Please read the important information regarding these games at the bottom of the page.

About Electrocardiogram

The Electrocardiogram educational game and related reading are based on the 1924 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded for the discovery of the electrocardiogram, ECG.

Electrocardiogram Game

- For what do we use ECG?
- What does the mountains and valleys of the ECG curves stand for?
- What can you find out about the heart with an ECG?
- What is a cardiac infarction or a bundle branch block?

ECG is used for recording the small electric waves being generated during heart activity, a simple way of diagnosing heart conditions. This game lets you explore the key elements of the electrocardiogram from how to place the electrodes on the body for measuring the heart beats to how to analyze the mountains and valleys in the ECG curve. You are to diagnose four patients – which one has got a normal heart condition, which one is suffering from arrhythmia, bundle branch block or a cardiac infarction?

For instructions on how to play the game, click on the HELP button found at the bottom of the game window.

Reading: "The electrocardiogram – looking at the heart of electricity"

- A milestone in heart diagnosis
- What makes the heart beat?
- Where does the electricity in the heart come from?
- The challenge of registering millivolts
- From electrode to paper
- The leads & Einthoven's triangle
- Mountains and valleys
- Abnormal heartbeats & conduction defects
- Cells directing the heart muscle
- Repolarization and depolarization
- Assisting the heart

Read "The electrocardiogram – looking at the heart of electricity"


The Electrocardiogram Game was produced by: Nobel Media.
Acknowledgment: Bo-Lennart Johansson, MD, PhD. Dept of Surgical Sciences, Karolinska Institutet.
First published: August 2002
Estimated play time: 20 min.
Plug in requirements: Flash 6
Sound: No
High score: No





To cite this page
MLA style: "Electrocardiogram - About". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2022. <http://nobel-external-educationalgames-app.azurewebsites.net/educational/medicine/ecg/about.php>

About the educational games

The educational games are based on Nobel Prize awarded achievements and were produced between 2001 and 2012. Most games have not been updated since production (including potential scientific facts changes) and are provided here on an 'as is' basis by popular demand.

Some of the games run in modern browsers without the need of any plugin (either as a new version or using Ruffle), but many of the games still require Adobe Flash Player. Flash is an old technology that has reached end of life. These games will no longer work without a dedicated setup. If you are depending on these games in your profession, please advice your local IT support. We do not have the resources to provide support.

We are working on supporting more games without Flash.