sdggames

A New Website and a New Store

My main distribution strategy for SDG Games has been to sell through The Game Crafter’s online store. This is an easy solution, but the print-on-demand model results in high prices (with low margins) and long delivery times. This approach also doesn’t work for Journeys with Paul (announced earlier today), which isn’t made by TGC (although they do provide one of the key components). At the very least I needed a way to sell this one game, and whatever solution I came up with should also provide significant benefits for folks buying our other games.

When I launched SDG Games, I created a WordPress-based website on a hosted platform. I’ve decided to break my web presence into three parts. I didn’t want to lose the content I’d created in WordPress, so I broke that out with the new address blog.sdggames.fun. I’ve created a new business website. Finally, I created a new store called SDG Biblical Wisdom using Shopify. All these sites are linked together so you may not even notice when you go from one to the other. If you’re reading news about SDG Games (like this update), you’ll probably be on the blog site. When you are learning more about our games, reading the game rules, or using the online scorepads, you’ll be on the main SDGgames.fun website. Whenever you’re ready to buy, you’ll do it through the SDG Biblical Wisdom Shopify store.

I will also continue to offer most of my games through TGC’s store, for those times when I’m out of stock, but most of the time customers will get the same products at the same price and much faster delivery times if they buy directly from me through my websites.

Introducing Journeys for Paul

When I created SDG Games, the original vision was to launch a line of “Journeys” games covering different aspects of Biblical history and geography. However, the high cost of Journeys with Jesus convinced me to focus on games we could produce at a much lower price point.

For the past several months I’ve been prototyping and play testing a game based on the churches the Apostle Paul planted in Greece and Turkey. Producing this game at an affordable price with the components available through The Game Crafter was proving to be a challenge. So instead I’ve decided to source the parts from various suppliers (5 at current count) and assemble the games myself.

Today I am announcing the availability of Journeys for Paul through the new SDG Games website (more on that soon).

Here’s the brief description of the game: The Apostle Paul is unfortunately detained, but wants to hear how the churches he planted are doing. He asks his co-laborers Luke, Titus, and Silas to visit the churches in the regions of Macedonia & Achia (in present day Greece), Asia Minor, Galatia (both in present day Turkey), and the Islands of the Mediterranean.

Relaunching Journeys with Jesus

I originally launched SDG Games in February 2021 with the release of Journeys with Jesus. One of the most important lessons I learned from that first game is that print-on-demand games are expensive. Since then cost and the resulting price have been the key consideration in my game design. About half the cost of that first game was in the large game board and the large box to hold it.

For the past couple of years I’ve tried to come up with a more affordable approach to Journeys with Jesus. The Game Crafter (TGC) is always enhancing their component portfolio and recently I’ve discovered a more affordable board design that also fits in a smaller box which together reduce the cost by over $3. Reducing the number of cards in the game and eliminating the tuck box to hold them (a more reasonable approach with fewer cards in a smaller game box) provide additional cost savings, getting the production cost to just below $35.

The cards I removed were for journeys recorded in the Gospel of John, leaving those journeys described in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), so I also created an expansion pack with the removed cards (priced at ~$13). I rebranded the original Journeys with Jesus as the Legacy version and made the new lower-cost version of Journeys with Jesus and the Expansion Pack available in the TGC store.

I’m also really excited about the artwork for the new box. I’d love to hear what you think of this new approach.

Roman Catacombs now available!

We have just released our fourth card game, Roman Catacombs, a flip & write game that aims to teach the books of the Bible. In the game, you are the librarian for a small church meeting in the catacombs outside of Rome. You have been tasked with building a representative collection of manuscripts of the various books of the Bible. Unfortunately, you have limited storage space. Therefore, your goal is to complete a library of three books from each of seven categories. You need to keep the books in the canon order and you can’t move a book once you’ve placed it.

You can order the game now from The Game Crafter.

Prophets & Kings now available!

Prophets & Kings is now available for purchase at The Game Crafter!

Prophets & Kings is a set building card game based on the Old Testament Kings and Prophets.

Players earn points by building sets of cards that match a Biblical prophet with the kings who reigned during the years of his prophesying, or a Biblical king with the prophets that prophesied during their reign. The more cards in the set, the more points the player earns.

Scores are calculated at the end of the game, with the player with the most points being the winner.

You can learn more about the game here.

WordWords

We have just released our first mobile/computer game, WordWords.

WordWords was inspired by Wordle, and like other Wordle-inspired games, it involves trying to guess 5-letter words. Each WordWords puzzle is associated with a specific book of the Bible and the word you are searching for appears in that book.

To be beginner-friendly, and to help all of us learn more of the words in the Bible, a list of all of the 5-letter words in that book is provided, so WordWords is also a bit of a search game, looking for words that match a pattern. A few other improvements have been introduced to make WordWords an inviting game for those that love the Bible.

Come check it out! (Be patient, it can take a few seconds to load a new game.)

Journeys of Jesus: Going to Jerusalem

I’ve been silent the past few weeks, in part because I’ve been wrestling with what comes next.

In my last post, I had quoted from Luke 9:51: “It came to pass, when the days were near that he should be taken up, he intently set his face to go to Jerusalem.” And so, obviously, the rest of my posts will be on that final journey from Galilee to Jerusalem where Jesus would lay down His life for His people.

But what route did He take? How did He get there?

The four gospel accounts tell of that journey in different ways, emphasizing different aspects of His ministry along the way. These chapters are rich in teaching, as Christ’s ministry reaches its greatest impact. In this series of articles, I am focused on the geographic travels of our Savior, but that is NOT the focus of these chapters in the gospels. Please take the time as we travel through these passages to read the actual scriptures and learn more about our Lord and His love for His people.

With that said, let’s examine the route to Jerusalem as described by each of the four gospel authors:

Matthew and Mark

These two gospels record almost the exact same route:

To Judea beyond the Jordan (Matthew 19:1, Mark 10:1)
To Jericho (Matthew 20:29, Mark 10:46)
To Bethphage and Bethany (Matthew 21:1, Mark 11:1)
To Jerusalem (Matthew 21:10, Mark 11:11)
To Bethany (Matthew 21:17, Mark 11:11)
To Jerusalem (Matthew 21:18, Mark 11:15)
To the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:3, Mark 13:3)
To Bethany (Matthew 26:6, Mark 14:3)
To “the city” (Matthew 26:18, Mark 14:16)
To the Mount of Olives (Mark 14:26)
Back to Jerusalem (Mark 14:53)

Luke

Luke’s account is very similar to Matthew and Mark, but with a few minor differences:

Through Samaria and Galilee (Luke 17:11)
To Jericho (Luke 18:35)
To Bethphage and Bethany (Luke 19:29)
To “the city” (Luke 19:41)
To the Mount of Olives (Luke 22:39)
Back to Jerusalem (Luke 22:54)

John

John’s emphasis is very different than the other three:

To “beyond the Jordan into the place where John was baptizing at first” (Bethany Beyond the Jordan) (John 10:40)
To Bethany (John 11:17)
To Ephraim (John 11:54)
To Bethany (John 12:1)
To Jerusalem (John 12:12)

Combined View

My best effort to synchronize these together leads me to this chronology of Jesus’ journey from Galilee to Jerusalem:

Through Samaria and Galilee (Luke 17:11)
To Bethany Beyond Jordan (Matthew 19:1, Mark 10:1, John 10:40)
To Bethany (John 11:17)
To Jericho (Matthew 20:29, Mark 10:46, Luke 18:35)
To Ephraim (John 11:54)
To Bethphage and Bethany (Matthew 21:1, Mark 11:1, Luke 19:29, John 12:1)
To Jerusalem (Matthew 21:10, Mark 11:11, Luke 19:41, John 12:12)
To Bethany (Matthew 21:17, Mark 11:11)
To Jerusalem (Matthew 21:18, Mark 11:15)
To the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:3, Mark 13:3)
To Bethany (Matthew 26:6, Mark 14:3)
To Jerusalem (Matthew 26:18, Mark 14:16)
To the Mount of Olives (Mark 14:26, Luke 22:39)
Back to Jerusalem (Mark 14:53, Luke 22:54)

I will use this chronology in the coming weeks.

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The map at the top of this post is a snapshot of a portion of the gameboard for Journeys with Jesus.

If you’ve found this interesting and would like to continue to read these stories of the journeys and places in Journeys with Jesus, sign up in the sidebar to receive updates.

Note: all scripture quotes, unless otherwise noted, are from the World English Bible which is in the public domain.

Journeys of Jesus: The Mount of Transfiguration to Capernaum

Last week we reflected on the glory of Christ in His transfiguration. This week Jesus begins His final journey to Jerusalem in earnest.

As they were coming down from the mountain, he commanded them that they should tell no one what things they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ¹⁰They kept this saying to themselves, questioning what the “rising from the dead” meant. … ¹⁴Coming to the disciples, he saw a great multitude around them, and scribes questioning them. (Mark 9:9,10,14)

As I mentioned last week, we don’t know on which mountain the transfiguration took place. It might have been Mount Tabor. It might have been Mount Hermon. Whatever, the case, when Jesus, Peter, James, and John came down from the mountain, a crowd had gathered. The disciples He had left at the foot of the mountain had been unable to heal a possessed son. It was another opportunity for Jesus to heal, to teach, and to preach the Kingdom (Mark 9:17-29).

Even in the midst of the clamoring crowd, Jesus is focused on fulfilling His destiny. “For he was teaching his disciples, and said to them, ‘The Son of Man is being handed over to the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, on the third day he will rise again.'” (Mark 9:31)

The gospels then tell us that Jesus and His disciples passed through Galilee and came to Capernaum (Matthew 17:24, Mark 9:33).

Around this time, Luke 9:51 tells us “It came to pass, when the days were near that he should be taken up, he intently set his face to go to Jerusalem”.

So, now, the journey will begin in earnest.

But before we go there, let us consider the attitudes we see in these passages.

Jesus clearly knows what He faces in Jerusalem. He has repeatedly told His disciples what will happen. Although fully God, He is also fully man. As we will see in Gethsemane, it is with great dread and understanding of His human suffering that Christ sets his face resolutely towards the cross. As Christians, we seek to be more and more like Christ. Are you so dedicated, willing to sacrifice everything, to be obedient to God’s will and to bring salvation to those you love?

Most of us tend, instead, to be more like Jesus’ disciples. We are told that on the way “An argument arose among them about which of them was the greatest. “ (Luke 9:46) In our sinful natures, we are tempted to focus more on our own good and our own glory than on God’s will and His glory.

Let us be like the father of the possessed son. We have faith, but we know that it is weak.

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, “I believe. Help my unbelief!”
(Mark 9:23-24)

Let us look to Christ not only to meet our earthly needs, but much more to strengthen our faith and to meet our eternal spiritual needs!

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The map at the top of this post is a snapshot of a portion of the gameboard for Journeys with Jesus.

If you’ve found this interesting and would like to continue to read these stories of the journeys and places in Journeys with Jesus, sign up in the sidebar to receive updates.

Note: all scripture quotes, unless otherwise noted, are from the World English Bible which is in the public domain.

Journeys of Jesus: Caesarea Philippi to the Mount of Transfiguration

In our last post, Jesus took a decided turn in His ministry.

From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up. (Matthew 16:21)

But before beginning that final long journey to His destiny, He had one more thing to show them. To prepare them for His suffering to come, and their own suffering to follow, He fully revealed His glory to them.

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain by themselves. (Matthew 17:1)

Scripture doesn’t tell us of which mountain this passage speaks. Historically, many have believed that it was Mount Tabor.

Mount Tabor is about 6 miles east of Nazareth, but a full two day walk from Caesarea Philippi. Mount Tabor is only about 1400 feet high, but there are no other tall hills or mountains nearby, so it is visible from all around.

Mount Tabor is best known in Biblical history as the place where Deborah and Barak gathered the armies of Israel to face the Canaanite army under Sisera. From its heights, they witnessed God’s mighty victory (Judges 4-5).

I think a more logical choice, and one favored by many recent Biblical scholars, is that the transfiguration took place on Mount Hermon. This mountain towers above Caesarea Philippi and, at 9200 feet, is the tallest point in Israel. You can see snow on its peaks most of the year.

Psalm 133 makes an interesting analogy:

See how good and how pleasant it is
    for brothers to live together in unity!
²It is like the precious oil on the head,
    that ran down on the beard,
    even Aaron’s beard,
    that came down on the edge of his robes,
³like the dew of Hermon,
    that comes down on the hills of Zion;
    for there Yahweh gives the blessing,
    even life forever more. (Psalm 133)

As I mentioned last week, Hermon is the source of the Jordan River. The dew of Hermon feeds this river of life on its long journey from the highest point in Israel to the lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea. And Jesus would now begin His long journey from this height of glory to His great humiliation and death for our sake.

But before we go there, let’s focus our eyes for a moment on Christ’s glory! Like His disciples, let us be encouraged by the truth of who He is.

He was changed before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as the light. ³Behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him.

⁴Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, let’s make three tents here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”

⁶When the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces, and were very afraid. ⁷Jesus came and touched them and said, “Get up, and don’t be afraid.” ⁸Lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, except Jesus alone.

(Matthew 17:2-8)

In scripture, the Law and the Prophets continuously speak of the Messiah to come, and here we have Moses, representing the Law, and Elijah, representing the Prophets, acknowledging Jesus as that Messiah. As if that weren’t enough, God the Father confirms His pleasure in Jesus His Son.

Listen to Him!

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The map at the top of this post is a snapshot of a portion of the gameboard for Journeys with Jesus.

If you’ve found this interesting and would like to continue to read these stories of the journeys and places in Journeys with Jesus, sign up in the sidebar to receive updates.

Note: all scripture quotes, unless otherwise noted, are from the World English Bible which is in the public domain.

Journeys of Jesus: Bethsaida to Caesarea Philippi

For about the past month, we have been following Jesus as He has journeyed through primarily gentile lands including the regions of Syria and Decapolis. We continue that trend today, but we are approaching a critical turning point in Jesus’ ministry.

Jesus continued His Galilean ministry, teaching, preaching the Kingdom, and performing miracles especially in the towns we have already visited around the Sea of Galilee. In Mark 8:22-25, we see Him back in Bethsaida, healing a blind man. And then, He and His disciples turn north.

Jesus went out, with his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi. (Mark 8:27a)

Caesarea Philippi was in the Tetrarchy of Philip. Philip was one of the sons of Herod the Great. Herod had made a great temple here (some say the temple was to Caesar and some say to the Greek god Pan). Philip made the city his capital and renamed it Caesarea in honor of the Roman emperor. The longer name (Caesarea Philippi) distinguishes this Caesarea from the one on the Mediterranean coast (Caesarea Maritima).

Previously, the town was called Panias (after Pan), and today it is known by the Arabic variant Banias. The town was built on the bank of a six-mile stream coming from a cave at the foot of Mount Herman that is one of the four sources of the Jordan River.

Caesarea Philippi was 30 miles, or about a 10 hour walk north of Bethsaida, so Jesus and His disciples had plenty of time to discuss important theological topics.

Above, I only gave you half of a verse from Mark’s gospel. The second half is the beginning of one of those topics.

On the way he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” ²⁸They told him, “John the Baptizer, and others say Elijah, but others, one of the prophets.” (Mark 8:27b-28)

What came next is the most important question any of us can answer.

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

What is your answer to that question? Who is Jesus? Was he a great teacher? A moral leader? A prophet? A myth?

Peter got the answer right.

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16)

Jesus is the Messiah, God’s Anointed One, the promised Savior of the world. Do you believe that? Have you put your faith in Him and His finished work on the cross?

This great confession of Peter’s was just the beginning of his journey of faith.

Immediately after Peter’s confession, Jesus began His final journey towards His destiny in Jerusalem.

In Mark we are told:

He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. (Mark 8:31)

And in Matthew:

His disciples didn’t want to accept this. The gospels tell us that Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked Him saying that these things must never happen. Jesus, who had just praised Peter’s faith, now cursed his resistance to God’s plan. Not much later, Peter would even deny Jesus three times. And yet, Jesus restored Peter, and the disciple’s understanding grew.

Much later, Peter wrote:

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear, (1 Peter 3:15)

Do you have an answer? Are you ready?

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The map at the top of this post is a snapshot of a portion of the gameboard for Journeys with Jesus.

If you’ve found this interesting and would like to continue to read these stories of the journeys and places in Journeys with Jesus, sign up in the sidebar to receive updates.

Note: all scripture quotes, unless otherwise noted, are from the World English Bible which is in the public domain.