As a follower of Christ and a gamer, I have often been asked what “Christian” tabletop games I enjoy most. Often the question refers to games like BibleOpoly, Bible Trivial Pursuit, Apples to Apples: Bible Edition, and similar reskinned games that people are most familiar with. This Good Friday, I will return to an updated list of what I consider some of the best Bible themed tabletop games. I specifically choose to call them Bible themed, as they are based on Biblical history, not scripture memorization, proselytizing, or knowledge the Christian faith, so even those who are not familiar with the Christian faith can enjoy playing these games. They are great games with themes that are lightly or heavily based on Biblical history.
Do you enjoy playing Carcassonne or other tile-laying games? Then you know the basics of how to play this game. This variant packs a lot of game without all the expansions that Carcassonne has available. It does so by adding a wandering Ark that provides an alternate way to earn extra points. Really an abstract game with a loose theme of the journey of the Ark of the Covenant, I love playing this version of Carcassonne as much as the original base game with the River expansion.
Do you enjoy cooperative games? Commissioned will give you and your game group quite the challenge while exploring the history of the Christian church as it expanded in its early history.
Do you like playing Pandemic or one of its many variants? Kings of Israel utilizes similar mechanics to abstractly depict the work of the Biblical prophets and the challenge the early kings faced (or created) in the history of Israel. Just as challenging as pandemic with a unique theme. Even provides ways to use this with a youth group as a teaching tool.
Do you enjoy worker placement games? Nehemiah, in the Bible, was trying to work with area leaders to rebuild the wall of the city of Jerusalem. You take on the role of one of those leaders, attempting to be the most productive at rebuilding the wall. This has some fun interaction with the other players as rows of placed workers can be activated and the locations available change over time.
Do you enjoy two player games? Card drafting and area majority? Do you like to rewrite history? Sola Fide: The Reformation lets you play a game that depicts the reformation spurred on by Martin Luther. You can change history with your choice of tactics and see alternate results of the Reformation. A simple game with lots of replayability with the drafting really altering the game strategies.
Interested in another worker placement game? This one even has a little bit of an 18xx/train game feel with its route building and economics. Can you show Solomon how wise you can be as one of his governors?
These are my favorite tabletop games with a Bible Theme. Do you have some you recommend I check out?