Catch the Sperm

Catch the Sperm is a Swiss computer game recognized as an entertaining way for health professionals to promote prevention of HIV.^[1]

The original Catch the Sperm (now known as CTS Style I) is a 3.4-megabite action game created in 2001 and updated in 2002 and 2003 by Sweden’s Phenomedia for the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health’s STOP AIDS Campaigne. The game can be played on a personal computer, a mobile telephone, or a cellular telephone.

The game was designed for free international distribution. All the graphics associated with it are in the public domain.

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Various versions

Catch the Sperm is available in seven versions:

• CTS Style 1 (2001)
• CTS Style 2 (2002)
• Duel (2003)
• Carnival (2003)
• Summer (2003)
• Winter (2003)
• Christmas (2003).

Each version has its own theme, sperm characters, virus villains, and screen graphics, some of which seem to have been designed to parody the original images [1].

CTS Style 1

The original Catch the Sperm (CTS Style 1) was created in 2001. It is set within the interior of a vagina and the game commences amid orgasmic moans and groans. The characters are a Neutral Sperm, a Dual Techno Sperm, and a Precious Sperm. Various viruses are included as the villains.

CTS Style 2

CTS Style 2 is a 2002 update of the original Catch the Sperm game. Set in a blue environment that is ambiguous enough so that it could represent either the ocean depths or outer space, it features a Frozen Sperm, a Supersperm, a Fool Sperm, a Jungle Sperm, an I-Sperm, and a Jurassic Precious Sperm.

Carnival

The Carnival edition of Catch the Sperm is set against a background of what appears to be surreal paintings and includes drifting balloons and floating strands of confetti, some of which are spiral shaped like uncoiling DNA double helixes. The characters are a Waggis, a Joker, a Sambina, a Lipstick, a Clown, and Gold, Silver, and Bronze Sperm. There are six viruses.

Summer

The Summer edition of Catch the Sperm is set in a sunny Caribbean ocean of light blue water, flowering underwater plants, and bright sunshine. The characters are a Submarine, an Orca, a Swimmer, a Water, and a Diver Sperm. As with the Carnival edition, the Summer version also includes six viruses.

Christmas

The Christmas edition of Catch the Sperm is a winter landscape over which the sperm characters fly rather than swim. As they travel through the frosty night, they pass illuminated and decorated Christmas trees, lit candles, bows, and icicles. The characters are a Chocolate Sperm that, as its name suggests, resembles milk chocolate; a bearded Santa Claus Sperm, wearing a red stocking hat with a white pompom and a red flannel body suit; a Cold Sperm, wearing a blue-and-green stocking cap and matching earmuffs; a white Snowy Sperm, wearing a black top hat; and a Wrapped Sperm that is decorated with a bright red bow.

International versions

In addition, Catch the Sperm is available in many foreign language additions, including English, German, and Japanese.

Purpose

Available free, the game serves the serious purposes of reminding adults that sex has risks against which the proper and regular use of condoms can protect.

Object

To protect the lady (or gentleman) who is having sex, the player shoots condoms from an imaginary gun that can be moved up or down along the right edge of the screen to align with oncoming threats. If the condoms find their targets, they snare sperm cells and the AIDS virus.

Scoring

A player loses 50 fifty points each time that his or her sperm gun is fired, but players accumulate 100 points for snaring sperm cells, additional points for trapping viruses, and bonus points for snaring special sperm. At some point in the play, the AIDS virus mutates, and play speeds up rapidly. The player may allow any number of sperm to slip past, although this will result in a lower score, but to allow even a single virus to speed past is to lose the game [2].

Music and sound effects

Bland music plays throughout the game, and various sound effects occur, resembling screams, as the sperm cells and viruses are snared.

Winning

Upon successfully completing a game, player are rewarded with a special “Congratulations” screen before embarking on the next level of play. They can also visit an Internet web site whereupon they can post their scores if the scores are among the highest of all other players. The world’s top three players of the week receive a Catch the Sperm mouse pad inside of which sperm swim in a liquid.

References