Bongo Loves the Bible is a collection of 3D style computer GAMES for ages 7* and up featuring an orangutan named Bongo. Your students navigate Bongo through jungles, canyons and caves learning about and testing their basic Bible knowledge.
Bongo’s game collection is designed to introduce, reinforce, measure, and have fun learning:
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General Bible Knowledge -info about key stories, famous verses, and more
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Books in the Bible -order & types
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Where in the Bible would you find…
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Who’s Who of major Bible characters
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What is scripture? How does it help our faith? How should it be part of our life?
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and How the Bible came to be: Who wrote it? What is it? How do we read it?
Ages 8 to 18…. Bongo’s content was researched and written with the concept in mind of “what every young person should know about the Bible“. It’s not a trivia quiz. It’s designed to both teach and reinforce basic content, give the teacher opportunities to elaborate on basic content, and show the teacher/church what students already know and need to work on. See each game’s specific description below, as well as, age range note, and tech specs.
Bongo Loves the Bible is a collection of FOUR types of games, with actually 8 different game’s to play! Click a Game Tab here to open up game details:
Game 1: “Bongo Knows the Bible” is a four level Bible Knowledge game that teaches and tests basic Bible content in a fun & challenging 3-D jungle game environment.
The four levels are four individual games with four different sets of 20 questions arranged. All totaled, the 80 questions spread through these four levels were especially written for 4th through 12th graders, though younger children can play them if they have some help. The sets range from beginning to advanced. The beginner level question set is easy for younger children if they have help. The questions are NOT trivial. They are “Bible basics” about key stories and key Bible people every young person should know. (Open the TOGGLE box below to see samples of the questions.)
Chasing Bongo through each jungle landscape are Bongo’s annoying friends, Sid the Surf Mummy and the Bad-boy Bongo-eating Plants. Collecting bananas and slinging them with Bongo’s slingshot takes care of them. (Teachers: Make sure you print the guide and maps to the jungle so you look like a genius!)
Bongo’s Surf Mummy Buddies like to get in the way. Slinging Bananas at them helps, as does jumping on their heads!
Have your kids already played through all the questions? Or want to expand your four set of questions? Order Bongo’s 80 New Question Expansion Pack CD. See details in the TOGGLE box below.
Game 2: “Bongo Needs the Bible” is a game about What is the Bible? -The “Word”? How does it describe itself? Why should we read it? What are the benefits of knowing God’s Word?
Scene from inside the cave.
Bongo Needs the Bible starts in a DARK CAVE because the game landscape itself is going to help teach the metaphors which the Bible uses to describe itself and the role of the word (a guiding light!) Bongo must find his way through the darkness, find the lamp for his feet, and search for the Word. As he does, he’ll find his way into the Isaiah cavern where he learns about Isaiah’s hope for the Light of the World that’s coming. As that cavern collapses, he discovers the True Light and Word –Jesus himself, and receives the key to finishing and finding a fun treasure.
Throughout the cave, there is fun stuff to solve and get across (like lava pits and narrow paths), and there are reinforcing Bible verses that appear in the landscape or pop-up on the screen. (They are great for discussion after the game).
Game 3: “Bongo’s Books of the Bible Game” has two different games, — Old Testament Books, and New Testament Books.
Students navigate Bongo through a series of canyons jumping Bongo from book to book IN THE CORRECT ORDER to get to the other side.
Video Clip montage of Bongo’s “Books” game and “Cave” game: 
The game teaches the order. Here’s how:
As Bongo runs between the canyons, SCROLLS appear in front of your students showing them the correct order of Bible books in the next canyon. As each book platform is jumped on, a short summary of that book’s content or unique fact about it appears on the screen.
Bongo must go through a series of canyons, each of which has 6 books at a time. If Bongo jumps on the wrong book, he falls into the canyon, gets a scriptural encouragement, and it set back on the canyon’s edge to try again. Thus, your students will quickly learn to pay attention to the Book Order Scrolls before they get to each canyon, and if permitted by the teacher, to use their Bibles!
Bongo has to dodge giant rolling boulders and a pesky raven who tries to knock him off the Bible book platforms. Some of the minor prophet’s books are paired on platforms. In the “easy” option, Bongo has more “lives” and easier jumping ability.
Game 4: “Bongo’s Bible Background” is a game in which students must find 7 panels of information about “how the Bible came to be”. Then, they use their new-found knowledge to FIND & ANSWER 10 reinforcing questions, …all the while avoiding Bongo-eating plants by slinging bananas.
One of the study panels in this game. Bongo will encounter questions about it later in the jungle, if he can make it past the Bongo-eating plants!
The panels include several discussion questions for after-the-game use. The scriptural point of view is ecumenical.
You can view/print a copy of the game’s study panels from www.sundaysoftware.com/bongo/bongobackground.pdf
Better collect plenty of bananas to make it through the game.
It takes about 15 to 20 minutes to play this particular game. The reading level is 4th grade and up. Quite suitable for confirmation classes and young teens –which being a veteran Confirmation leader in my own church, is EXACTLY the GROUP I had in mind when I wrote this game. <>< Neil. (Note: the Bible Background panels are graphics which you can change if you like.)
Site License Available for 5+ copies! See our online order form for site and quantity pricing details.
Age Range: 7* through adult. Younger kids love Bongo just as much as older kids, they just need help navigating, reading, and answering a few questions. Bongo “KNOWS” the Bible game, -the four levels of Bible Knowledge questions were written with older kids and youth in mind, but younger children will enjoy your help trying to answer them. Lots of discussion possibilities if you play Bongo WITH them.
System Requirements: Windows XP/Vista/7/8. Minimum: 800 mhz, 512mb ram minimum, 16mb videoram minimum.
DOC BOX
Bongo’s TEACHER’S Guide (indispensable for teachers, includes game secrets, maps and teaching notes)
Preview & Print a free STUDENT GUIDE and wall display w/Bongo Playing Tips
Preview and Print Cave Map of Bongo Needs the Bible (aka “the cave game”)
Preview and Print Jungle Map of Bongo Knows the Bible (aka “the jungle games”)
See Bongo’s Free VBS lessons: “Vacation Bongo School”! …a 4 to 7 lesson unit suitable for any time of year.
Learn more about the optional “Bongo’s 80 New Questions CD
Bongo is a HUGE favorite. Here are a few reviews from our customers…
My students’ favorite software right now is probably Bongo loves the Bible. We just recently purchased it and they are loving it!! This year we are emphasizing daily Bible reading in our children’s classes and I am using Bongo (or “that Monkey game” as some of the kids call it) to help me teach the importance of knowing what our Bibles say. My oldest group (4th & 5th grades) has had about four turns using Bongo since June and they are not tired of it. We have just scratched the surface of what Bongo has to offer. I plan to use Bongo frequently this school year.
I love what you’re doing at Sunday software and I love teaching with computers. Keep it up! ~ Terri @ Fairview Hts Church, Swansea Illinois
The kids really love Bongo, and we even have good cooperation between kids working at the computers. My 12 year old son has been playing with Bongo since it arrived and enjoys it; he’s become the “Bongo maven” at church. Hey, even *I* have managed to complete all 4 levels (and yes, I printed out the certificates to show to all). I definitely have to order a copy for home soon! Thanks for the great fun and learning experience! -Nancy Tarantino, Watchung Presbyterian, Bloomfield, NJ
Bongo is the best! Exactly as described on your website. It is a blessing to have modern computer type games with a biblical format. My ministry is to 7th and 8th graders… but this game worked well with my own 7 year old daughter as well. We play Bongo together with a children’s bible. Great family time with dad. (The) “mummies and flowers” (chasing Bongo) are only intimidating enough to be fun. I’ve been in children’s ministry for a while, -we need stuff like this, your work is not in vain. Yes the game play is great. (But) in my humble opinion, Bongo works because God’s word is the cornerstone, …around every corner.” ~ Wade Marshall, Kenessas Georgia
Hi Neil, We received our Bongo games. What fun. I really don’t know how to play (computer) games so I asked my 17 yr old son to try it out and I couldn’t get him past the beginning song. He loved it and asked if he could get the MP3 of it. ~ Pam Courtney, Trinity UMC, Mercer PA
Hello Neil, I took one of your suggestions and purchased Bongo Loves the Bible for my deaf son for Sunday School and I wanted to say its working out great. He loves the game and graphics and is learning at the same time. I’m very pleased. Thanks for your help. ~Carol H. Church of Christ, Palm Coast FL
Another awesome title you guys. Worth the wait. Sid (the Mummy) is a riot. I’m ordering one for my church now because (my son) won’t let this one out of the house. ~ James Keeler, Ventura CA
For more details about the Expansion CD and ordering information , go to its webpage here at our site. You can also look for the 80 Bongo Questions Expansion CD next to the Bongo CD on our online order form.
In Brief:
The Bongo CD comes with the original set of our “80 Questions About the Bible every young person should be able to answer“. It was created by surveying literature and curriculum on the subject, talking to our customers, and designing questions that would trigger past-lesson memories and create new opportunities for discussion. The four sets are not Bible trivia, and even an infrequent student may be able to answer many of the questions by thinking through them and discussing the possible answers with their fellow students and teachers.
Many of our Bongo CD customers have been through that original set A LOT, so we designed a new supplemental set. It incorporates many of the HIGH PRIORITY questions found in the original set, but also adds some new variety and humor, and each of the question graphics has been visually improved. Depending on the set you’re in, the questions might be a tad easier, or have fewer possible answers to choose from (giving you question sets for younger or more biblically-illiterate students to enjoy).
Here are the four “new” categories in the Expansion CD
- “Bible Basics 1″ focuses on Bible basics for all ages, but is especially written for Second and Third Graders (…which your older kids won’t notice)
- “Bible Basics 2″ focuses on “Who and Where am I in the Bible?” Bible Basics 1 & 2 cover 40 stories/people/places which the typical Sunday School students “should” or needs to know. No minor content here, and no trick questions either.
- “Funny & Famous” Set #3 focuses on The Top Ten Most Popular Bible Verses, plus 10 Funny verses and stories in the Bible.
- “Super Bongo Bible Freak” Set #4 is a more challenging set of questions about “Bible basics” for those who have mastered the first 3 sets.
Go to our 80 New Questions CD webpage and learn more.