The golden calf

The story

Two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they came to the Sinai desert and set up camp near Mount Sinai. God called Moses to the mountain and spoke to him there. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments and other laws for the people.

The Israelites down in the camp had waited a long time for Moses to return. When he still did not come, they ran to Aaron and asked him to make a god who would protect them, guide them and whom they could see. All the Israelites brought their gold jewelry to Aaron and he wanted to make an image of a bull out of it...

The game

...but Aaron had too little gold and sent the Israelites to the rich among their people. However, these rich Israelites do not want to give up their gold so easily.

The Israelites (gamblers) have to play games of chance with them and answer questions so that they can get their gold.

• After four families (groups) have been formed (see "The families"), the game begins. Each family consists of father, mother, 1-3 children and grandfather. Each family member (player) has a card that says what they are (father, mother, ...). All family members go in search of a rich Israelite (see "The rich Israelites"). These rich Israelites stay in a certain area, but are not stationary. If a gold-seeking Israelite finds a gold-having Israelite, he must do exactly as the rich man tells him. He does not get the gold just like that.
• The rich man asks him questions or plays games of chance with him. If the poorer Israelite can answer the question or if he is lucky, then he gets a bar of gold. If he comes away empty-handed, he has to look for another rich person to tap.
• Assuming the poorer Israelite was lucky and was able to take a gold bar from the rich man, he goes back to the gold calf farm. If he meets someone from another family on the way and touches him somewhere, then the person with the lower family rank (see "The order of rank in the family") must give his gold bar to the other person. If two people of the same rank meet, nothing happens and they part again. So that not everyone knows in advance what family rank the other has, the ID cards can be exchanged within the family throughout the game.
• If a gold seeker has made his way to the gold calf building site with his gold bar, he gives his gold bar to the gold recorder. The gold recorder (see "The gold recorder") gives the corresponding family one point per gold bar and passes the gold on to the gold calf builder (leader), who builds the calf. Now the whole process starts all over again until the golden calf is completed.
• Purpose: Each family tries to capture as many gold bars as possible. The family that has delivered the most gold bars wins....

End of the game

All the Israelites stand around the calf and admire their work of art. Then someone shouts down from a hill (or not) that Moses has returned with the tablets of the law and everyone should come quickly. Everyone runs to the man who has called out. But all they find is the broken tablet of the law, which Moses smashed out of anger at the people. Meanwhile, someone destroys the golden calf.

The Israelite families should now realize that they have done something wrong and that none of them have won.

The families

• The four families consist of 4-6 family members: father, mother, first child, second child, third child and grandfather (the number of children can be adjusted).
• Each family member has a card with their rank (father, mother,...) and family name on it.
• The family names: Ben Gurion, Ben Hur, Ben Chorin, Ben Hanan

The rich Israelites

The leaders play the rich Israelites who move around a certain area. They carry a lot of gold bars and various games of chance with them.

If a poor Israelite looking for gold comes to a rich person, the rich person can decide what to play. The Israelite only receives a gold bar if he has won the game or answered the question correctly.

Games:

• Dice (roll a certain number, roll two identical numbers, ...)
• "Draw sticks"
• "Rock, paper, scissors"
• ...

Questions about the Moses story up to this point.

The gold recorder

• Each bar of gold is handed in to the gold recorder. When the Israelite shows his identity card, a point is written down for his family.
• Defective ID cards can also be exchanged at the gold recorder and questions about the game can be asked.

The material list

• ID cards for families
• Game dice for rich Israelites
• Slide boxes (yellow Kodak boxes) as gold bars
• Tables of the law
• Base for calf building

Proof of source

Cover picture: Courtesy of www.spielboerse.ch - Spielideen für die Jungschar!


Game idea: With the kind permission of www.spielboerse.ch - Spielideen für die Jungschar!