Since 2022, the ESA Pacific Branch has hosted the Entomolympics, a series of entomology-related games that test participants’ skills and creativity. Here, a group participates in a game that tests students’ skills at aspirating insects (in this case, simulated with cut-up pipe cleaners) with a suction tube. Team members race against the clock trying to collect all the insects before their opponents do.

By Michelle Au and Dowen Jocson

Editor’s Note: This post is part of a series contributed by the ESA Student Affairs Committee. See other posts by and for entomology students here at Entomology Today.

Do you ever wonder how fast you can build a bug dorm or how many point mounts you can make in 30 seconds compared to your fellow entomologists? These important entomological skills are not only useful in the lab; they can also be turned into a healthy competition against other students at an Entomological Society of America Branch Meeting.

The ESA Pacific Branch has been hosting an annual “Entomolympics” competition for students from various universities to network in a fun and engaging manner. Think of this like the Olympics with an entomology flair. The competition features a series of entomology-related games in which teams of four test their insect science skills and creativity. Teams accumulate points based on their performance in each round (three points for first place, two for second, one for third), and the team with the most points after all the rounds wins.

We will host the 5th Annual Entomolympics at the 2026 ESA Pacific Branch Meeting in Spokane, Washington, and we encourage other ESA Branches to try it out as well. Who knows, maybe we can host a central Entomolympics Competition for all the winning Branch teams at the ESA Annual Meeting one day?

Here are some of the games the Pacific Branch Entomolympics has featured:

Pollinator Prance. In this game, each team member is assigned a task. First, the pollinator, in this case a bee, lays an egg by shooting a ping pong ball into a cup. Then, the next two members start provisioning. Numbered papers are taped to the floor, and the team members assigned to this task must roll a die for a chance to collect pollen. Once they collect 6 “units” of pollen, then the next team member tries to flip a cup to cap the nest. The team that successfully feeds the hive wins.

During the 1st annual Entomolympics in Santa Rosa, California, participants needed to “lay eggs” like a queen bee by shooting ping pong balls into a cup.

Operation: BugDorm. Many of us have had to assemble BugDorms for our insect rearing. The fastest team to build a completed BugDorm wins the game. Over the years, we have added new obstacles, such as each team member can only use one hand to play, or we have turned it into a relay race in which each member can only assemble one piece at a time. Another idea that may be more challenging would be to blindfold one team member and have the other members instruct them on how to build it. With no instructions in hand, each team must rely on their entomology skills to win.

Operation Complete! Team members (left to right) RJ Millena, Alix Whitener, Michelle Au, and Karim Gharbi and successfully built their BugDorm in record time!

Gotta Point ’em All. Point mounting is a careful and tedious task that we have turned into a game of speed and accuracy. Each team sends their best contestant forward to see how efficiently and accurately they can punch out point mounts. With 30 seconds on the clock, each contestant must create as many point mounts as they can while making sure that each point is still a complete triangle. Judges will score them on speed, accuracy, and efficient use of the paper. This game really puts your entomology skills to the test.

Anna Briggs takes the cautious approach, making a clean line of point mounts with her paper during the 2022 Pacific Branch meeting in Santa Rosa, California.

Be a Bola. Based on a bola spider, each team must “fish” for their prey using a sticky ball at the end of a silk line. To mimic how a bola spider does this, we tied a string around the participant’s waist and put a ball of tape at the end. The first team to capture four prey (pieces of paper) and bring them back to the start line wins the game.

Being a Bola spider is harder than you think. Participants struggle to capture their prey.

Six-Legged Race. Think three-legged race times two. As in a traditional three-legged race, two people each have a leg tied to the other’s, but then two of these pairs must connect to form a four-person, six-legged insect. Team members must always be connected, often facing each other holding hands or in a line with hands on shoulders, so there are no decapitated insects, and they race to the end of a course to win the game. To make things more challenging, in some years we have created an obstacle course that teams must navigate through with their six legs. This game is quite the spectacle.

During the 2024 Pacific Branch Meeting in Waikōloa, Hawaii, we got to take advantage of the beautiful outdoors and host our six-legged race on the lawn and add obstacles to make it extra challenging for the teams.

Bug-o-Rade. Insects rely heavily on different senses to navigate the world. In this game, each team must only use one of these senses to depict a specific insect to their team. The first round starts easily with sight, like the game Pictionary. Next, team members can only rely on sound, creating unique noises like mating calls. Finally, team members must act out their insect in a game of charades, calling upon courtship dances and unique behaviors to mimic these insects.

Students get creative by taking advantage of props around the room to act out their insects in a game of charades. Do you see the dung beetle?

Suck ‘em Up! Aspirating insects is a unique entomological skill that requires speed and strong lungs. Each team has 30 seconds to aspirate as many “insects” (cut-up pipe cleaners) on their “beat sheet” (kiddie pool). In some years, we have added fun twists to the game, such as “heavy winds” (shaking the kiddie pool) or aspirating only certain groups of insects, which we assigned a color. There were also insects that were too large to be aspirated and needed to be avoided to prevent a clog. To keep things sanitary, we wiped down the aspirators with alcohol after each round. Make sure the aspirators are dry before the next round, or the team members will get a lung full of fumes, which we all have done in the field.

Team members race against the clock trying to collect all the insects before their opponents do.

Build a Bug. Insects are the most diverse group of organisms in the world, and there are still so many that need to be discovered. Each team has 30 minutes to create their own group of insects that contain some unique characteristics to fall under the same order, family, or genus. All insects must be labeled and follow museum preservation standards. Judges will score them on entomological accuracy, unique backstory, and overall creativity. This activity was extremely fun, and the audience also voted for their favorite group to give the teams extra points.

Team Pierce and Sucks at the 4th annual Entomolympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, created a group of insects that have lost their legs and have adapted to an aquatic lifestyle.

Don’t Forget the Little Guys. All of us have been there, counting yellow sticky cards under the microscope until late into the night. Each team has 10 seconds to look at the yellow sticky card and count the number of insects. Each round gets harder with smaller insects and debris on the cards, like leaves and petals. The team that is closest to the correct number of insects gets one point per round. The team with the most points after all five rounds wins the game. In past years when we were unable to transport real insects on sticky cards, we used colored cotton balls and pipe cleaners to create our own insect species.

The game starts off easy with larger insects to count, like these Tephritidae.

X Marks the Spot. Every entomologist has learned to pin insects in their first semester of general entomology. However, we don’t think any of us has had to do it blindfolded. In this game, each team sends its tribute to accurately pin a toy insect. Team members must identify the insect blindfolded and determine the correct location for their insect pin. Judges score each team based on accuracy for each round.

Teams were judged based on a simple pinning guide.

Nerf Pinning. Just because we all love pinning insects, we’ve come up with more than one game to test everyone’s skills. In this game, whiteboards with the outline of an insect are placed 15 feet away from the participants. Each team member must accurately pin the insect by using a Nerf shooter. This is challenging in more ways than one; not only do you need to aim and shoot accurately, but you also need to know where to place the “pin.”

Participants are laser-focused during the 2nd annual Entomolympics in Seattle, Washington, to accurately “pin” their insect.

With the support from the Pacific Branch Executive Committee and our awesome sponsors over the years (Bayer, Bejo Seeds, Corteva Agriscience, Driscoll’s, FMC Corp, Gowan USA, GS Long, Hubbard Agricultural Science, ISK Biosciences, Koppert, Noldus Information Technology, Oregon State University Bug Club, Syngenta, and Valent USA), we have been able to give out prizes to the Entomolympics winners and sponsor other student activities.

We hope to inspire other ESA Branches to start their own Entomolympics competition and create lasting memories for their student members!

Michelle Au is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and current student activities chair for the ESA Pacific Branch. Email: [email protected]. Dowen Jocson, Ph.D., is a pesticide safety educator at Washington State University and a past student activities chair for the Pacific Branch. Email: [email protected].

All photos courtesy of Michelle Au.