If your family is looking for a fun way to increase Bible knowledge and encourage your walk with the Lord, then Animo Living Deck Bible Verse Game from Animo Games, LLC might be just what you are looking for.

The Animo Living Deck Bible Verse Game is a themed card game featuring fictional creatures that represent specific values, virtues, disciplines, and even vices. Using specific Bible verses, each card aids in instructing the player in reinforcing virtuous behavior or "defeating" bad.

The Animo Living Deck Bible Verse Game begins with a Starter Deck, a complete game set of eighty cards which include Virtuous Animo Cards, Sinnies Cards, Story Cards, Equipment Cards, and Power Cards, Power Tokens, Score Cards, Reference Cards, and an Instruction Manual. The Starter Deck has everything the family will need toimmediately play the game. Should families wish to expand their trading card collection, Animo Games offers Animo Booster Packs and Expansion Decks, Hopeful Hearts and More Than Conquerors. While not required, families might find it beneficial to purchase the "Sharpen Your Sword" Official Play Mat to help when enjoying two-player strategy gameplay. The Animo Living Deck Bible Verse Game Starter Deck is priced at $20 with an expansion pack priced at $15 and booster packs at $5. The Official Play Mat is $35.

This Bible-themed, collectible starter deck can be used in three different ways for maximum fun and learning: "Sharpen Your Sword", a two-player strategy game for more advanced players ages seven and up; "Hide it in Your Heart", a family game for two to five players; and also as a Bible memorization tool. Families can expect to learn a great deal of Scripture and enjoy a creative world of fun. Our family chose to incorporate games of "Hide it in Your Heart" into our Bible time and used Animo cards to assist in personal memorization; competitive plays of "Sharpen Your Sword" were saved for personal time and game nights.

The Animo Living Deck Bible Verse Game is unique. The featured fictional creatures are fun, and we appreciated studying them for their artistic value. The multitude of Bible verses used is edifying and educational. We discovered using the Animo cards for memorization was simple yet powerful; each person was free to choose a card which helped them with a current struggle and keep it with them while they memorized the verse which would help them in their prayer time. "Hide it in Your Heart" proved to be fast to learn and quick to play, offering hours of fun. "Sharpen Your Sword" proved to be true to its word, recommended for more advanced players. The game play itself was straightforward and once we played through a game we caught on quickly. We did discover the written manual was much easier to follow than the introductory video and it did take a little while to learn. We found we were able to play "Sharpen Your Sword" without the Official Play Mat, but we can see how this would make the game play a bit more organized. Our first game was played using only the Starter Deck with no complications, and afterward, two booster packs and both expansion packs were added for more fun. We found it to be most appealing to an upper-elementary audience and with the boys in our group. Our teens were willing to play but not fully engaged, while the upper elementary boys played for extended periods.

The Animo Living Deck is a lovely family game and Bible learning tool; offering a visual, hands-on approach to learning how to fight Spiritual battle proved a wonderful learning resource.

- Product review by Cristina Grau, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, March 2020