Game

Participants play a game during a children's class in Nepal.

A game is a form of entertainment in which one or more players follows a set of rules and instructions to achieve some goal; as such, games are a form of organized play. Many different types of games exist, all of which provide some kind of physical or intellectual challenge. Sports involve physical activity, with team sports, such as football (or soccer), baseball, cricket, or hockey, generally being played by two teams competing against each other. Board games involve intellectual activity, in the form of strategy or creative thinking. Quiz games involve knowledge-based questions which players must answer correctly in order to progress.

Games are often used in Bahá’í contexts for their ability to promote engagement and social interaction. The social portion of the Nineteen Day Feast can include games; children's classes and junior youth groups often include games as educational or capacity-building activities.

Several Bahá’í games have been created, with the purposes of deepening understanding or of creating a Bahá’í identity among the participants. Bahá’í games could be simple ones involving words or body movements; those involving props, such as are used in the Ruhi series of books; or more complex games, using a board and playing pieces.

Board games

A board game is a type of social game that is played by one or more people on a board, generally with tokens which represent each player and cards or dice for use in progressing around the board towards a goal. Board games form a popular and widespread genre of game. Various Bahá’í-themed board games exist, some of which have been produced for wider distribution.

Quiz games

Quiz games are a method of deepening for Bahá’ís, and a way of stimulating interest and discussion. They do not necessarily impart understanding, and do not achieve a satisfactory result in terms of study of any one particular subject, but they can be a useful and refreshing way of introducing new areas of knowledge or of exchanging and spreading tiny pieces of factual information. As such, Bahá'í quiz games often concentrate on Bahá’í history: events in the lives of the Central Figures, the names of outstanding Bahá'í teachers and pioneers, and the like. However, some of the available quiz games are much more rounded, and include questions on the Writings, on prayers, etc.

Examples would include Bahá’í Challenge, Spiritual Pursuit and Nunki.

There are other, less formal uses for Bahá’í quiz games. Some families keep sets of Bahá’í quiz questions for use in less formal situations, for example keeping children entertained on a journey.

Online quizzes

See also: Quizzes on the internet

It is possible to access a series of quizzes on the Bahá’í Faith, hosted by a commercial site. Usage is free at first, but after a while some payment is expected.

A set of publicly-available quizzes is available online at http://www.educationquizzes.com/specialist/the-bahai-faith/. A short article on these can be found at Quizzes on the internet.