Bible Jeopardy is a great way to review material covered in Sunday School of confirmation class. It takes a fair amount of preparation on the part of the leader, but it's a blast for the kids!
The game is for ages 6 to 18. You'll need one leader and two teams, with each team having from one to twelve players.
Before playing, the leader will need to come up with 30 questions. Just as in the TV version of Jeopardy, the questions must fall under six different categories, with five questions per category. Use any categories you want, but try to keep them Bible-related. Within each category, rank the questions by difficulty, then assign a dollar value to each question. The easiest question in each category is assigned a value of $100, the next harder question is $200, on so up to $500 for the most difficult question.
Before you're ready to play, draw a table showing the categories and dollar values on a chalkboard or marker board. Divide the group into two teams, then choose a captain for each team. Flip a coin to decide which team goes first.
To begin play, the first team decides which question (category and dollar amount) they want to be asked. They can discuss this as much as they want, but the captain gets to make and announce the final decision.
The leader reads the question aloud, then erases the dollar value for that question from the board (to show that the question has been asked). The first team has two minutes to come up with an answer. Again, they can discuss it among themselves, but the captain decides and announces what their official answer is.
If the first team is correct, they receive the amount of money the question is worth. If they're wrong, the second team gets a chance to come up with an answer (announced, of course, by the captain of the second team). If the second team is correct, they receive the money. If they're wrong, neither team receives the money. Note that, unlike the TV version of the game, nobody loses money for answering wrong (you want to encourage guessing!). Keep track of the running total for each team on another chalkboard or marker board.
Regardless of who answered the first question correctly, the second team now gets to choose a question. If they're correct, they receive the money. If they're wrong, the first team gets a chance to answer the question.
For the next question, go back to the first team. Continue to switch back and forth between the teams with every question.
When all the questions have been asked, or the class time is up, the game is over. The winner is the team with the most money.
Here are some popular categories, with an example question for each category:
Old Testament Heroes (Who killed Goliath?)
The Ten Commandments (Fill in the blank: Honor the _____ day to keep it holy.)
Miracles (Who raised Dorcas from the dead?)
Books of the New Testament (Who wrote Ephesians?)
Biblical Numbers (How many days did Jesus spend in the wilderness?)
Biblical Places (In what town was David born?)
Who said ... (Who said, "But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord?")
Jesus' Last Week (On what day of the week was the Last Supper?)
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