Board Games @ AAR 2024
Attendees at the 2024 AAR Annual Meeting are welcome to visit an open session of playing and exploring religion-related board games. I will be present with a collection of games at the SBL/AAR Game Booth in the exhibit hall on Saturday, November 23, noon to 5pm. Games range from low to high complexity and are free to play. See the list of games I plan to bring below, complete with links to rulebooks and YouTube teaching videos. If you are interested in gameplay, I recommend coordinating with colleagues, selecting a game or two to play, and having one person learn the rules. Modern board and card games can take a bit to learn!
I will also be happy to chat about my experiences assigning board games in my courses, which include Religion in America, Religion and Popular Culture, and Catholicism. For a more comprehensive list of board games that are religion-related and potentially useful for Religious Studies research and teaching, see: Cults, Myths, Gods: Games for Religious Studies | BoardGameGeek.
Affliction: Salem 1692
Worker placement game that takes place during the Salem Witch Trials. Players compete to accuse or gain favor with historically accurate Salem Village and Salem Town colonists. I teach this in my Religion in America survey. 2-4 players; 60 minutes; medium complexity.
avignon: Clash of Popes
Pocket-sized card game where players compete as popes vying for the papacy during the 14th-century “Babylonian Captivity.” Not very substantial in terms of educational value, but I use it as a starting point for students to think about the medieval politics of the papacy. 2 players; 15 minutes; low complexity.
Azul
Tile-drafting game where players compete to build the most beautiful walls in a Spanish royal palace. Players do so by selecting azulejos, or colorful tiles, which became popular in Spain through Moorish influence, especially the palace Alhambra. It’s not the most educational game in and of itself, but it is a modern classic. 2-4 players; 30 minutes; low complexity.
Catholic-Opoly
One of the many Catholic re-brands of a popular family board game. Does transforming a game about ruthless real estate monopolies into a pro-Catholic game missionizing and Catholic factoids make sense? No! Still, it’s funny. I assign in my Catholicism class for students to analyze why it doesn’t work and to consider other popular games that could make more sense to be re-branded. 2-6 players; 2 hours; low complexity.
CULT Following
Card game of imaginative storytelling where players take turns being cult leaders and recruits. The history, orthodoxy, and orthopraxy of the cults must be based on randomly drawn cards with often absurd premises. 3-8 players; 20 minutes; low complexity.
CULTivate
Board game where players compete as "cult leaders" to fulfill political, economic, and other dastardly agendas. Different agendas require the recruitment of specific followers, including academics, scientists, celebrities, activists, drifters, and youth. I assign this in my classes with a prompt asking students to examine gameplay in light of Amanda Montell’s book Cultish, which argues for the pervasive cult-like elements in US culture. 2-5 players; 1 hour; low complexity.
Dead Theorists: A Card Game for Disillusioned Philosophers and Aspiring Academics
Card game where players inhabit the returned spirit of Simone De Beauvoir, W.E.B. Du Bois, Michel Foucault, or Karl Marx to fight neoliberalism on college campuses and strive to recruit students to your intellectual tradition. Satirical, 2-4 players; 30 minutes; low complexity.
Deliverance
Christian-developed board game about angelic spiritual warfare. Probably the most successful and well-developed Christian board game. 1-4 players; 2 hours; high complexity.
Hnefatafl (Viking CHess)
An ancient variation of chess with asymmetrical conflict to represent an ambush. Developed and played by Scandinavians. Some narratives of Ragnarok describe how the old gods were transformed into tafl pieces, implying that the conflicts and drama of the Norse gods continued through the gameplay of Hnefatafl. 2 players; 25 minutes; low complexity.
Kellia: The Risk of the Desert
Cooperative strategy game about the desert fathers developed by the Taizé Community, an ecumenical Christian monastic community. 2-4 players; 1 hour; low complexity.
LDS-opoly
Monopoly rebranded for the LDS Church. 2-8 players; 2 hours; low complexity.
Medium
Party game where players perform as mediums working to read each other’s minds. 2-8 players; 30 minutes; low complexity.
Munahhemana: The Chosen One
Players build the foundations of Islamic civilization leading the tribes of the Arabian peninsula under the revelations and leadership of the Prophet Muhammad. Designed to be educational about early Islam and Islamic piety. 1-4 players; 45 minutes; medium complexity.
NAwalli
Card battler based on Aztec mythology. 2-4 players; 30 minutes; low complexity.
Nicaea
A tableau-building game where players embody the positions of bishops during the Council of Nicaea. Make alliances, arguments, and use your political power to argue for which theological beliefs will become orthodoxy and which will become heretical. 4-6 players; 1.5 hours; medium complexity.
OT: Fantasy Draft
Christian-developed game about drafting characters, locations, and objects from the Old Testament to build the highest-scoring “team.” 1-5 players; 20 minutes; low complexity.
Reincardnated
Strategy card game where players aim to incarnate as higher and higher beings. 2-6 players; 1 hour; medium complexity.
Sagrada
Draft dice to create stained-glass windows for the sagrada basilica. 1-4 players; 45 minutes; low complexity.
Sola Fide: The Reformation
Strategy game of influence where two players advance or fight against the Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire. 2 players; 45 minutes; medium complexity.
Tajuto
Players take on the role of Buddhist monks in 6th-century Japan. They compete over the creation of pagodas and the development of their spirituality. 2-4 players; 1 hour; medium complexity.
Trek to Zion
An unauthorized (!) re-branding of Ticket to Ride, complete with the early history of the LDS Church and the construction of Temples. 2-4 players; 1 hour; medium complexity.
The Ark of the Covenant
A Christian-developed re-branding of the classic game Carcassonne. Players lay tiles and place workers to accumulate points. 2-5 players; 1 hour; medium complexity.
The Mirroring of MarY King
Players compete as the modern woman Mary King or the ghost of ancestor for control over her soul. 2 players; 45 minutes; low complexity.