Nearly every lunch period, Bryon Hake, a high school math teacher, opens his classroom to students eager to forgo cafeteria lines and to play strategy games with biblical names like Redemption, Settlers of Canaan and Solomon's Temple.
In previous years, Mr. Hake's invitations to challenge students' skills through games like chess and checkers drew three to five takers. But religious board games and card games, which he said are sponsored by a Christian club at his public school in El Monte, Calif., Arroyo High School, are enticing a rotating group of up to 16 students daily, sometimes stretching into weeklong tournaments.
As students play with cards that quote Scriptures, they compete to rescue souls. Or they advance across a game board as a tribe of Israel, racing to settle the ancient land.
"It's not just the number of players that's growing, but also their knowledge," Mr. Hake said. "Now when they go from lunch to world history class and learn about King David or King Solomon in Israel, they say, '`I already know, Mr. Hake taught me that during lunch.' "
While sales of religious games represent a small niche in the game market, manufacturers are reporting sales doubling and are adding new titles. Around the nation and across many faiths, religious board games are attracting a growing market. Parents say the family entertainment encourages togetherness, and they welcome an educational alternative to television and movies. Consumers can practically name their religion, with specialty choices including the Ungame and Communion of Saints, both for Roman Catholics, the Book of Mormon Board Game and Race to the Kabah, which teaches the 99 names of Allah in Islam. Sales of the games, which cost about $25 or $30, are ringing up on the Internet, by mail order and in religious stores.
For years, manufacturers of religious games have tapped into existing markets by spinning off from favorite secular games. After Monopoly came Bibleopoly, while Candy Land led to Bible Land and Kosherland, in which players meet "Mr. Matzah" and go gefilte fishing. Bible Bingo has a familiar ring, and next summer will bring Bible Rummy.
"Most game buyers don't want to have to learn from scratch a game they've never heard of," said Rob Anderson, president of Cactus Game Design in Hayesville, N.C., whose Bible editions of the secular games Scattergories and Outburst have doubled in sales since 2001. "They're thinking, `I'm going to have to learn how to play this? I don't want to work that hard.' "
Mr. Anderson projected that his company, which introduced Settlers of Canaan in August, will sell 15,000 copies of the game this year, riding on the popularity of the secular Settlers of Catan. His company sponsors Settlers of Canaan tournaments, following its success with Redemption tournaments held at Christian bookstores and churches around the country. Redemption, the company's top seller, is having its best year since its 1995 debut, he said. Wholesale sales for the card game in the first nine months of 2002 exceeded $500,000, up about 20 percent from the same period last year, he said.
For children as young as 3, colorful vegetable characters enliven Jonah — The Overboard Adventure Game, inspired by the recently released "Jonah — A Veggie Tales Movie." The Jonah board game, cards and puzzles are the best-selling merchandise at Talicor, a game manufacturer in Chino, Calif.
"As children move along the game board through the storm, walk the plank and get swallowed by the whale, the message is that God gives us all a second chance to fulfill our mission, just as he gave Jonah when the whale spit him up," said Lew Herndon, Talicor's chairman.
Talicor sales for the first nine months of 2002 increased 33 percent over the same period last year for Christian board games, card games and puzzles, Mr. Herndon said. He expects to sell more than 100,000 religious board games in 2002.
Religious games are becoming more consumer-friendly, said Mr. Anderson, who in October introduced Inklings, which poses questions while providing clues to the answer.
"What hurt Christian game sales was, `I don't know the Bible, so I can't play this,' " he said. "Nobody wants to play a game and feel stupid."
Making education entertaining led Zahirah Abdul-Wakil, a graphic designer in Largo, Md., to create the Bingo-style Know Islam Know Peace for home-schooling her children. The first player to fill the requisite religious squares calls out, "I know Islam," and wins.
Ms. Abdul-Wakil, who has sold about 2,000 units since the 1998 rollout, said sales have doubled each year, reaching families, Islamic schools and mosques.
But the religious game market extends beyond children. Yoga schools are among buyers of Leela, a Hindu board game in which players advance spiritually while trying to avoid squares like egotism and anger.
"The market is cultural creatives, people who are buying organic food and are into new age spirituality, yoga, feng shui, aromatherapy," said Ehud Sperling, president of Inner Traditions in Rochester, Vt., the manufacturer of Leela.
While Leela's introductory guide is a colossal 133 pages, some children's games oversimplify weighty theological concepts, said Laura Sheahen, an editor at Beliefnet.com, a multifaith Web site that plans to publish its latest game reviews in December.
"For games where your game token could end up in hell," Ms. Sheahen said, "it's important to sit your child down and talk it over, instead of having a board game subconsciously shaping their religious beliefs."