Rantings of a Pastor/Gamer/Historian/Geek
As the subtitle of this blog clearly states, I’m a gamer. Now, before you go and resign my level of geekiness to equal that of mere video games, I should warn you, I am also into PnP games. What are PnP games, you may ask? That’s a great question. PnP is an acronym for Pen and Paper. That’s right. DnD. The devil’s game. (Just kidding, we all know that Parcheesi is really the devil’s game.) Every Saturday night, a group of friends gather at my house to play a table top role playing game. (James says that I like to throw in the “table top” just to make myself feel better.) Yes, this confession may have revealed more about myself than I would have wanted, but I needed to explain my credentials for critiquing some of the most popluar Christian Board Games.
Today’s game, Apples to Apples: Bible Edition, like most others, is based on a popular, yet heathen, original. In the game Apples to Apples, sinners, I mean players, take turns drawing a green Adjective card. They read the card aloud, and then the other players select a red Noun card from their hand that best matches that adjective. It’s all pretty simple.
Before we get started talking about the Bible Edition, click on the image and read the cards. Just from reading the samples, I fear that anyone I played this game with would find themselves questioning my salvation. I mean: Michael the Archangel, The Bible, Prince of Peace, The book of Life, how do you decide which is the most amazing?!?! I just don’t know if I can take that kind of pressure! What happens if you don’t pick the Prince of Peace? How do you get more amazing than Jesus? Well, the Bible was written by over 40 human authors under the direction of the Holy Spirit and is full of confirmed prophecy, what if it is more amazing? But I thought Jesus was the word? What if we’re only talking about the Prince of Peace aspect of Jesus? But he came to bring a sword, not peace. And what about…
*KA-BOOM*
That was the sound of my head exploding.
Why do we Christians find the need to buy Christian versions of a game that’s already rated for all players? One of my favourite quotes is from the back of the box (pictured below):
Apples to Apples Bible Edition brings the award winning card and party game, Apples to Apples, to the Christian community! Players will delight in the clever comparisons while expanding their knowledge of the Bible.
Despite what I just said about the craziness of having a “Christian” version of an already “G” rated board game, I’d really like to own Apples to Apples: Bible Edition. Imagine the fun that could be had by mixing these cards in with the original game. Adjective: Sexy. Noun: Billy Graham. Oh, the hilarity that would ensue
James Laws
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Oh, I so badly want to play the mixed version. Can we, can we?!
Kevin
June 23rd, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Yep, as soon as I can talk Jessa into buying this for me, we’ll be playing.
Russo
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Do you think I could possibly join in on that mixed game? That would be soooo much fun. Let him get it Jessa. Please!? :D
Jessa Stover
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:04 pm
It takes a little thing called money, dear. We have to have money before we can buy things like Bible editions of Apples to Apples. We might be able to take regular paper, cut it into little rectangles, and put our own Bible type nouns and adjectives down on them. I don’t see any other way for a while. Sorry. If there are any donors out there, we aren’t too prideful to accept the great gift of this Bible edition of Apples to Apples. I was there in the store the day that Kevin discovered this amazing game. I can tell you the impact that it had on me just seeing the box. I automatically wanted it. I began to sweat under my pits and at the hairline on my head from the excitement. My breath came in spurts and I caught myself day dreaming about sitting around a table with a group of strictly Christian friends playing the game. I can still see it clearly now.
Russo
June 25th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Whoa, you had day dreams of sitting with strictly Christian friends playing the game. That’s a real vivid imagination.
Miller
July 1st, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I just might have to buy this game…After I get back from driving all over the US, I’ll be in Cleveland for 2 weeks before I move. If I buy it, we’ll need to play it!