The Word Warriors Game is a devotional and educational Bible study game that will help you and your children to learn the books of the Bible, the categories that they belong in, summaries of each book, and scripture verses that show Messianic prophecy fulfillment. This game is not competitive, as there are no winners or losers. Everyone works together to finish the game.

This game comes in a white box that contains all of the components of the game. Included are: 284 color-coded game cards (176 are Old Testament cards, and 108 are New Testament cards); four individual, reversible, laminated game sheets for Old and New Testament games; one laminated Messianic Prophecy Verse sheet; four dry erase markers; twenty acrylic jewels; twelve blank cards; a curriculum resource of question and answer sheets for Old and New Testament games; and easy to follow game rules. This game is $33.95, plus a $9.00 shipping charge per game.

To play the game, each player gets one game sheet and a dry erase marker. The game sheet has a scroll with the Old Testament books of the Bible on one side, and the New Testament books on the other side. You will choose which side to play. The game cards (Old or New Testament, depending on which game you’re playing) are shuffled with the 20 Messianic cards and placed in a stack in the middle of the players.

The first player will take one colored game card and read the verse and reference. Next, the player turns the card over and reads the name of the book and the book summary. The player tells the other players the card’s category and repeats the name of the book. The players find the book on their game sheet and place a dot after the name of the book. The person who drew the card will place a check mark in the square in front of the book’s name. The next player then draws a card. If a duplicate card is drawn by a player, he puts the card back and draws another.

When a Messianic Prophecy card is drawn, the player reads the prophecy to the other players, then turns the card over and reads the prophecy fulfillment. The players work together to find the phrase on the Messianic game sheet that matches the verse. An acrylic jewel is placed on the correct circle. When all of the Messianic Prophecy cards have been read, the jewels are in the shape of a cross.

There is also a “Starter Pack”, which comes everything in the Word Warriors game except there are only 39 Old Testament cards and 27 New Testament cards. The game is played basically the same way, but it will be much shorter and simpler.

You can change the game up any way your family wants to. You can memorize Bible categories and books, try to guess the reference to the scripture being read or the category it belongs in, memorize the order of the books of the Bible, or see how many prophecy verses you can memorize.

My kids and I played this game and loved it. We used a few variations, like trying to guess the category that the book on the card was in. My kids wanted to add a competitive element to the game, so they didn’t draw a new card if it was a duplicate. They wanted the first person to check off the books of the Bible to win.

I think this game is great for a homeschool setting. If you want your children to be familiar with the books of the Bible, their categories, and many verses, this is the game for you. It’s very easy to set up, and it all fits nicely in the box it came in. The game would also be fun in a Sunday School class, and would be easy to “team up” into four teams. Of course, not having a competitive element may be a draw-back for some and appealing for some. The Word Warriors Game is very fun to play and very adaptable to any situation.

Product review by Megan Russell, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, February, 2017

Another Reviewer’s Perspective:

The Word Warriors

Miriam Myers D.B.A

http://www.thewordwarriors.com

I love being able to play games with my children, especially games with educational value.  So, I was thrilled when I was given the opportunity to review The Word Warriors, which isn’t just an educational game, it is a game to help us study the Bible, and hide God’s word in our hearts. A couple of years ago, my girls learned the names of the books of the Bible through our homeschool curriculum. They learned to put the books in order; however, they didn’t retain this information. I thought The Word Warriors would be a wonderful opportunity to refresh their memories and to delve deeper into learning about the books of the Bible.

Not only does this game enable you to learn the books of the Bible in order, you also learn the different categories that the books are grouped into (such as the law, history, and prophets). Additionally, the game teaches summaries of each of the books of the Bible, several verses from each book, and Messianic Prophecy verses, along with their fulfillment.

All of the required components needed for game play are included in this game, which is enclosed in a cardboard box. We received four reversible, laminated game sheets (Old Testament on one side, New Testament on the other), one laminated Messianic Prophecy Verse sheet, 284 game cards, 12 blank cards (for adding our own Bible verses), 20 acrylic jewels in a silky, drawstring pouch, four dry erase markers, Study Guide sheets with questions and answers for both the Old Testament and the New Testament, and Game Rules.  The game cards and markers are contained in small, resealable, plastic bags that are quite sturdy.

Let me go into some more detail regarding some of these components.

The game cards are 2 inch by 3 ½ inch, double-sided cards made out of card stock. They are color coded to match the different categories being learned. On one side of the card you will find a Bible verse with reference, on the other side it lists which category the verse is in, how many books are in that category, the names of the books in that category, the name of the book the verse is found in, plus a summary of the book. There are 156 Old Testament cards, 108 New Testament cards, and 20 Messianic Prophecy cards. The Messianic Prophecy cards are gold-colored to match the color of the game board. One side contains the Messianic Prophecy with reference, and a clue to help find where it is on the cross on the Messianic Prophecy Game Board. The other side explains how the prophecy is fulfilled, and where in the New Testament it is located, along with the verse (or part of the verse).

The laminated game boards show a picture of a scroll on the Old Testament side and a picture of an open book on the New Testament side. The Old Testament books are printed on the scroll, in columns under the categories they belong to. There are five categories: Pentateuch/Law, History, Poetry/Wisdom, Major Prophets, and Minor Prophets. In front of each books’ name is a check-off box. On the New Testament side, the New Testament books are printed on the open book, also in columns under the proper category. The New Testament is divided into: Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, Letters of Paul, General Letters, and Prophecy. During game play, you would be using either the Old Testament or the New Testament board. If playing the Old Testament game, you would also be using the Messianic Prophecy game board. On this board there are 20 red, oval spaces that form the shape of a cross. Next to each oval is listed a short description of the prophecy that was fulfilled, such as “Born of a woman,” “Declared the Son of God,” and “Forsaken by God.” When a Messianic Prophecy card is played, an acrylic jewel will be placed on the corresponding oval.

This game is simple to play. The Old Testament plus Messianic Prophecy cards are shuffled together (or just the New Testament cards if playing the New Testament board). Players take turns picking a card off of the top of the deck. That person then reads the Bible verse. We like to try to guess which book the verse comes from, but that is not required for basic game play. In fact, because the name of the book is printed on both sides, it is a bit tricky to do this, because everyone has to remember to NOT look at the card pile. However, I do prefer to have the children try to do so when we play using the basic rules. Once the Bible verse is read, the card is flipped over and the player is to read the name of the book, its summary, and category. All players are to locate the book on their game board. The player who read the card gets to put a mark in their check-off box. All the other players place a dot after the book’s name. The card is then set in front of the player who drew the card. They are to be placed in piles according to category. When a Messianic Prophecy card is drawn, the player reads the prophecy and then the fulfillment plus Bible verse, then the players work together to find the correct phrase on the cross board. In case you get stuck trying to figure out which is the correct phrase, there is a little clue on the front of each Messianic Prophecy card. Play continues until all players have marked off the squares for all the books on their game board.

This game uses the King James Version of the Bible. While there was a time when I insisted on memorizing in King James Version, that has not been true for some time. So, if you and your children are used to reading the King James Version this will be perfect for you. I have to admit, reading the King James verses was a bit tricky for my girls (who are 8 and 10). I realized they weren’t really getting as much out of the game as they could be, because they weren’t really understanding what they were reading. I added an extra element into the game, by having us search for the verses in our Bibles before it is read out loud by the player who drew the card. In this way, we are reading from the version we are used to (for me, that would be NIV, and for the girls that is NirV), and getting practice finding the verses in the Bible. I allow them to use the game board to help them locate the verse. This has been really helpful for some of those harder to find books. Plus, we can see where each of the books are located in relation to the others. While searching for the verse, we also mention what category it is in.

Originally, we found the game to be a bit repetitive as all we were doing was picking a card, reading a verse, marking the game board, and repeating. For younger children, some of those verses are quite long. Since I added the element of searching for the verse and allowing them to read the verse in a more familiar translation, the girls have enjoyed the game a lot more. Though playing this way doesn’t allow us to listen to the verse and try to figure out which book it is in. I think we will alternate playing by the basic rules, and using the search the Bible version, so we can get the benefits of both.

I will say, we do not try to get through all the verses in one sitting. This game is definitely one that can be played a little at a time. Perhaps setting a timer for half an hour, or setting the number of verses to be read at 20 or so, would be a great way to spend some quality time reading God’s word. Older players could play longer or spend more time discussing each verse and really digging into the word. As we do not finish in one sitting, I take a picture of each of our game boards so we can easily re-mark our boards, because I do not like to leave the dry erase marker on the boards for long periods of time. We also store our cards in individual envelopes so at the beginning of each play session we can set them back out in front of us.

As a part of the game, we received the study guides for both the Old and New Testament. These sheets include useful definitions and information, plus trivia questions and activities. I have decided that each time we play, we will go through ten or so of these questions/activities.

This game can be played with up to 4 players, or with more if playing with partners. In order to play independently, children do have to be able to read by themselves. Younger children could be in charge of marking the game board and could be involved in discussions about the verse. They could also repeat the verses after an older child or adult.

The Word Warriors has allowed the older children and I to have some quality time learning about God’s word. This is definitely a game I can recommend. Though I do recommend trying to play with the extra element of searching for the verse if you find it to be too repetitive. I also wish the Bible verse reference was only listed on one side of the card so that you don’t see the reference prematurely. Granted, not everyone is going to want to guess which book the verses come from, but by having the reference on only one side, it sure would make it easier to do so.

You can purchase The Word Warriors from their website for $33.95, plus $9 for shipping.

- Product review by Karen Waide, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, March, 2017