Educational board game

Abstract

The present invention relates to a educational board game and in particular to an educational board game which teaches religious subject matter based upon real life situations. The board game includes a game board, a plurality of games pieces, game money, a deck of prayer cards, a deck of evangelism cards, a Bible, a timer and a spindle or dice. The game board is divided into a number of game spaces. The game spaces include three categories of real life situations. Category 1 situations require players landing on those game spaces to draw a prayer card. The prayer cards require one of the other players to pray for the current player. Category 2 game spaces require the player to draw an evangelism card. The evangelism card requires another player to encourage the current player. Category 3 game spaces allow the player to draw either a prayer or an evangelism card. The first player to reach salvation which is the end game space wins. Since all of the games spaces are based on real life situations, players are educated to seek assistance and prayer from other players for different real life situations.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a board game and more particularly to an educational board game designed to educate players about religious subject matter based upon real life situations.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Board games are generally known in the art. Examples of such board games are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,488,283; 6,481,714; 6,454,264; 6,454,263. Such board games are known to be either recreational or educational. For example, the Monopoly® game is a well-known recreational board game. Educational board games are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,263 discloses a board game which educates players on nutrition. Still other educational board games are known for educating players on religious subject matter. Examples of educational religious board games are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,295,834 and 5,224,862. These games educate players with respect to the Bible. However, none of these games are based upon real life situations. Thus, there is a need for a board game which educates players from a religious standpoint based on real life situations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an educational board game and in particular to an educational board game which teaches religious subject matter based upon real life situations. The board game includes a game board, a plurality of games pieces, game money, a deck of prayer cards, a deck of evangelism cards, a Bible, a timer and a spindle or dice. The game board is divided into a number of game spaces. The game spaces include three categories of real life situations. Category 1 situations require players landing on those game spaces to draw a prayer card. The prayer cards require one of the other players to pray for the current player. Category 2 game spaces require the player to draw an evangelism card. The evangelism card requires another player to encourage the current player. Category 3 game spaces allow the player to draw either a prayer or an evangelism card. The first player to reach salvation, the end game space, wins. Since all of the games spaces are based on real life situations, players are educated to seek assistance and prayer from other players for different real life situations.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other advantages of the present invention will be readily understood with reference to the following specification and attached drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a game board for use with the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a top view of a prayer card for use with the present invention.

FIG. 2B is an exemplary bottom view of 1 prayer card for use with the present invention.

FIG. 3A is an exemplary top view of an evangelism card in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3B is an exemplary bottom view of an evangelism card in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The board game in accordance with the present invention is an educational board game and is configured to educate players with respect to religious subject matter based upon real life experiences. The educational board game in accordance with the present invention includes a game board, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a deck of prayer cards, as illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B, and a deck of evangelism cards as illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B. A conventional spinner may be provided on the game board as illustrated in FIG. 1. Alternatively one or more dice may be used to advance players along the game spaces on the game board. The game also includes a timer, game pieces, for example, angel wing tokens, game money and Bible (not shown).

Referring to FIG. 1, the game board, generally identified with the reference 20, is a generally rectangular game board having a number of game spaces, generally identified with the reference number 22. As shown, the game spaces 22 are provided along all four sides of the game board 20. In addition, a row of game of game spaces, generally identified with the reference number 24, may be provided toward the center of the game board 20.

The organization and juxtaposition of the game spaces illustrated in FIG. 1 is exemplary. Other configurations are considered to be within the broad scope of the present invention.

In addition to the game spaces 22, a first rectangular area 26 is designated on the game board 20 for prayer cards 27 and a second rectangular area 28 is designated for evangelism cards 29. The prayer cards 27 are illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B. The evangelism cards 29 are illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B.

Referring to FIG. 1, the game board 20 is divided up into forty (40) exemplary game spaces, numbered 100 to 140, including a start game place, identified with the reference number 100, and a finish game space, identified with the reference number 140. The game can be played by two (2) to seven (7) players. Most of the game spaces 22 around the game board 20 represent real life situations. An object of the game is to present players with real life situations and educate the player from a religious standpoint to seek encouragement or prayer from other players.

The real life situations are divided into 3 categories. Category 1 situations require a player to draw a prayer card 27 from the prayer card deck. Category 2 situations require a player to draw an evangelism card 29 from the evangelism card deck. Category 3 situations require a player to draw either a prayer 27 or evangelism card 29.

The prayer cards 27 may all contain the same message, for example, “Pray for me”, with a scripture reference, for example, James 5:16, as shown. As shown in FIG. 2B, the prayer card is identified as “Player 1”. Depending on the number of players playing in the game, a prayer card is provided for each player. For seven (7) players, seven (7) prayer cards designated “Player 1”, “Player 2”, “Player 3”, etc. are utilized Similarly, an evangelism card 29 is provided for each of the players. As shown, each evangelism card 29 includes an exemplary message, “Please Encourage Me in the Lord” and an exemplary scripture reference, for example, “Mark 16:15”. Like the prayer cards 27, one evangelism card 29 is provided for each player playing the game. As shown, the evangelism card shown is identified as “Player 7”. For seven (7) players, seven (7) evangelism cards are provided, each one identifying a different player. For example, for seven (7) players, seven (7) evangelism cards 29 are provided designated as “Player 1”, “Player 2”, “Player 3”, etc.

As mentioned above, the game places 22 are divided up into a number of real life situations. Table 1 represents exemplary Category 1 situations. Table 2 represents exemplary Catagory 2 situations while Table 3 represents exemplary Category 3 situation. The game spaces may be associated with the three categories mentioned above by various methods including by memory, color coding, indicia and the like.

TABLE 1
Category 1 Real Life Situations
Game Space Numbers Situations
117                Adultry
109                Hospital
110                Foreclosure
115                Diagnosed with a critical disease
139                Auto Accident
101                Boss is Atheist

TABLE 2
Category 2 Real Life Situations
Game Space Numbers Situations
103                Homeless
130                Work not acknowledged
119                Ashamed of faith
118                Teen pregnancy
111                Enjoy gambling
112                Gossip
135                Losing faith

TABLE 3
Category 3 Real Life Situations
Game Space Numbers Situations
102                Fornicator
124                Lose job
108                Spouse leaves you
127                Watch porno movies

If a player lands on any of the Category 1 spaces, identified in Table 1, the player draws a prayer card 27. The prayer cards 27 read “Player # ______, Please pray for me.” After the prayer card 27 is read, the player identified in the selected prayer card 27 has 15 seconds, for example, to give an oral effective prayer for the real life situation in which pertains to the real life situation depicted on the game space of the player who landed on the space. If the player identified in the game card is unable to give an effective prayer within the 15 second time period, the prayer identified on the prayer card 27 loses the next turn.

If a player lands on any one of the Category 2 spaces, identified in Table 2, the player draws an evangelism card 29. The evangelism cards 29 read “Player ______, Please encourage me in the Lord.” Once the evangelism card is read, the player identified in the evangelism card 29 has 15 seconds, for example, to give an oral effective statement or prayer pertaining to the situation depicted on the Category 2 game space. If the player identified in the evangelism card is unable to provide a prayer or statement pertaining to the Category 2 situation, the player identified on the evangelism card loses the next turn.

The game board 20 also includes one or more Temptation spaces. As shown in FIG 1, one temptation space is provided along each edge. As shown, “TEMPTATION” spaces are provided at game spaces 106, 113, 123 and 132. Players that land on a TEMPTATION space chose a player to temp them. The selected person then selects a form of temptation. After the form of temptation is selected, the player landing on the temptation game space is given 15 seconds to find a scripture reference that fits the selected form of temptation. If the player finds the scripture reference before the time is up, the player that was tempted pays 10 percent of their money and looses the next 2 turns. If not, the player landing on the Temptation space misses the next turn.

EXAMPLE: Player #4 has been called to tempt Player #1. Player #4 chooses to tempt Player #1 with Adultery. Now the timer has been set for 15 seconds and Player #1 has to find a scripture reference that mentions the sin of Adultery. Hint: (Matthew 5:27).

Table 4 illustrates exemplary temptations and scripture references.

TABLE 4
TEMPTATIONS
Temptation   Scripture Reference
Stealing     You should not steal, Exodus 20:15
Killing      You should not kill, Exodus 20:13
Covetousness Your should not covet, Exodus 20:17
Hate         You should not hate, Leviticus 19:7
Lying        You should not lie, Psalms 101:7

The game board 20 further includes game spaces 22 relating to other real life situations. In particular, Table 5 below identifies other real life events as well as the associated game actions.

TABLE 5
Additional Real Life Situations
Game Space Numbers Situations
134                God heard your cry - you receive $300.00
133                Christian Education - you miss a turn that you
                   may obtain more information about Christ
129                Pay Tithes - you must give 10% of your total
                   bank
128                New Truck - you receive a truck (token) and
                   you can move it along with your game piece
126                Purchase New Home - you receive a house
                   (token) and you can move it along with your
                   game piece
125                Give an offering - you give a monetary
                   donation according to your heart
121                Weekend Retreat - you receive a gift of $500
116                Have Faith - take a spin (if you choose).
                   Note: If you see this spin is to your advantage,
                   you may want to take it, if not, you may stay at
                   your present location
107                New Job - you receive a sign on bonus of
                   $1,000
122                Take Communion - you miss a turn and must
                   go to fellowship hall in reverence of the death,
                   burial and resurrection of Christ
105                Baptism - miss a turn to show an outward
                   appearance of your Faith

Lastly, Table 6 identifies game spaces which cause players to back up a number of spaces along the game board 22.

TABLE 6
Back Up Game Spaces
Game Space Numbers Identification
138                Back up 4 spaces
120                Back up 3 spaces

The game is set up by placing the game board 22 face up and placing the decks of prayer 27 and evangelism cards 29 on the game board 20 face down. Each player then chooses a game piece (not shown) and places it on the “Start” game space 100. One of the players is designated as a treasurer. The treasurer gives each player a $1,000 of game money (not shown). Each player then spins the spindle or rolls the dice. The player with the highest number starts the game. If there is a tie, only the players that are tied re-spin or re-throw the dice to break the tie with the highest player starting the game. All of the other players follow clockwise from the winner of the spin. Players move counter-clockwise according to the number on the dice or where the spindle stops. The first player to reach the game space 140 wins the game.

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

The following are an exemplary set of scripture references that may be used with the game. Genesis 1:1; Luke 6:38; John 7:14; Philippians 2:14; Malachi 3:10; Deuteronomy 28:2; James 4:16; James 5:28; Matthew 21:22; Philemon 1:16; Luke 9:10; Hebrews 10:25; Mark 8:38; Luke 15:13; Ephesians 5:18; Hebrews 11:6; Philippians 4:19; Hebrews 12:6; Acts 3:6; Matthew 4:23; Luke 15:10; Acts 2:38; Acts 2:42; I Corinthians 2:9; Romans 10:10; Luke 12:22-23; Romans 1:17; Matthew 4:1; and Romans 10:9

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. Thus, it is to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described above.

What is claimed and desired to be covered by a Letters Patent is as follows:

Claims

1. A board game for educating players regarding religious subject matter based upon real life situations:

a game board divided into a number of game spaces wherein a plurality of the game spaces include real life situations categorized into a plurality of categories;

a plurality of prayer cards adopted to be drawn when players land on a first category of said real life situations;

a plurality of evangelism cards adopted to be drawn when players land on a second category of real life situations;

one or more game pieces;

a device for determining the number of spaces each player can move per turn; and

game money.

2-3. (canceled)

4. A method for teaching religious subject matter comprising the steps of:

dividing real-life situations into a plurality of categories; and

providing educational cards which correlate pre-selected religious subject matter with said plurality of categories.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 further comprising the steps of:

(c) providing a game board divided into a number of spaces which illustrate said real-life situations;

(d) providing one or more game pieces; and

(e) providing a device for determining the number of spaces a player can move during each turn.