Board Games for Catholics to Avoid

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I can concede that I could have been clearer. Tarot and Ouija are evil and always immoral for any Catholic to participate in. I could have made the distinction clearer between board games that have bad themes and Tarot/Ouija also in my original post. However I know nothing about D&D, other then you sacrifice things to a character/deity, or much about Ouija in general.

Also, I’m amazed that my original post got so far off track from the get go because of this single distinction. I could not believe how many people rushed to say things like games are just games or that I’m somehow scrupulous because I avoid games with pentagram tokens and demons. Are these not red flags for us as Catholics?

I think nude art has become the dominating topic now with a few jokes about board games here and there lol.
 
Catholics need to hold on to what they were taught as a group. We all serve the same God. Imagine Christ sitting next to you.
 
This thread reminded me of Cards Against Humanity, which is pretty smutty. Then I remembered talk of the Catholic Card Game which was designed as a cleaner alternative. Has anyone played it yet?

catholiccardgame.com

The party game that's fun and faithful | The Catholic Card Game

Many Catholics have a hard time building community. The Catholic Card Game is a fun game that strengthens fellowship among friends and family with laugher and holy leisure. The Catholic Card Game is easy to play, provides clean entertainment, and captures our Catholic culture.
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I think this thread started with an assumption that not all agree with, that board games can be sinful. For the OP, this may well be the case, as for others. But asking the question here means that most people who respond will not have that same assumption, or be in the same situation that some games are sinful due to occult influences.

There are some games I think are sinful, even one mentioned here. But my own opinion on the matter goes not further than what is applicable to me. We can’t really take chair of Peter from the Church and tell others specifically what game is wrong, which one is acceptable.
 
I have known quite a few Christian/ Catholic people who played D&D from time to time and suffered no ill effects. For most who play it, it’s about on the same level as acting out a play, book or film about the Hobbit or King Arthur and his knights. It’s only a danger for people who get addicted to playing or have trouble separating fantasy from reality. Such people do exist but they likely have some mental health issues beyond just playing a game. There are many similar such RPG games.

Tarot and Ouija aren’t really games. I know Ouija was marketed as a fun party board game, but that was marketing.

As for pentagrams being red flags, depends how they are used. The pentagram in and of itself is just a design. You can see pentagrams on the ruins of the Capernaum synagogue that was built in the 300s or 400s. Christians who visit there on Holy Land tours are often surprised to see them, but they’re just a design element. I have enjoyed two different bands named Pentagram and they’re not a problem. One of them has a born-again Christian in the band and a lot of the songs are about sin, punishment and redemption. If you’re using a pentagram to cast spells, obviously that’s not good, but if there’s just a pentagram in a picture or something it’s not worth getting excited about in general. If you yourself don’t like it though, then avoid it - just don’t be surprised if other Catholics say “eh it’s only a game”.
 
Driven777 said:
What are some board games to avoid?
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The Ouija board is the only “board game” I’ve seen come up frequently, even in many examinations of conscience. I’m not sure if that’s due to it being inherently evil or if it is due to the often occult usage and people attributing psychological phenomena to demons.

Personally, I haven’t played any of the games, and I don’t intend to. However, they did influence one of my favorite albums from the last few years.
Driven777 said:
I’ve also heard Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering can be spiritually dangerous but do not know much beyond that.
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Magic the Gathering is only harmful in how expensive it is. Casual play can be reasonably maintained with just booster packs and boxes, but once a single person comes in with custom-bought decks, it either forces everyone to stop or gets everyone shelling out hundreds of dollars just for one deck. Dungeons and Dragons might be less dangerous financially.
 
Someone gave Cards Against Humanity to one of my college aged kids. I know it only by reputation, never bothered to look at it myself.

My 13 year old son and his friends played MTG a LOT for about two years, but it wore off. And you’re right—it’s a money pit.
 
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As long as you see it as a game, there’s nothing wrong with Cards or similar games. Just like all games, you need to prudentially decide if this game affects your morality outside of the game. If it does, avoid it, just as I am about soft porn (eg game of thrones) that other Catholics aren’t bothered or affected by, because I have a weakness towards porn. If it doesn’t, and you enjoy it, then there’s no harm in playing it.
 
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I personally think Game of Thrones is a ginormous waste of time and yes, soft-core porn/ medieval soap opera for the most part.
The only episode of it I ever watched was the one starring Bart the Bear II as a bear in a bear pit fighting with some human character. The bear was amazing especially when it stood up and whacked the pit walls at the end.
If they put Bart the Bear II on every week I’d have watched every week.
 
OP, I have some actual (name removed by moderator)ut on your original question, but this thread is lost, so I think I’ll PM you my list of games. My circle of Catholic friends is full of avid board gamers and we each have a different sensitivity level to the demonic element (note: I’m not using ‘sensitivity’ in a demeaning sense), so we tend to avoid the games that would bother our most sensitive player. More to come in PM…
 
Wesrock said:
BartholomewB:
Board games are dangerous things. You can’t be too careful. The Prior and Canons of Coxford, in England, once found themselves in serious trouble when they were caught playing a board game. The Archbishop of Canterbury was furious, when he was informed of their offense. He called it a “heinous vice” and threatened to sentence the offenders to three days and nights on bread and water. The game was chess. The year was 1291.
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Yikes. He would have excommunicated me.
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Just because people avoid certain entertainment doesn’t mean they don’t have fun.
 
I’d rather look at a more clothed version.
 
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If any of folks are still trying to say that planks are not boards, the semantic games need to stop.
 
Let’s not forget the evangelic words of Our Savior: “Monopoly is the root of all evil.”
 
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