Thursday, June 21, 2012
LDS Board Games: Fun With a Purpose
Posted By Stephen Dark on June 21, 2012, 7:36 PM
A Kansas City company's press release on the 1,000th sale of an LDS board game called LDSopoly sheds an intriguing light on a world of Mormon-themed games that themselves are based on more traditional gaming fare. ---
Missionary Novelty manufactures a range of Family Home Evening-"approved" products that riff on familiar board games and gives them very specific LDS themes.
LDSopoly, according to the company's press release, "teaches LDS family values concerning [...] the temple, temple offerings, the United Order and being a wise steward." You can choose from four board pictures of temples in Salt Lake City, Oakland, California, Mexico City and Papeete, Tahiti.
Several other games seem geared to instill missionary fervor, notably The Greatest Mission Is the World! This game, according to the website, teaches not only family values but also "the joys of missionary life, the mission president and spreading the Gospel throughout the world."
The game allows you to "prove your missionary skill to spread the gospel" and so become—ego not withstanding, it seems—"the greatest missionary of all time."
The winner is the first player to send missionaries to every nation in the world. If you control the Israel mission, that gets you the 12 tribes with which to aid your quest for world missionary domination.
Missionaries who enjoy Trivial Pursuit will find much to admire in Eternal Progression, which teaches "the Plan of Salvation" through trivia questions. Players test their knowledge about the plan of happiness while making "their way from their pre-Earth existence, through Earth life and into the eternities, making choices between good and evil and answering questions about the gospel."
Phew!
For those who enjoy Yahtzee, Celestialzy seems a potent offer. It teaches LDS values, including "the symbolism of the temple particually [sic] the symbolism of the Sun, Moon and Stars, the Big Dipper, Comets and the Eternal Kingdoms," says the website.
"Roll the celestial dice for scoring combinations," it continues. "The player with the highest score wins or if you roll 5 Celestials you win!"
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