How First Watch works:
In the First Watch box, you’ll find 90 verse cards suited by the Fruit of the Spirit and divided into a Lightraider deck and a battle deck. You’ll also find rule cards plus a key card to help you use this deck with other Lightraiders games.
The “Battle” deck includes the cards you need to score victories. Use these verses when battling allegorical enemies in the Lightraiders realm. Use the Lightraider deck verses to encourage and restore friends and as prayers of praise or to ask for help.
If you don’t remember the verse referenced on the battle card in play, use a Lightraider card from your hand that matches its suit. Or recite a verse from a card in an opponent’s hand. Of course, you can only see the reference on the back of your opponent’s card, so you’ll have to rely on memory.
This Level One deck includes 90 foundational verses from across the Bible, most with twenty words or less for easier memorization. Focus areas are the armor of God, the fruit of the Spirit, Psalms, Proverbs, and sharing the Gospel. Future levels will build upon this foundation.
The design and rules of First Watch seek to promote memory and understanding by engaging different forms of memory. Competition promotes learning by providing the motivation and fun, but that’s only a small part of what we’ve built into the game.
Flash Memory:
Remember flash cards? During game play, you can use the cards in your hands like quick flash cards in your attempts to claim battle cards of the same suit. As a beginner, this will be your go-to method. Quickly memorize the verse, turn the card around to show your opponents, and recite it. You’ll be surprised at how often you get the verse right.
Applications:
Read the brief 175-character application on the card back to find key words and key concepts that will help you recognize the referenced verse. Holman Bible Dictionary contributor Dr. Gary Huckabay created these applications to help you understand each verse in the context of Scripture.
But what about the game application on the other side of the card? Read on to find out.
At Lightraider Academy, we’re all about learning through adventure.
Applying Scripture in fantasy allegory engages a different part of the brain to improve understanding. That’s how lightraider games work. Each card in the First Watch level one deck includes an allegorical application in the form of a declaration, reminder, or petition, along with useful stats. Use the fantasy applications and stats in other Lightraiders games.
For instance, this is the game application for Proverbs 12:22, a verse that reminds us God loves honesty. Spiders represent the temptation of deceit in the Lightraider realm. Players who correctly counter a spider with this verse can better resist its attack. Those who read directly from the card gain one Wisdom Point. Those who recite from memory get two Wisdom Points and may gain other affects.
Reading these allegorical applications in the First Watch helps with memorization. But the best learning comes from applying the verses in the fantasy situations of the broader adventure games or seeing the same verses applied by the characters in the Lightraider Academy trilogy of teen novels.
