How do you make the complex reality of chips and electronics accessible to a broad audience? TU/e researcher Elles Raaijmakers believes an educational game can do just that. Earlier, she distributed robust electronics kits to schools and libraries as part of TU/e's outreach efforts. "Tomorrow's experts are sitting in today's classrooms. That's where I want to reach them."
Anyone who wants to run a chip factory will soon no longer need to invest millions. In the game I.C. Tycoon (working title), players take on the role of chip designer and manufacturer. They work for demanding clients and solve problems that are surprisingly close to reality. The project is led by postdoc Elles Raaijmakers, under the guidance of experienced TU/e professor Peter Baltus.
"You start with a factory and clients who all want something different," Raaijmakers explains. "That involves designing a chip, setting up production and delivering the final product. Sometimes the client is satisfied, but often they want changes at the very last moment. Those aren't always easy to implement, just like in real life."
Under the hood, I.C. Tycoon uses real, open-source chip designs from a German branch of independent chip manufacturer GlobalFoundries. Because of that, the game genuinely teaches players how chips work: even though the designs are outdated, the underlying principles remain the same.
Interactive science communication
Specialising in science communication and gamification , Elles Raaijmakers wants the game to provide step-by-step insight into the complexity of chip design as an interactive form of public outreach. "You need to know so much before you can make a chip. A game makes it possible to convey that knowledge gradually. Players can also share and compare their designs, which makes the learning process more active."
The name I.C. Tycoon refers to integrated circuits: the technical term for the piece of semiconductor material (usually silicon) on which an electronic circuit is built, and is commonly called a computer chip.
"Think of a chip like a house. Every house has the same basic purpose -to have people live in them- but the design differs from one occupant to another. One person wants a large bathroom, another an open kitchen. A bedroom facing south, or east instead. A chip works in the same way: the foundation remains the same, but every client wants something different. That's what makes it interesting as well as complex."
TU/e is collaborating with the University of Twente on the content of this game and for public communication with the University of Amsterdam.
Because game development is a discipline in its own right, Eindhoven-based game company Enversed Studios was brought in for the design.
Unexpected resistance
The idea of explaining chips through a game only emerged after earlier public outreach projects with the same goal proved too complex. Initially, Raaijmakers' supervisor (professor and TU/e icon Peter Baltus ) wanted users to work directly with open-source chip designs.
"He saw it as an opportunity to break through the secrecy surrounding chip design," Raaijmakers recalls. "He said: 'Now anyone can make chips!'" But reality offered more resistance than anticipated. The accompanying software and components were difficult for beginners to handle, and when an intermediary went bankrupt, the project came to a halt.
Green flames
The approach changed course, returning to the basics of electricity and simple circuits, using ready-made educational components. A school in Venlo agreed to serve as a testing ground. Raaijmakers recalls: "We were aiming for eight pupils, but 32 showed up. Apparently, the word had spread, and interest skyrocketed. When one group tried to increase the volume of a sound chip, they connected six batteries, about 18 volts, to a 5-volt chip. The sound didn't get louder, but green flames started to emerge."
In two hours, the children managed to blow up, melt, or otherwise destroy some 250 chips. "An educational experiment, but not a sustainable method," was the clear-eyed conclusion.
Electronics kits as an alternative
As a more accessible alternative, TU/e eventually ordered three thousand Snap Circuits kits from the American company Elenco, along with three hundred measuring instruments. These kits focus not on chip design, but on basic electronics. Child-friendly and child-proof. Libraries received the kits free of charge through affiliated distribution networks and supporting organisations. By now, 26 libraries and five secondary schools are participating, spread across ten provinces in the Netherlands.
Participants are free to decide how they use the kits: they can be loaned out to members, used in workshops, or deployed in collaborations with primary schools. There are also demonstration days where children can freely build circuits. Several libraries work with technically skilled volunteers who help expand and deepen the material.
Initial responses have been enthusiastic. During the Weekend van de Wetenschap (Weekend of Science) last October, one library reported that the table was "constantly full," with children building electrical circuits together with parents and grandparents. Raaijmakers and the project team are still working on self-produced Dutch-language instruction booklets, as these were not included in the original kits. "We're going to make a lot of children very happy and spark their curiosity about technology," one response told her.
Game testing
Still, the urge remained to do more with the open-source chip designs that were sitting on the shelf. That led to I.C. Tycoon, developed together with the aforementioned Enversed Studios. "As accessible as those kits are, they don't provide a complete picture of chips," Raaijmakers says.
Initial funding for the game came from a TU/e BOOST! grant. In September 2025, an NWO Science Communication grant followed, allowing the game to be further developed and eventually made available to a broad audience.
From April 2026 onward, the game will be tested with high school pupils. Based on their feedback, another improvement round will follow, after which the game is expected to be released publicly in the summer, if all goes according to plan.
'Too difficult' does not exist
According to Raaijmakers, the fact that she and her team keep searching for new ways to bring technology to a wider audience has everything to do with the influence of Peter Baltus, who mentors them. "Peter has a growth mindset. For him, 'too difficult' doesn't exist. He seizes every opportunity to explain something and even walks around with chips he designed himself in his pocket, ready to pull them out at a moment's notice when he senses the opportunity to explain something."
"For him, technology is so fascinating that he believes everyone should know about it. And I can only agree, because tomorrow's experts are sitting in today's classrooms. That's where I want to reach them."
