The Holy Quest is a new Catholic family board game. It is loosely based on an ancient Hindu game of Pachisi. In some ways the game play is similar to the British game of Ludo or the American version Sorry!.
Many of us are familiar with some versions of Pachisi. The Holy Quest, however, is a much more engaging and entertaining board game with multiple ways to play. Not only that, but the game is educational and aims at uniting the Catholic family, improve parent-child relationships and encourage faith building. The game is fun to play for children of all ages and can bring multiple generations to the table. It can also appeal to older generations who seek to build a stronger relationship with their grandchildren.
The object of the game is to get your saints into Heaven. At its most basic level, the game teaches that it is great to be a saint, and that our destination in life is the Kingdom of Heaven. On a deeper level the game teaches players about the lives of famous saints of the Catholic Church as well as about their religious orders. It is even possible that some vocations to a religious life may be inspired in children by playing this game.
There are many new ideas brought into the game. Matt Lorens, the president of a family-owned company, Traditio Designs, LLC, is the designer of the game. He used his many years of experience in digital photography and design to bring beautiful Catholic art into the game. The game combines the art of stained glass images with some iconic elements to make it visually appealing. As Lorens has collected photos of thousands of stained glass windows from around the world, he had enough artwork on his computer to be able to use it for the game. The main background of the board is partially based on a photo he took of the traditional altar in his parish church, while the saints in the game are all stained glass images digitally enhanced and redesigned by Matt.
The Holy Quest game sets a new level for Catholic board games and there is really nothing similar on the market today. This game adds so much value to traditional board games that it really cannot be compared to any other game out there.
So what makes this game unique and special?
The first and foremost change to the traditional game of Pachisi is that all the pawns are personalized. While there are four general colors and each of the players choses one of the four colors, the pawns are made into actual saints. Each color is also assigned a religious order. The four religious orders chosen for this game include the Franciscans (green), Carmelites (yellow), Jesuits (blue) and the Dominicans (red). Every color has 4 pawns, but each pawn is a saint belonging to its corresponding religious order. In addition to that, each religious order has a leader or a captain marked with a letter "C" on the pawn. Captains of each order are either its founders or the saints in whose honor the order was created. So for example, St. Dominic is the captain of the Dominicans. Captains have special privileges in the game to make it more entertaining.
There are game components like the pawns and the cards that are personalized to specific saints of the Catholic Church. The components are designed at Traditio Designs studio. Every single pawn and every single card is made of high quality material geared toward board games. They are printed, cut, trimmed, laminated and coated with UV protection. The rules booklet and the Religious Orders booklet are also produced with the highest standards. We take special care to make sure our components are of highest quality and material and stand out above most board games you will find on the market today. We place great care and attention to detail when producing these components. We put our hearts and souls into creating our games to benefit your children.
Another big difference in the game is the direction of play. Typically, games based on Pachisi are played in a clockwise direction. However, in the Holy Quest, the direction may be changed during game play making it harder or easier to finish the game. The path on the board is made of tiles, some of which are called action tiles. There are multiple action tiles along the way to make the game more interesting. Different action tiles have different functions such as fast forward, read a card, cut across, get a saint, and melt the ice and so on. Every player has two starting tiles which depend on the direction of play. There is also a special area called "Holy Ground" for each player, where players are immune to attacks from others.
The game can be played by 2 to 4 players in a standard mode, but more players are allowed to form teams. In teamwork play, players on the same team alternate in turns. A second type of teamwork play is also allowed where players of opposite colors can be on the same team and play against another team of opposite colors. In such a situation, players can chose to move saints of two different colors on each turn.
When you look at the board for the Holy Quest, you will also notice an inner circle of round tiles surrounding the "Throne of God." This inner circle is optional and it is used in the advanced play option of the game. Players are not allowed to use the inner circle until all of their saints are in Heaven. Then, once all four saints are in Heaven for a particular player, a second quest begins to get them into the Throne Room of God.
The first player to bring all their saints into Heaven or Throne Room of God, wins the game. The game is encouraged for children of all ages anywhere from 5 and up. Adult supervision is highly recommended for younger kids. The game is filled with info cards for each saint, and while playing the game, different saint cards will be used. For younger children, an adult or an older child will be asked to read the information about the saint on the card. For older kids, another player can ask any question based on the card information. Getting the answer right will advance the player on the board and getting it wrong will cause a penalty.
There are just so many ways to play this game that it stays entertaining each time it is played. Children can identify with different saints and will want to keep coming back to become one of them in the game. We hope this gives our readers a general idea of how awesome this game is and why it is so different from other board games. There is just nothing similar available today.
Helping us financially by donating to our campaign will ensure the production of this game. We encourage all Catholics to support this project and make it possible. Anyone can support this project with a donation. Those who are able to donate at least $120 USD will be entitled to receive the Holy Quest game from the first limited production run. Any donation in the multiples of $120 will entitle you to additional copies. We plan to produce 1000 copies of the game in our first production run. After that, we will make other production runs depending on interest. Any money we raise above our campaign goal will go into the development and production of other great board games. We have several in the works and you can read about them in our Other Games section. Be sure to also visit our News section to get the latest on the progress of this game.
Saints in the standard game
Franciscans
St. Francis of Assisi
(1181 - 1226) - Captain of the Franciscan order. Known as a patron saint of animals.
St. Clare of Assisi
(1194 - 1253) - Known as the patron saint of eye disorders.
St. Anthony of Padua
(1195 - 1231) - Doctor of the Church and known as the patron saint of lost articles.
St. Angela Merici
(1474 - 1540) - Known as the patron saint of the disabled.
Carmelites
St. Simon Stock
(1165 - 1285) - Captain of the Carmelite order. Known for receiving the brown scapular.
St. Teresa of Avila
(1515 - 1582) - Doctor of the Church and known as the patron saint of headaches.
St. John of the Cross
(1542 - 1591) - Doctor of the Church and known as the patron saint of mystics and theologians.
St. Therese of Lisieux
(1873 - 1897) - Doctor of the Church known as the Little Flower and Therese of the Child Jesus.
Jesuits
St. Ignatius of Loyola
(1491 - 1556) - Captain of the Jesuit order. Known as the patron saint of soldiers.
St. Robert Bellarmine
(1542 - 1621) - Doctor of the Church and known as a patron saint of Down Syndrome.
St. Stanislaus Kostka
(1550 - 1568) - Known as the patron saint of broken bones and Poland.
St. Andrew Bobola
(1591 - 1657) - Martyred and known as a patron saint of Poland.
Dominicans
St. Dominic de Guzman
(1170 - 1221) - Captain of the Dominican order. Known for receiving the Holy Rosary.
St. Catherine of Siena
(1347 - 1380) - Doctor of the Church and known as a patron saint of illness and miscarriages.
St. Martin de Porres
(1579 - 1639) - Known as Martin of Charity and patron saint of poor people.
St. Rose of Lima
(1586 - 1617) - Known as a patron saint of embroiderers, gardeners and florists.