With religious video games, you are playing for eternity

This database contains every religious video game that’s been made

You won’t find them all at your local GameStop, but religious video games are a thing — a very big thing it turns out. Vincent Gonzalez, Ph.D., as part of his doctoral thesis, tracked 1,000 of them down (starting with a series of Atari Bible games from 1982) and has made his database available online.

Parents concerned about the way their kids spend time on the computer — say, killing people, for instance — may welcome this catalog of games which teach kids about faith – whatever it may be. Most of the games were created by and for evangelical Christians, but there’s gaming fun for all faiths. Here’s a sampling of the online games available that are playable today:

12 Apostles Quiz (Christian)

Missionary Maze (Mormon)

Do You Know Your Seder Plate (Jewish)

A Journey Through the Arabic Alphabet (Muslim)

And it’s not just for kids – the database includes adventure games designed for adults too. In “Catechumen,” you play a Christian in training during the Roman persecution. The game’s creator describes it as a “high-quality, Christ-centered computer [game] (Phil 4:13)” “to be enjoyed by Christians and non-Christians,” complete with “many verses of the Bible to be interpreted by the player as the Holy Spirit leads (Psalm 68:11).” Many of these games — and their platforms — may be difficult to find (Radio Shack TRS-80, anyone?), but for the curious, worth looking out for at yard sales and flea markets.