Great New Game Ideas

A friend and I were reminiscing the other day about the sorry state of games with an explicit Christian target audience. And, since I consider game designing to be one of my bigger hobbies, I figured..."Hey, why not?" That could definitely bring in some extra income! After thinking about it for a bit, I realized it's not very fun to make any truly edifying games, and it certainly wouldn't be very profitable. I had way more fun making up some games that...well, I won't spoil the fun.

Now, I know what you're thinking. I'm going to put these on here, and you're going to come along and snatch up my game ideas! Well, it happened before (see here), and I'm ready for it this time. Chances are, by the time you read this, I'll be halfway back from the permit office, cackling all the way!

Now, without further ado, here are the most awesome 'Christian' games to never hit the market! Read them and bask in their awesomeness!

Cryptic Praise
Remember those days when the WWJD and FROG trinkets were cool? It was way sweet to walk around with an acronym that nobody knew tagged to your wrist/ankle/neck, and when they asked you, you got to boast your faith to the unsuspecting stranger! What fun! It's a shame that everybody knows what those mean nowadays...but with this game, you get the chance to wear fashionable phylacteries all over again! There are several dice with letters that are rolled into a grid (not unlike Boggle), and the players come up with some sly sayings with the letters in the grid! All the phrases are written down and voted on, and the winner gets to make a bracelet (with the companion "Cryptic Praise Craft Kit," of course)! First to make ten bracelets wins! Come out with such zingers as WYGMBSR (When You Get More Better; Sanctification Rocks!) or PLMSP (Please Let Me Say Prayers)! The possibilities are endless, as well as the fun of being smug about your covert holiness!

Prosperopoly (Tagline: "Get ahead without being left behind!")
Remember the parable about the servants and the talents? Well, that was really about how Jesus wants us to be rich and happy on Earth before we meet him in Heaven. What better way to be happy than to be richer than everyone you know? In this Monopoly-esque board game, each player is trying to amass a bigger fortune than his brotherly rivals. Sometimes it's a tough world out there, and 'liberties' need to be taken to make sure you can maximize your returns. Just draw a Sin Token and bend the rules to your liking--you can always earn back your salvation with good works (or a 10% donation between Park Place Ministries and the Boardwalk Church Campus)! But be careful to look for the end-times (Such as 'Rumor of Wars,'  'Euro Increases in Value,' and the dead giveaway, 'Popular National Leader Elected'). If the "Rapture" Card is drawn, and if you have even one Sin Token left, you're left behind, and lose immediately! The winner is the raptured player with the most capital!

Sinspotting - The DVD Game
This great family game now harnesses the latest technology to teach us how different we are from those who don't know Jesus! Players split into two teams and a randomly selected vignette is played on the DVD player. Teams have thirty seconds to identify as many sins as they can before time runs out--your team gets a point for every sin noticed that the other team failed to (Note: "Bad Acting," while prevalent, is not a sin). Points are amassed quickly, so the first to 153 (a very important Biblical number) wins the game! *UPDATE* Sinspotting now comes in a brand new "Travel Edition" you can take along with you next time you venture into the pagan populous! It includes sinpads, pencils, and a timer. Just point at a person or group of people near you, observe, and start condemning!

Battleground: Denomi-Nation
The Great Commission can be pretty difficult to accomplish at times, especially with so many other denominations out there trying to beat us to the punch, so why not play this game to feel as if you're converting the world?! Although it may seem somewhat similar to Risk, the stakes are ever so much higher! The board is a map of a generic city (you can name it whatever you like--name it the town you live in for your first game, but it can be somewhere more exotic, like "Seattle" or "London" if you're feeling more dangerous!) Each player takes a set of wooden colored cubes and a denomination card. Then the dark, sinner-colored cubes are placed randomly around the map. The players then take turns placing their faithful, converting sinner-cubes into their specific saint-color cubes. The game really takes off when each player utilizes their denomination's super-powers!  Is your revenue dwindling with your church membership? Hold pageants and programs to lure in the other player's cubes to make them your own! Are the remaining sin-cubes in your area making your faithful feel unsafe? Play a "Cultural Suppression" card and push those difficult cubes into the other player's back yard! Worried about losing your denomination's tax-exempt status? Just succeed at a Get-Out-The-Vote dice roll and install local government leaders that agree with you, and watch the other denominations scurry! Who needs to be part of a body, when you can be the biggest, baddest ear around?! Of course, Battleground:Denomi-Nation will have future expansion packs, granting in-depth abilities to the denominations, and allowing you to create your own! Who can stand against an army of faithful saints when they have "Contemporary Worship," "Political Connections," and "Works-Based Theology" on their side!?

Coming soon to a Christian Book store near you!