Cancer lessons from digital sperm

Can you safely guide Sammy to Planet Prostate?

An interactive sperm called Sammy is the star of an online game with a serious message about prostate cancer.

Navigating Sammy Sperm from Arousal through the Twin Planets Testes to Planet Prostate may be fun but it is hoped it will also teach a serious lesson along the way.

"It is a health education game designed to introduce men to the prostate gland and the role that it plays in sex," explained Dr Chris Hiley of the Prostate Cancer Charity.

"Men don't know where it is or what it does and this is designed to address that problem," she told the BBC programme Go Digital.

Male distractions

More than 20,000 men in the UK are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year.

Dr Hiley: Making sperm fun

It is set to overtake lung cancer as the number one cause of cancer in men.

In the game, players have to navigate Sammy Sperm through three levels, Arousal, Twin Planet Testes and finally Planet Prostate.

As well introducing players to the facts about the prostate gland, the game has plenty of more familiar aspects such as beer, telly and video games.

Sammy must avoid these perennial male distractions to get to his destination.

The prostate gland is about the size of a walnut and sits at the base of the bladder around the tube (urethra) that urine passes through.

It makes liquid to keep the urethra moist and healthy and adds to the fluid which carries sperm on ejaculation.