Bored Game
Via Matt C. Abbott.
Believe it or not, there is VATICAN: The Board Game, "designed for 2–6 players, ages 15 and up," created by Stephen Haliczer, Ph.D., a research professor at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill.
I doubt orthodox Catholics (such as yours truly) would like it, judging from the fact that the game's Web site contains links to Dan Brown's site and certain dissenting publications.
Also, the section on Vatican II asserts the following:
"Many of [the Vatican II] reforms were put on hold or reversed under Pope John Paul II, who decreed that Bishop's Conferences lacked any theological or collegial status and could not exercise independent teaching authority. In 2000, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document which denied the ability of other religions to offer salvation outside of Christianity."
I'm not crazy about board games in general, but this one I'll skip for sure.
Obviously this is the Spirit of Vatican II board game. This would be a very hard game to play. For example even though rules come with it, you are not suppose to actually refer to them and to just refer to the spirit of the rules. If anybody complains that you are not actually following the rules and dares to quote from them you tell them to read between the lines to see what the Game Fathers intended or better yet accuse them of Phariseeism.
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I wonder if it has little action figures of famous Spirit of Vatican II advocates???? I could go buy a bucket of army guys from the store and paint them to look like the swiss guard and have all kinds of fun. :-)
Under the Mercy,
Matthew S
I'm guessing the board itself would look like a labyrinth, the playing pieces would be little squares of felt (action figures are too much like old-fashioned statues), and there would be no real "object" of the game apart from enjoying the companionship of one's fellow players.
If there was a Spirit of Vatican II Card Game, there would be a designated dealer, but s/he would have to be willing to allow other players to perform the duties associated with that position.
I have purchased and played this game and though it takes a bit of a simplistic, political view of the process of becoming pope, sticking to Church teachings is your best bet for winning the game. I assumed it would be a little less orthodox than it actually is and I was pleasantly surprised.
The gameplay needs some tweaking, but that is a different matter.
A much better Catholic board game (better for those of us who are not slaves to the aforementiond Spirit of Vatican II) is the classic "Is the Pope Catholic" board game by Crowley (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/16899) is fantastic. Players begin as members of the laity (as I recall) and work their way up through acolyte, subdeacon, deacon, priest, monsignor, bishop, cardinal and finally to Holy Roman Pontiff by answering Catholic trivia, telling stories about Catholic school, etc. The best thing is, there's a whole category of questions from the Baltimore Catechism! My fiancee's brother got it for Christmas, and we invited our parochial vicar over to play it (I've been Pope once and a cardinal twice by the end of gameplay), and he loved it. No Newchurch nonsense here, just good, clean, Catholic nostalgia!
Alex,
Sounds like a good game. Of course, if you give this game to children who were *not* taught from the Baltimore Catechism, the girls might start getting some troublesome ideas...
Wonder how this stacks up against "Catholicopoly" seen previously on this board.
I love the idea of painting the little army guys! No doubt some feminist type will insist on putting female pieces into the game, what would they use, hmmm...
Panda Rosa...they could use "Polly Pockets"!
I hear there is a "Spirit of the Motu Proprio" game under development.
This way the Holy Father does not have to wait for an opportunity to issue this directive, we go ahead and implement the essential elements "In the Spirit" of the original document.
Ursula
I too have played this game and agree that it's far less orthodox than one might imagine. I think the game is terrible for an entirely different reason. I was bored out of my mind save the turn that I was appointed to the Congregation for Divine Worship.
Thats too bad. i was considering buying that game