending the odds in its own (punny) way.

The FDA reviewer

At submission you make your case to Dr. Eleanor Vance, Division of Regulatory Reckoning. She weighs your data heavily and your enthusiasm not at all, and returns one of four verdicts: APPROVED, APPROVABLE WITH DEFICIENCIES, COMPLETE RESPONSE LETTER, or REFUSE TO FILE. (Optionally powered by a small, hard-capped language model; otherwise a scripted Dr. Vance, equally unimpressed.)

Winning, losing, and the leaderboard

Clear the submission gate and win Dr. Vance's approval to win; accept a buyout at the right moment for a partial win ("exited before Series B"); run out of money, run out of runway, or get scooped at the filing line to lose. Your score rewards speed, leftover cash, honest data, and good regulatory citizenship. The 🏆 Hall of Sponsors ranks everyone — with titles from "Regulatory Unicorn" to "Never Raised Series B."

Leaderboard & your data (MVP, and labeled as such)

To appear on the leaderboard we store your first name, last name, and email. There is no account, no password, no verification — the email is only a contact handle and a way to keep your best score from duplicating. We never display it (you appear as "First L."), never send it to the language model, and never sell it. This is a board game, not a clinical registry, and we collect accordingly. Want your entry removed? Email contact@therealcat.ai.

The fine print

This game is satire and education, not regulatory, clinical, or investment advice. It dramatizes real FDA pathways for fun and literacy; it is not a model of any specific product, sponsor, or review. Real regulatory decisions are made by real people far more reasonable than Dr. Vance. Provided "as is," for educational and research purposes, with no warranty; see the tool's full Terms & Disclaimer (Massachusetts governing law).

The Strategy Game (for Regulatory Affairs) — a project of The Real Cat AI Labs, Inc., a Massachusetts 501(c)(3), with support from Biotech Mentor LLC. Built on real ClinicalTrials.gov data.

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The Strategy Game(for Regulatory Affairs)