A game that I was told is as strategic and fun as Ticket to Ride (Therese loves that game) and Settlers of Catan (a long weekend favorite) and has an endorsement from Fr. Mitch Pacwa of EWTN and the Archbishop of Warsaw–now THAT caught my attention, and I am grateful that it did.
I have never played a game with my family (and we play lots of games) that I thought I could recommend to other families as a Catholic family game. Now I have one. (Scroll down–watch the video!)
This game teaches many things, but most importantly that we are under the protection of angels. All the time. And that it should inform our thoughts and decisions and confidence!
In this game our family traveled back to the time to right before Jesus is born. The goal is to make it to Bethlehem between the 23rd and 27th day of the journey in order to meet the Holy Family in the stable. We traveled as a group through eight different places including mountains, deserts, and great cities and experienced the places and people with all their human virtues and frailties. And we experienced it together as a family: making decisions together, working together, learning together, laughing together and talking about meaningful and interesting things together. It was not only fun, but meaningful, and interesting and no one wanted to stop playing.
Clara shares in the video below an inside look at this exciting board game:
There are so many reasons to recommend this game:
- It is played cooperatively towards a goal: getting to Bethlehem in time to meet the Holy Family
- As in life, our family is constantly making decisions about what to do next and those decisions really impact what happens both in life and in the game.
- The questions create situations where our children’s (and our own) strengths and weaknesses were revealed to us all and we could discuss them, as well as the answers to historical and theological questions.
- There was plenty of laughing and fun as well as physical “challenges.”
- A parent is the “Grand Master” who reads the scenarios and directs what happens in the game. So, the parent ultimately decides what is appropriate for the ages of the players. This is very important, for example, if a part of a scenario is too scary so should not be read or edited somehow. So, younger kids can play as well as older ones.
- It moves fast and there are so many twists and turns. It can end suddenly or last for hours, but it is easy to pack up in the box and start where you left off because it is not dependent on a board. (So, you can use your table for eating instead of having a game set up on it for days).
However, the number one reason to play this game is that it teaches one of the most neglected parts of our faith: We are all under the protection of angels.
While on your journey in this game, you are brought back in time by the Archangel Raphael and are under his protection while you travel. At the time of Jesus there were real dangers and hardships, but through it all, an angel will protect you and your family. Just like in real life. Just like angels were so much a part of the first Christmas!
But how many of us always remember that. The world seems to get more dangerous every day and yet angels are there to protect us. Our Father’s most intelligent and powerful creatures are assigned to watch over each of us, our children, our families and our homes. This lesson needs to be taught to our children and we need to call upon our angels in our families for help and guidance. This message needs to be taught in our families now more than ever.
Kerri is the co-founder of Holy Heroes and the creator of the “Adventures” they offer free online. She has graduate degrees in history and law. She now homeschools the two children still at home (having successfully sent the six oldest children off to college).
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We bought this game last Christmas and still haven’t played it! Is there a video that explains how to play – I have no patience to sit and read through all the directions? We do family gifts at Christmas and I am bummed that this one didn’t take off, just collecting dust. Thank you.
There are a few videos from the creators about the various aspects of the game (you can find them on YouTube!), but in regards to learning and teaching the actual rules of the game, you do have to read the directions that come with the game!!
The game refers to team choices. If there are 4 players playing the game, does that mean we have to break them up into teams of 2 or is all 4 considered the team?
Hi.
Love the concept of this game!
I am an author of an apologetics book (95 Questions for Protestants).
Can you recommend a Catholic Board Game developer/publisher? I am nearly read with a prototype.
I am trying to decide whether this game would be taken seriously as a pure strategy game among real gamers that are not necessarily religious at all. I would like to buy it for my family, but I am curious if it works purely on its own game merits . I love that it has its own Catholic theme, do not get me wrong, I just want to get a sense if non-religious serious gamers would find it intriguing. The artwork and beauty and heft of the game pieces seem to match modern strategy games. I am surprised it has not been reviewed on boardgamegeek, etc.
Your guess is as good as ours!
Thank you for the quick reply! I really want to buy the game, but it IS quite expensive, so I was trying to see if it could have a “dual purpose” so to speak. That said, I am trying to help start a friendly social game night at church as well, and I think this would be a great gem in a starter collection. Again, thank you for the quick reply.
We purchased the game and love it, but I cannot figure out what TAU10 means? I don’t understand where it comes in/how to use it. I am sure the answer is simple, but i haven’t figured it out. HELP! Also, unfortunately our box was a little banged up in the shipping and the TAU spinner broke. Suggestions? I can handle a not so perfect box, but the spinner seems important, even if I haven’t figured out how to use it in the game. Posting this here because I don’t know where else to ask!
We will replace the spinner. Please email us at customerservice@holyheroes.com with address and order info so we can forward that to the mailhouse.
How many players? I love the idea of playing with my kids, but am also wondering if I could use it for a Religious Ed (Middle School) classroom of 20+ people? Or would I need multiple copies? Thanks!
Better to play into groups up to 8-10. Will keep everyone involved more. It is a cooperation game, so best not to let people hide in the background of a really large group.
Thank you! Good to know…
Our family got one of these and played through our first scenario. It was a great experience. It was really fun and it was also neat to observe how different family members currently approach difficult moral decisions. The moral tensions that came up in our scenario were fictitious but very believable. It took about 30 minutes of reading to learn how to play the game but we all caught on fairly quickly. I believe the game helps its players develop and exercise all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, especially the gifts of knowledge and courage. I highly recommend it based on our experience so far.
Thank YOU for taking the time to send this to us. It is just like our experience. So insightful into the characters that are being developed in our children. May God richly bless your Advent!
Would this be a good game for just adults to play together? How many people minimum can play?
Yes. At least 3 players.
How long does it take to play the game?
You can control the length of time (or sometimes your decisions end it early). So, it can be anywhere from 10 minutes (then you have to start over) or you can play just a few scenarios (and you might spend an hour or so, if you do things well) or you could play very well and go through all the scenarios and take longer. It is not a board game, so you can put it away and keep the scorecards to pick it up later (we did it over a couple days once, clearing everything away and then getting it all out the next evening). In fact, that time we all lost in about 20 minutes, but we started another game and that was held over until the next evening. Hope all that makes sense!
Would this game be appropriate for non-Catholic Christians?
Well, Protestant beliefs can be so very different. Some are close to Catholic beliefs (e.g. they practice Advent as a time of preparation and celebrate Saints) and others are not. However, this is a cooperative game, so the Catholics and non-Catholics are working together (as long as there are some Catholics playing). Some questions require a Catholic understanding or knowledge to answer (so the Catholics can help them). So, invite the non-Catholics to play with you, but some Protestants would find it confusing if they play the game with others who are far from the fullness of the Catholic Faith.
Would this game be appropriate for 1st and 2nd graders? We have a PSR class in which I’m thinking this game might work as a change-up after we have our catechism lesson. There are 8 children in the class.
That’s a bit young. Best for ages 8 & up.
This looks awesome!!