Game Spotlight: Journeys of St. Paul
Charting Course: Why We’re Rolling Out
We have something incredibly special for our Homeschool Connections community today! In celebration of the upcoming Makers Fair, we are thrilled to spotlight a game that brings the Book of Acts right to your dining room table—and even better, we are giving a copy away! Today, we are unpacking Journeys of St. Paul from Sophia Institute Press, a game that trades standard textbooks for an interactive trip across the ancient Mediterranean.
Mission Briefing: The Essentials
Journeys of St. Paul is a trivia and strategy game that drops players right into the early days of the Church. St. Paul didn’t spread the Gospel alone, and in this game, you step into the sandals of his dedicated messengers. Your mission is to brave the wilderness, survive the harsh deserts, and successfully deliver St. Paul’s momentous letters to the newly established Christian churches. But beware, don’t get caught by the Roman Legions along the way.
How to Play (The Quick Tour)
Players race across the board as messengers of St. Paul, trying to be the first to reach the city gates and deliver the secret, important letters to the early Christian brothers and sisters. Along the way, you will draw from a deck of 200 trivia cards, or Challenge Cards, to answer biblical trivia (with options for easy or difficult questions), collect keys, and plot your course to the city gates. This journey isn’t easy, nor was it for the early messengers, and you keep your wits about you to evade the Roman Legion that’s trying to stop your journey.
The Learning Cargo (Skills We Pack)
When this hit our table, everyone really connected with the game’s biblical aspect. It excels at distilling the historical framework into small, understandable questions to learn about St. Paul and his letters in the New Testament. Here is the educational cargo you are hauling with this one:
- Theological Trivia & Scripture Recall: The 200 Challenge Cards require players to dig into their knowledge of the early Church, the Apostles, and the New Testament.
- Spatial Reasoning & Route Optimization: Movement in this game relies on navigating a classic square grid system to reach specific destinations, such as Key Houses and Helper Squares, while avoiding the Roman Legion garrison. Calculating the most efficient path engages the brain regions that handle spatial awareness, sequence planning, and working memory.
- Critical Thinking & Tactical Foresight: Navigating the board isn’t just about moving forward; players must weigh the risk of certain paths against the movement of the Roman Legion tokens that are actively blocking their way.
Captain’s Log: Setup and Game Play Hacks
If you are a homeschooling parent—especially in a Catholic family with a beautiful stair-step of kids and a toddler or two vying for your attention—streamlining the game table is a lifesaver. Here are a few quick tips we discovered to make your gameplay much smoother:
- Pre-Sort the Tokens: The rules don’t explicitly mention taking your three color-matching Roman Legion tokens at the beginning of the game, but I highly recommend separating those into your personal player area right away so you don’t have to hunt for them later.
- Place Keys on the Board: Instead of digging through a baggie for Key tokens mid-game, pre-place one key of each color directly onto the Key Houses during setup. Adding that extra 3D dimension to the board really helps younger players visually track exactly where they need to navigate to next!
- Reading the Challenge Cards: The multiple-choice answers on the trivia cards are written as a continuous sentence separated by commas, rather than using A, B, and C bullet points. When younger students read them aloud, it can feel a little awkward to parse where one option ends and the next begins. A quick fix is to have the reader purposefully pause and add “Option A,” “Option B,” etc., while reading aloud to keep the trivia flowing smoothly.
Navigating the Game: Customizing the Learning Voyage
- For Your Junior Navigators (Ages 8-10): Lean into the game’s built-in cooperative mechanics! The game includes “Heavenly Helper” cards (like the “Hidden Community” card) that officially allow a player to consult with one other person before answering a Challenge Card question. Encourage your younger students to play these to team up with an older sibling or parent so they can reason through the easier blue questions together.
- For Your Middle Explorers (Ages 11-13): Turn trivia into an active research challenge! Since both the easy (blue) and hard (red) questions are printed on the same card, parents can pre-sort the deck before the game to pull out cards that focus on direct biblical quotes or specific topics you are currently studying (like the Wedding at Cana or the Fruits of the Holy Spirit). If they get stumped on one of these targeted cards, turn it into an “open-book” turn. Have them practice their reading strategies by physically searching their Bibles to find the exact quote. It transforms a missed question into a fantastic lesson in biblical reference skills!
- For Your Senior Navigators (Teens and Up): Have them exclusively tackle the harder red questions—some of them are legitimate stumpers! Then, let them take the reins on the strategic maneuvering. Challenge them to manage the board state and figure out the absolute most efficient path to deliver the letters, using that tactical foresight to dodge the Romans.
Print-and-Play Bonus Tip
To really lock in the history, print out a blank historical map of the Mediterranean during the Roman Empire. As you play the game, have your students trace St. Paul’s actual missionary journeys as described in the Book of Acts alongside the grid routes they are taking on the game board!
Beyond Academics: Why Your Family Will Love It
Sometimes the best way to understand history is to step into the story, and through games! Journeys of St. Paul provides a fantastic, unplugged way to explore the camaraderie and the genuine danger faced by the early Christians, bringing a whole new level of excitement to your family’s religious studies.
Ready to Roll? Your Next Steps
Are you ready to dodge the Roman Legion and deliver St. Paul’s Epistles? If your students are attending the upcoming Makers Fair, make sure they keep an eye out for the Journeys of St. Paul giveaway for a chance to bring this adventure home to your own game table!
What historical event or time period would you love to see turned into a board game next? I invite you to join the discussion with other homeschooling parents and me in the Homeschool Connections Community or our Facebook group.
