Rules

Bahá'ís of Warwick

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Spiritual Pursuit

Welcome to the game of Spiritual Pursuit. It has been designed for Bahá'ís and their friends to play at home, in the social part of a Feast, as part of a study circle or junior youth group, or any time!

CONTENTS AND PREPARATION

Contents: one board, one die, 3 sets of question and answer cards. Plus pieces for up to 9 players: 9 posts to represent the players, 27 rings which will be placed on the posts to represent points won, 18 jokers and 90 triangles (9 for each section). Each set of 9 triangles should be placed on the triangle of the same colour on the appropriate section of the board. Please note: the colours of the posts have nothing to do with the colours on the board.

PLAYING THE GAME

Between two and nine people or teams can play. The first player to complete a circuit of the board, having collected all 10 different triangles, is the winner. If the game is stopped before the end, the person with the most triangles is the winner. Movement around the board is anti-clockwise around the outside ring and is determined by the roll of a die. Ideally each player should start on a different section. Each player selects a post (of any colour) and places it at the start of the section - this is at the opposite end to the arrows. The youngest player starts and then play moves to his or her right. A player collects points by answering questions correctly. When enough points have been gained to obtain a triangle for a section, the player can move on to the next section. If, by the end of a section, the player has not gained enough points, he or she must make a detour round the inside loop for that section and continue trying to answer the questions. This loop can continue as long as is necessary. When enough points have been gained, the player no longer needs to answer further questions on that section, but does need to achieve sufficient dice throws to reach a square on the next section.

However, the player may now move by the shortest route. Someone on the inner loop, therefore, may go into reverse in order to move to the next section more quickly.

If there is no question master, it is probably best if questions are asked by the player on your left - this should be the player who has just completed his or her turn - but you may wish to make other arrangements. The question on the card on the top of the pile should be asked, then that card should be placed at the bottom of that pile. It does not matter if a question comes up twice in the same game. This is one way of learning the answer!

The subjects for the Bonus questions on the inside loops are represented by the following pictures: a heart for Peace & Unity, a scroll for Hidden Words, a pot for Pot Luck and a question mark for Facts and Figures. The other subject is This and That.

QUESTIONS

There are 10 main subjects for questions and there are Regular and Harder questions for each of these. There are also Bonus questions which are divided into 5 categories. Regular and Bonus questions have the option of multiple choice answers. Only one question may be asked per turn. Each player must obtain 6 points in order to be allowed to pass on to the next subject area. If there are a lot of people playing you may wish to lower the number of points needed to pass each section, so that people do not have to answer so many questions and the game will be shorter.

If all players have a similar and reasonable level of knowledge, they will each have the choice of a Regular or Harder question on the particular subject each time they land on a square of a plain colour. 3 points are awarded for a correct answer to a Harder question, 2 points for a Regular question without choices and 1 point for a Regular question if the choices are offered. If a player lands on one of the Bonus squares, a correct answer earns 2 points, or 1 point if the choices are offered. If any answer is only partly correct, 1 or 2 points, as appropriate,  may be awarded if everyone agrees this is fair. When a player is awarded points for an answer, the appropriate number of rings should be placed on the post. When the post has 6 rings, the player collects a triangle for that section, the rings are all removed and put back in the pile and the player is free to pass on to the next section when dice throws permit.

GIVING EVERYONE A CHANCE

The age and knowledge of the players in each game may be varied, and the game has therefore been designed to be adapted to the requirements of each occasion. Spiritual Pursuit may be played as a team game with teams perhaps being made up of a balance of knowledgeable and less knowledgeable individuals. But for individuals (or teams) with different levels of knowledge, the chances of winning can be evened out by deciding at the beginning of the game to allocate players different types of questions or different numbers of points. For example, a very well‑read Bahá’í may be required to always opt for the Harder questions. A Bahá’í with average knowledge would have the Regular questions without being offered the multiple choice answers and a beginner would be offered the multiple choices. In each case a correct answer would earn 3 points.

It is also possible to balance things out simply by varying the number of points to be awarded in each case. For instance the person who has to answer Harder questions each time may only be awarded two points for a correct answer whereas beginners may be given three points for each multiple-choice question answered.

For each game please think about how to make it fair and decide on questions and points before you start playing. However, there is no harm in changing the rules part way through the game if someone is struggling or someone is winning by miles, but this will have to be decided by consultation. This is a Bahá’í game after all and the object is to learn and have fun!

JOKERS

Some players may experience difficulty on certain sections, depending on their own areas of knowledge. Each player is therefore issued with 2 jokers which they can use at any time, separately or simultaneously, to make up to the required number of points to gain a triangle and continue round the board to the next section. In the standard game, jokers will be worth 3 points each. However, it may be decided at the beginning of the game that some experienced players should receive no jokers and others may receive extra, or that jokers may be worth more points to some players, for example that for beginners one joker may be worth enough points on its own to gain a triangle.

SAMPLE PLAY

To give everyone the idea, do the following with everyone watching:

Place a post at the start of the Administration section. Imagine the die rolls three. The post moves forward that many spaces. The post will land on a brown square. The player would then be asked an Administration question, either from the top Regular card or from the top Harder card, according to the choice of the player. Unless decided otherwise at the start of the game, the player would be awarded 3 points for correctly answering a Harder question or 2 points for a Regular question. If a player cannot answer the Regular question, he or she may be offered the three choices but will only get one point for a correct answer. The player puts the appropriate number of rings on the post. Imagine that on the next turn, the player rolls two on the die. Move the post on two, which will again land on a brown square. Now the player is asked another Administration question, and points (rings) are awarded as above. If, by now, the player has collected six points, he or she would remove the rings from the post and take an Administration triangle to keep until the end of the game. If on the next turn the player rolls five on the die, then the post would land on the third square of the `Abdu’l-Bahá section, and the player would be offered a question from that section in the same manner as before. However, if the player had not yet collected six points, he or she would turn left at the end of the Administration section, and continue back around the inner loop. The five just thrown would land the post on This and That. These questions are to be found on the Bonus question cards. Alternatively the player could play one or more jokers in order to obtain a triangle for the Administration section and then continue on to the `Abdu’l-Bahá section as described above.

NOTE

Anything which is not clear in the rules should be decided by consultation.

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