I'm glad I have your attention because I'm super-excited for this giveaway of Stella Nova, a family board game that is fun and celebrates the true meaning of Christmas.
As a Christian I look forward to celebrating the birth of my Savior every year, but by mid-November I'm drowning in a glossy full-color avalanche of hot holiday toy catalogs and... it's easy to lose sight of why we're buying all those gifts in the first place.
That's why I was thrilled when Christian Haven offered to send me a copy of Stella Nova.
Stella Nova is a Christian family board game — the name means "New Star" in Latin.
With a combination of strategy, luck, and knowledge about Bible trivia, players race their game pieces across a historically accurate map of the Holy Land to be the first Wise Man to reach the Christ child in Bethlehem.
Along the way, players face obstacles like thieves and sandstorms, and everyone has to use their supplies wisely to make it from one city to the next without running out.
Our family has played and enjoyed many board games that follow a similar strategy/luck formula, but the most unique and meaningful part of Stella Nova, in my opinion, was the trivia cards that get you through the game.
There are two kinds of trivia questions: geography or Bible. The ancient history and geography ones were really hard, but my teenagers enjoyed the challenge (and apparently know more about what's where in the Middle East than I do.)
I stuck to the Bible trivia questions, which were all about the Nativity story. I loved that the Bible verse with the answer was on each card, and when I saw that we pulled out our scriptures and made them part of the game.
We made the rule that the younger kids were allowed to look up the answer if they didn't know it, and as a result, my 8-year-old was legit reading from the Bible while we played and having fun doing it, which makes this game well worth it, in my eyes.
The game was rated for ages 8 and up, which seemed pretty appropriate to me since reading and a little bit of strategy is required.
The 5-year-old couldn't play by himself, but he wanted to be on my team and enjoyed rolling the die. The 8-year-old caught on quickly and actually ended up winning the game.
Game play lasted about an hour and 45 minutes with 5 players — of course, we would have finished sooner were it not for the genetic condition all my children seem to have inherited where they need to be reminded every single time it's their turn. (We've been struggling with this problem for years and I'm convinced there is no cure.)
My advice when playing Stella Nova for the first time is to read the directions ahead of time and be prepared to summarize. Even though the rules aren't complicated, the directions take a long time to read and people will get antsy if you try to do it when everyone is already sitting at the table.
Unless you bring snacks, which in retrospect is also a good idea.
Picture a bowl of M&Ms here and you've got a decent game night. |
Stella Nova was easy enough for my 8-year-old to understand, challenging enough for my teenagers to enjoy, and focused on Jesus Christ and the story of His birth.
What's more, we had a good time together and I only threatened to duct tape the kids' mouths shut once! (Just kidding. It was twice.)
I consider that a rollicking success, and I'm looking forward to playing Stella Nova again this holiday season with my kids.
Phillip and I are always looking for ways for our family to remember and celebrate the real reason for the Christmas season, and we're happy to add Stella Nova to our toolbox!
If you're looking for family fun and a new way to keep Christ at the center of your Christmas this year, I highly recommend checking out Stella Nova's website.
The giveaway may be over, but you can still get a copy of Stella Nova in time for Christmas and you can get a 20% discount (regular price is $39.95) by purchasing with the "buy now" button below:
STELLA NOVA BOARD GAME GIVEAWAY (Ended)
How to enter: follow the Rafflecopter instructions below. (U.S. residents only, for this one.)
Disclaimer: This giveaway is sponsored by Stella Nova and I was compensated for this review. But all opinions are 100% my own, as always!
20 comments:
This is so cool! It looks like a really fun game! Someone needs to make one for the Book of Mormon too.
This looks really cool. Excited to try it out even if I don't win.
I think this would be a great addition to our family Christmas traditions and would also help them learn about the birth of Christ in a fun way.
This looks like a great game and a new family tradition!
What an excellent game!! I love anything that focuses on Jesus!! And spurring on your 8 yo to read the Bible is fantastic!!
I will make a blog post next Tues to share this wonderful giveaway! Thanks, Jenny!
Decorating the tree is one of my fave things, because the grandbabies love it as much as I do!
We like to decorate the tree together,and the kids each make something for Christmas dinner. I like Christmas night when the stress is gone - turning on soft Christmas music and sit looking at the tree.
This is super cool! I totally entered :)
Sounds fun!
Looks fun! I love getting together with friends or family for game night.
We LOVE games! It looks like a lot of fun :)
I love that we live in a world and time where Christian board games exist and are so freely available. What a cool game -- and gift idea.
We’re still figuring out christmas traditions, but I know we like them free and homemade! :)
We love singing carols together.
This looks like a great game!
Our family has a tradition of tapas and a Christmas movie after Mass on Christmas eve.
We love reading Christmas books!
This looks like a great game! Thank you for sharing!
I commented before (I'm "Unknown" - turns out blogger doesn't recognize my gmail account) but didn't leave our favorite family Christmas activities. We have a big family too so we have found we just have to keep it simple. (No Elf on the Shelf for us, thanks!) One of our favorites is to do Secret Santa for another family. Some years it's been very low-key and inexpensive, because that is all we could do, but our kids love the excitement of dropping something off at somebody's house and ringing the doorbell and hiding while they get it. I think, especially during those lean years, it helped our kids focus on the giving instead of what they were or weren't getting.
This looks like a lot of fun! In the likely case I’m not a winner winner chicken dinner, I’m adding this to my Christmas wish list.
Here's my blog link, Jenny. http://www.purpleslobinrecovery.com/2019/11/game-giveaway/
They contacted me to give a discount code, after your giveaway ends!! I'm so excited! My first company contact! Woo hoo!
Thank you!!
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