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You won’t find them all at your local GameStop, but religious video games are a thing — a very big thing it turns out. Vincent Gonzalez, Ph.D., as part of his doctoral thesis, tracked 1,000 of them down (starting with a series of Atari Bible games from 1982) and has made his database available online.
Parents concerned about the way their kids spend time on the computer — say, killing people, for instance — may welcome this catalog of games which teach kids about faith – whatever it may be. Most of the games were created by and for evangelical Christians, but there’s gaming fun for all faiths. Here’s a sampling of the online games available that are playable today:
12 Apostles Quiz (Christian)
Missionary Maze (Mormon)
Do You Know Your Seder Plate (Jewish)
A Journey Through the Arabic Alphabet (Muslim)
And it’s not just for kids – the database includes adventure games designed for adults too. In “Catechumen,” you play a Christian in training during the Roman persecution. The game’s creator describes it as a “high-quality, Christ-centered computer [game] (Phil 4:13)” “to be enjoyed by Christians and non-Christians,” complete with “many verses of the Bible to be interpreted by the player as the Holy Spirit leads (Psalm 68:11).” Many of these games — and their platforms — may be difficult to find (Radio Shack TRS-80, anyone?), but for the curious, worth looking out for at yard sales and flea markets.
And today we celebrate...