How to play
An old book lies open, and every page holds a story you can step into. Win a story and you gather something that helps in the next. At the very end, a city waits behind high walls. Play alone on any phone or computer, or as a team with one big screen and everyone’s phones.
The stories
Five stories wait in the book, and you choose the order. Each asks for five right answers before three mistakes, and the questions get harder the further into the book you go.
- Samuel’s callA voice calls in the night. Carry a flame from the lamp to light the lamp beside the right answer.
- Noah’s floodOlive leaves fall in the rain, each carrying an answer. Guide the dove to catch the right one.
- Abraham’s starsStars wheel across the desert sky. Stop them when the right one sits above the tent.
- Peter in prisonSpell the answer on the links of a chain, then try the gate.
- Jonah in the deepEverything, even the question, is hidden in the dark. Find it all with your lamp before it fades.
Two ways to play every story
Each player chooses. Play the hands-on way, dragging, catching and spinning, or switch on simple mode at the bottom of the screen and just tap the answer.
What you gather, and what it does
Every story you win gives you something to carry, and each one helps twice: once in a later story, then again at Jericho. Because it only helps stories you have not played yet, the order you choose matters.
| You gather | From | On the journey | At Jericho |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Lamp | Samuel’s call | Lights Jonah’s darkness: a wider glow that lasts longer | Each right answer marches further |
| The Olive Leaf | Noah’s flood | Calms Abraham’s sky, so the stars turn slowly | More time before nightfall |
| The Starlight | Abraham’s stars | Lights one link of Peter’s chain for you | Once, shows which answer is wrong |
| The Fallen Chains | Peter in prison | Spare you one long way round | The march starts one lap in |
| Jonah’s Vine | Jonah in the deep | Shades you from your next mistake | Forgives one stumble |
When a story beats you
You leave without what it held and take the long way round through the wilderness: three quick questions. Each stumble on the way costs three seconds at Jericho. You are never stuck, and the Fallen Chains spare you the journey.
Jericho
When every story is done, the last page opens on the walls of Jericho. Each right answer carries the march further round the walls; seven laps before nightfall, and the trumpets sound, everyone shouts together, and the walls come tumbling down. A wrong answer is a stumble and costs three seconds.
Alone, you march by yourself. Wherever something you could have gathered is missing, the road is rough and costs two seconds to cross.
As a team, everyone’s name stands around the city, and the march passes to a different player each time. Their phone shows the question, and everyone else can see it and shout help. It never goes to the same person twice running, and it leans towards whoever has had it least, so nobody is left out.
Playing as a team
- Open Host a team game on a TV, projector or laptop that everyone can see.
- Everyone scans the code on the screen with their phone and types a name. Three to eight players.
- Choose a story together. The host taps it, then taps who goes in; the screen shows how many stories each person has played, so it stays fair.
- That player plays the story on their own phone. The big screen follows along a moment behind, so everyone can watch and shout.
- Latecomers can join at any time by scanning the code.
If a phone goes quiet in the middle of a story, the host can tap Phone trouble? to hand the story to someone else or skip it; skipping loses what the story held, but there is no long way round. The player can also simply reload the page to start the story again.
A note for leaders
The questions are about names, places and events, not the wording of one translation, so they suit KJV and NIV readers alike. God and Jesus are never pictured, and Jericho is told the way children’s ministry tells it: the march, the shout and the walls.
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