Kings of Israel Board Game by Funhill Games

It was a prophecy. The most wicked city would be destroyed. One of our number thought this would be a good thing, they would finally stop spreading their vile behavior to their neighboring cities. Hadn't we preached repentance to that stiff-necked city before? Like dogs they repeatedly returned to their vomit.We were all prophets, but it seemed they could appreciate the danger this would put the rest of the northern kingdom of Israel in. It seemed like it was teetering on the edge of a knife and losing that city would make it worse. The constant wickedness of our kings always lead to punishments from our jealous God. This coming destruction being the worst of them.Yes, we'd built many altars to our God and cleaned up a lot of sin by sacrificing there but it seemed like we were losing the war. Sin spread continually. And our enemies were even at the door.Game playKings of Israel is a game with a ever visible timer. Each round is the reign of one of the kings of the northern kingdom. At the beginning of each round a blessing card is chosen or a punishment card, depending on whether the reigning king did much to follow God's commandments. I hate to spoil the Old Testiment for you, but not many kings were righteous ones and after enough ner-do-well kings, the God of Abraham Issac and Jacob let Israel's enemies mow them down.In this alternate history game, you and your cooperating team mates play prophets who try to reshape the past. If enough altars can be built, Israel won't be destroyed despite it's lousy monarchs and everyone wins together. But if sin is so rampant that you run out of sin cubes, or if those backsliding children of Israel build more golden calves than come in the box, destruction can come early, and you lose. You also lose by the end of the last kings reign, so you have that constant reminder of impending doom.After you've completed the kings phase, sin spreads, you draw a number of cards as there are playing and sin cubes increase. Some locations represent neighboring nations that strike multiple nations. The most amusing is Judah to the south. But in fairness, Judah had it's share of wicked kings, so it makes sense.Then each prophet gets to take four actions moving from city to city, preaching to remove sin cubes, throwing down golden calves, and building altars or offering sacrifices on them. Each prophet has a special ability that changes from game to game.While I have beat this game on it's easiest setting, with only two people. I think it gets easier with the fewer players. You can also introduce a false prophet, but that prophet is an automatta, not a fifth player like in pandemic or Batterstar Gallactica. And there are conditions when the false prophet can be removed.ThemeIf it hasn’t been obvious, I am completely sucked in by the theme. There are similarities to other co-operative games especially Pandemic: Each character has special powers, you make moves for the team and then the board pushed you closer to defeat, that sort of thing. Pandemic also shares the shuffle the cards and put them back on top of the draw deck mechanic. I tell you this so that you won’t be surprised if you decide to add them both to your game closet. I've got Pandemic and still bought this, why?The night after I played my first game I was reading through some dull chapters in 2 Chronicles and I caught the name of a city that featured in the game. “I know where that one is!” I thought.It's also a fun thing to play with my kids to familiarize them with the places and kings. It helps to understand the manner of prophesying among the Jews. Both the blessing cards and punishment cards were “ripped from the headlines” as it were from biblical events.BalanceI've played three games and won all three, so not feeling as challenged as I am when I play Pandemic. There are only two cards equivalent to Epidemic cards. But the infection rate is at a constant high and much more often than not, there are rotten things happening each round from the wicked kings. But as I say, I've still won each game.InteractionInteraction is very high. There’s all sort of collaborative discussion that goes on through this game.Learning CurveLow. It takes all of ten minutes to explain and there are directions on the board and the turn cards.DowntimeNill. You are all in it together! And you even get to move a guy in your turn.What’s not to Like?Can't think of anything though I'd prefer to have the false prophet be a real person. House rules to make it so would be pretty easy to come up with, I suppose.Collateral EndorsementMy son, age 8 loves this game and requests it. The kids all seem to like it more than Pandemic. Perhaps that's because I didn't tell them what to do in this game as much as I did in Pandemic. It's a parenting lesson we must all learn, I'm sure.

I say this with a sincere heart while I am sure the creator had good intentions when making this game and wanted christians to just have a fun time and have christian themed games,whoever made this and whoever played this needs to repent,after buying the game and playing God convicted me and my wife even to rip it up an throw it out, while we were playing the game a random object that shouldn't have moved flew off something on our table and smashed the board, this is why we ripped it up:God doesn't take sin or golden calfs as a game,and that's what this game does, it turns real events and destructions of isrealites death,sin,idolism, and makes it into a game, real people were destroyed in the wilderness for the idols and sin they committed which hurt God and made him angry,and people are ending up in Hell everyday for sin which breaks God's heart,its like making a twin towers game where you have a certain time to stop the terrorist from blowing the tower up and playing it with a 9/11 survivor or family member of a 9/11 survior who died,it would make them not only heart broken but infuriated for playing and making a game out of tragic event or like A game where every round christ gets lashes on his back and punched and you have to stop it this every round,we must take sin serious is not a joke it leads to Hell and this game does not please God just because christian is stamped on it, this game creator will be judged for this game and the people he has influenced to think playing with sin is a game,people literally were stoned to death for sin it isn't game,Jesus died so we could be set free it hurt Jesus he was bruised and beaten for our sins,that's not a game,please repent before you die and take this game off the shelf make a new one that does not spread sin and make a game out of things God hates, Godbless 🙏

This game has a biblical theme but isn't preachy. You might consider it a re-theme to the Pandemic series. It has similar mechanics worth some minor differences similar to other themed versions (Cthulu, Rome, etc.)If you enjoy the historical representation of the Biblical characters, then you'll enjoy this game where prophets try to prevent the spread of sin rather than scientists trying to prevent the spread of a virus.High quality components. We'll designed game board. Fun and challenging.

My older brother went to college and seminary in order to become a preacher. Given this game’s biblical theme and cooperative nature, I figured this would be the perfect gift for him and his wife. We played it a couple of times while they were visiting for New Years, and it was a hit!

This isn't your typical Bible themed game! Unfortunately, there is not much variety among Christian games out there, and I have never found one that has really gripped me-- until Kings of Israel. This is a well designed, challenging, and immensely fun strategy game, made even better by its theme. With all the magic and suggestive content in games out there, it's nice to have one I can feel completely comfortable with and can recommend without qualms to friends and family-- AND have fun playing.The premise is that each player represents a line of prophets throughout the ages of the Israeli Kings. It is a co-op, so players work together to build enough alters before either the Assyrian army or sin takes over. Of course, building alters means gathering resources, but sin must also be eliminated before it spreads like a fire, so a lot of thought goes into how you are going to use your four actions on each turn.It took me and my husband four tries to actually win, but we were just getting a feel for the game. It seems game-play can take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes or so.I would love to see more similarly themed games from creator Lance Hill in the future!