Bible Swaparoo

Preparation

Download, print and cut up the Bible Swaparoo Game Cards.
There are 66 cards, corresponding to the 66 Books of the Bible.

Download, print and cut up the Bible Swaparoo Mission Cards.
We suggest printing these on any light-colored cards in order to easily distinguish this set from the Bible Swaparoo Game Cards.

You may also like to download and print the following optional resources for your reference during the game or for your discussion thereafter.
Books of the Bible Chart

Sections of the Bible Overview

How to Play

Shuffle the Game Cards and the Mission Cards separately.

Deal 3 Game Cards and 2 Mission Cards to each player.
Players should hold these cards in your hands.

Place the remaining cards in 2 separate stacks (face down): these form the 2 draw piles.

The objective of the game is to match Mission Cards with the appropriate Game Cards.
Each Mission Card specifies the type and number of Game Cards required to form a matched set.
Example of a matched set:

The first player to collect 4 sets of matched cards wins.

Players take turns to play, starting with the youngest player.

On the first turn only:
The first player draws 2 cards from the draw pile(s) of your choice.
(You can draw 2 Game Cards, or 2 Mission Cards, or 1 of each.)

On your turn:
You should have 7 cards in your hand. They can be any combination of Game Cards and Mission Cards.
Look at all the cards in your hand: Can you form any matched sets?
If you cannot form any matched set, discard up to 2 cards from your hand and replenish these cards from the draw pile(s) of your choice. (Create a discard pile for Game Cards and a separate discard pile for Mission Cards.)

Look at the 7 cards in your hand again: Can you form any matched sets?

If you still cannot form any matched set, pass 2 cards to the player on your left.

If you can form a matched set, place this set of cards face up in front of you.
You have successfully collected 1 matched set of Bible Swaparoo Cards!
Note: you can only play 1 matched set per turn.
Draw cards from the draw pile(s) of your choice to replenish your hand to 7 cards.
(You can have any combination of Game Cards and Mission Cards that you like.)

Finally, pass 2 cards to the player on your left.
This should leave you with 5 cards in your hand.

The turn passes to the player on your left.

Bible Lesson – Books and Sections of the Bible

Discuss
1. Did you enjoy this game?
2. Was it easy to match the Mission Cards to your Game Cards? What was a quick way to know that you have a match?

Say
In addition to an image and the name of the book, each Game Card states which section of the Bible the book belongs to. The Game Cards also have the same border color as the corresponding Mission Cards. This helps players know that they match.

Let’s play a different game right now.
Instead of matching Bible Swaparoo Mission Cards to Bible Swaparoo Game Cards, we will look for a specific Bible passage in our Bibles.
(Ensure that everyone has a hardcopy Bible.)
Let’s see who can be the first to locate 2 Timothy 3:16-17 in the Bible…

Discuss
3. (Ask the fastest person.) Tell us how you managed to find these verses so quickly?
4. (Ask a volunteer who struggled to locate these verses.) What can help you find these verses quicker the next time?

Say
The Bible is not one single book, but a collection of 66 smaller books that tell one unified story.
Just like the Bible Swaparoo Cards, these 66 books of the Bible are organized into sections.
Being familiar with how the Bible is organized helps us quickly find specific passages in the Bible.

Discuss
5. The Bible is divided into two main parts. What are the names of these parts?
6. What are some differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament?

7. How are the 39 books of the Old Testament organized?
8. What are the 5 sections of the Old Testament called?
9. How would you describe each of these 5 sections?

10. How are the 27 books of the New Testament organized?
11. What are these 5 sections called?
12. How would you describe each of these 5 sections?

13. How important is it for us to know the organization of the Bible into the various sections that we have just discussed?

Conclude
Being familiar with the 66 books of the Bible and how they are organized helps us more quickly locate specific passages in the Bible. More importantly, knowing which section of the Bible a passage is taken from gives us an idea of its genre and helps us understand the passage better.