Explore the Exodus Story from the ground and air in 3 fun learning games
Students navigate Robin, a young teenage archaeologist, through three different Sinai & Egyptian landscapes that tell the Exodus story and teach its meaning.
Guided by her grandfather, Sir Dabney MacTavish, the famous British archaeologist, Robin visits many of the Exodus story locations to discover their meanings and unlock their secrets. Sir Dabney provides clues, instructions, and reflects on story elements. Along the way, Robin meets various characters who help explain the story and tell her what to do next.
Your students navigate Robin through the story landscapes on foot and sometimes in her helicopter. Robin learns the Exodus story through gameplay, character interactions, narrations, video clips, animations, and things to find and accomplish. In each journey, scripture is shared, questions pop up, and life application is encountered. Two of the games also feature clips from the video documentary 
-which dramatizes key parts of the story for your students.
This short video loop shows Robin hearing from God after she has found the burning bush.
Exodus Adventures is three different Bible studies in the form of three adventure games.
Each of the 3 games takes about 30-35 minutes to complete, …longer for younger students. The games are fun and somewhat challenging, but you can’t really get lost. Just listen to Sir Dabney and pay attention to the clues. The content is laid out so that they must deal with it in Bible story order, before they can move to the next part. We recommend teachers and parents play WITH their students, -and have the teacher’s guide handy in case they need some help. Our guide reveals all the games’ “how-to.”
Exodus Details:
In each of the three lesson-games, Robin and her grandfather begin their journey at their Mt Sinai base: St. Catherine’s Monastery. The monastery actually exists at the base of Mt Sinai, and we have recreated it in the game for Robin to learn in and launch her helicopter from to go to Goshen, Pharaoh’s Palace, and into the Sinai. Open the “more graphics” tab below to see a picture of it.
The helicopter is one of the game’s fun hooks. The kids get to fly it to the Exodus learning locations. Open the Game 1 Tab below for a Video Clip of the kids flight to Goshen they must make.
GAME 1: The story of the Hebrews in Egypt, Moses & Pharaoh, and the Plagues
Robin flies to Goshen to learn how the Israelites came to Egypt, then flies to Midian to discover the burning bush, then on to Pharaoh’s Palace to learn about the confrontation with Pharaoh and the plagues. The game features several short video clips from the documentary,
GAME 2: Crossing the Red Sea, Manna, Manna, Water from Rock
Robin explores the Red Sea, figures out the Miriam Song Game, finds the hidden trail to the Marah Well, and helps turn the bitter waters sweet, –just like Moses once did. She then overnights in the Manna Cave, collects manna in Rephidim, then flies back to find the staff of Moses, then strikes the Rock of Horeb.
GAME 3: “To the Promised Land” ~an introduction to Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy
Robin zooms over the Sinai wilderness in her helicopter to find 7 Quiz stations. At each station she hears info about the Israelites journey to the Promised Land, and must answer questions to advance. Your students will have to dive into their Bibles to answer the questions. During the flight, they’ll also hear some interesting facts over the helicopter radio. At the end of Game 3, Robin lands atop Mt. Nebo to meet her grandfather for some reflection on the Israelite’s journey to the Promised Land.
Click a Tab below to read more game details and see game graphics and video clips of the game in action…
GAME 1:
The story of the Hebrews in Egypt, Moses & Pharaoh, and the Plagues
Brother Deni greets Robin at St. Catherine’s Monastery with a message from her grandfather. She views a short film in the Miriam’s Monastery Library, must find the helicopter key, then fly across the Nile to the Land of Goshen. Following her onboard navigation system, she lands at Goshen Village and visits her grandfather at the Goshen Dig Site.
In Goshen, Robin meets up with her grandfather who tells her the story of how the Hebrews came to live in Egypt, and how they became slaves. He does it using video clips (which feature scenes from the video .)
The Dig Site which Robin and her grandfather walk through is a recreation of an actual archaeological site in Goshen. It includes an archaeologically-correct Hebrew home which Robin can walk through. Dabney has several video presentations that Robin must find and view in the dig site. She learns about the birth of Moses. Then an Egyptian soldier appears and forces Robin to collect straw and take it to the mud pits.
Once she has completed her Goshen tour, Robin flies her helicopter to Midian where she encounters God in the Burning Bush, just like Moses did. God takes over the teaching here and asks Robin several questions. The ruins in this area require some figuring out in order to encounter God. A large marker on the hill gives her instructions.
At the end of the burning bush level, Sir Dabney appears to tell Robin to fly to Pharaoh’s Palace to learn the story of Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh. Inside the Palace, a Hebrew slave quizzes Robin about the Plagues on Egypt. Answering the questions correctly is her only way out. Watch out for the guard and frogs!
After escaping from Pharaoh’s Palace, Robin flies back to the Monastery and must climb Masah Tower (“Massah” means “testing” in Hebrew) to meet her Grandfather one last time. He has some reflection questions for her, if she’s not too tired.
Game 1 has several video clips in it which help tell the story. The clips include narrated scripture and story-telling over the top of some terrific scenes from the Exodus Revealed video which was license specifically for this program.
GAME 2: Crossing the Red Sea, Manna, Manna, Water from Rock
Robin’s grandfather, Sir Dabney, meets her in the library and tells her to go find “The Red Sea Room” at St. Catherine’s monastery where the monks have recreated the “The Red Sea Experience” for pilgrims.
After viewing a special video about the Red Sea crossing and zapping scorpions with her airblaster, Robin heads back to Miriam’s Library where the monks have created a Song of Miriam MAZE. It can only be solved if they play the song tiles in the correct order. Miriam’s song summarizes the joy and the praise which the Israelites experienced after being rescued.
Solving the maze opens up a secret passage to the Trail to Marah through the monastery wall and out into the Sinai Desert. Out in the desert, Robin learns about the Israelites constant complaining. Robin arrives at Marah and meets a complaining and thirsty Israelite. Robin reads a scripture scroll about how Moses made the waters sweet, and is instructed to find a branch to do the same.
After finding the branch, Robin offers a prayer to God and the waters are made sweet. The thirsty Israelite praises God –summarizing this part of the story, then both take a dip in the cool waters.
Robin helps a thirsty Israelite at the Well of Marah.
As night falls, Robin must make it to the Cave of Manna. Its entrance is hidden down the trail, but Robin is an experienced adventurer! Once inside the Cave she meets up with her friend Brother Deni the Monk. He asks about her journey and what she has learned. In the morning Deni teaches her about the miracle of the Manna and she collects it in a short manna game.
After collecting manna, Robin gets a message from Dabney to climb the cliff to the helicopter, and fly back to the monastery where she must climb Masah Tower to find the Staff of Moses. She’ll need it to strike the Rock of Horeb, -which the Monastery is built around. Something special and fun happens at that point -the bottom of the monastery becomes a huge swimming pool! Robin jumps in to talk to her grandfather and Brother Deni who are swimming around with some final thoughts on the story. Swim up to them to hear their thoughts and practice a few high dives!
Robin needs to listen carefully to her grandfather, Sir Dabney. Not only does he appear at locations with teaching content, he tells Robin what to do next.
Game 3: “To the Promised Land”
Game 3 is a “Helicopter Flying Quiz Game” that introduces “the rest of the Exodus story” as it is found in Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Leviticus.
Robin takes off from the Monastery and flies into the Sinai Wilderness on her way to Mt Nebo where Moses stood to survey the Promised Land. As she flies, she must refill her tanks and answer quiz questions.
Video: See a helicopter fly-over of the monastery..
Without going into a lot of Bible detail, this game is designed to make students aware of those books, and crack open their Bibles to find the answers to the station questions.
While Robin flies, Sir Dabney shares some perspective on “the rest of the story” over the helicopter radio.
Dabney greets Robin in person when she lands on Mt Nebo at the end of Game 3. He shares some additional thoughts about the Israelites journey to the Promised Land.
Our Game 3 Lesson Plan has a copy of the map and Dabney’s final questions in a handout format. It’s also part of a larger four week set of lessons introducing “the rest of the Exodus story”. It’s free from Sunday Software.
More Graphics & the Story Behind the Program
by Neil MacQueen
The Exodus story is huge, and hugely important, of course. And it’s a story where the LOCATION and movement from place to place are key parts of the story. That’s why we created an “adventure game” style program so your kids can travel to the story locations and get a sense of the geography and layout of the stories.
Exodus Adventures was the third software project between Sunday Software and Divine Games. Deni from Divine had previously created Galilee Flyer and Bongo Loves the Bible with us. Later, he would also program Attack of the Sunday School Zombies, Faith through the Roof, and Five Loaves~Two Fishes.
All these programs were created using Conitec’s “Gamestudio,” a tool that was originally designed to make secular “first person shooters” ! But we saw how we could use the immersive gaming technology to place kids IN the story landscape and let them walk through the story in sequence. Rather than reward them with points, the game environment rewards them with fun, and completing task to advance.
A program like this requires a lot of 3d wire models, accurate textures, and many hours of testing. The monastery, Goshen Dig Site, and Egyptian areas you walk through are all based on actual locations.
Click here to view a panoramic photo of the real St. Catherine’s Monastery at the Base of Mt. Sinai
Short video clips from a documentary about the Exodus are inserted into two of the games.
A key part of Exodus and our 3d style games is putting a helpful “teacher” in the landscape. In other words, “some one who tells you what things mean, and what to do next.” That’s Sir Dabney’s role in Exodus and Joseph. Listen to him, and you’ll do fine. He’s essentially YOU talking and giving directions. (In Faith and Five Loaves, we gave that role to Peter and Reuben.) We also put video clips in the first story to quickly bring your kids up-to-speed on “how the Hebrews got to Egypt.”
Exodus took about a year to make, then we started making updates and releasing those online. By keeping the game resolution ‘lower’ we were able to ensure that the game played on a wide array of PCs, …including older donated computers like many of our church customers have.
Now here’s an interesting thing: Deni and I have never met in person. We’ve collaborated online for years. He grew up in Istanbul, is Muslim, and English is a second language for him. I think our programs with him are a testament to the universality of gaming and computer tools, and to our mutual desire to inspire young people.
More Graphics
Yes, there really is girl named Robin who provided us with both the voice and the digital image for the Robin character in the game.
Our “chanting monks” recording the Miriam’s Song Game version of Exodus 15.
The Fun & Challenge of Playing Exodus Adventures
We’ve laid out the story of Exodus in a 3d-style game landscape environment that your players must figure out. They’ll receive instructions and clues about what to do next. Listen carefully to Brother Deni and Sir Dabney in the game! Things must happen in the correct order.
There are keys to find, crates to climb, flying landmarks to steer towards, Pharaoh’s soldier barking at you, and things like mudpits to jump and spiders to airblast away! To the students it will seem challenging, but our Teacher’s Guide and playing secrets will make the teacher look like gamer-genius! As you go with your students into the lesson, you may choose to give them playing tips to help them move along. Read our guide for full details and make sure you have plenty of classtime and teaching help scheduled for each adventure.
Age Range:
2nd grade* through Teen. Younger children will enjoy this software, but will need help with navigation and reading.
Please plan on at least 35 minutes per game. Our guide will be a big help should you need to advance faster. The story is IN the game, so the software is your lesson plan!
Minimum: 1.4 ghz, 2 gb ram, 64mb videoram minimum. Windows 8/10 users, see our Windows tweaks.
Here are our latest PDFs for Exodus Adventures:
The above three PDFs were developed for the supporting members of www.Rotation.org to whom we have donated free access to Exodus Adventures and many of our other software programs.
Teacher’s Outline and Guide to Exodus Adventures
View and Print 2 Student Guide/Worksheets:
Print the Monastery Map for Game 1 and 2
ExodusAdventures – Game 3 Lesson and Map of Terrain
A Few Customer Reviews
Robin meets Brother Deni in the Manna Cave.
Loved the Plagues part – very cool! Also thought the burning bush section was awesome. Can’t wait until we do this again next year with Moses. I wish we had a video projector in the church. It would be really neat to give the congregation a little taste (like the burning bush)! I hate spiders and was very appreciative every time Robin agreed with me! What a hoot! ~ Luanne Payne. Hampton United Church, Hampton Ontario
I have enjoyed presenting Exodus Adventure to my sunday school class. …the quality videos that are part of the storyline, and (most helpful) a flow that enforces the teaching goals. There are many creative game elements you could be complimented on, but let me at least compliment you on the helicopter compass. My children don’t know east from north, but it was easy to navigate, without impinging their freedom, by matching the picture on the clipboard to the picture in the compass. It was a very good solution to a problem that otherwise could have encumbered gameplay. Can’t wait for Jesus in Space ! -Tim Hartley, St Paul MN
Very exciting software! -Pam J., Uniting Church, Seaton Australia,
My daughter Allison is my tester and she loves the game. -Polly S., Greensboro NC
Whoa, Neil this is awesome. I’m lost but loving it. –Children’s Pastor Ted, Grace Church, Denver
Dear Sunday School Software, I just want to tell you how much my 5th-6th class loves this game. My five students and I had been doing a month long study of the Exodus story, and followed it up with this game much to their delight. It was such a hit that we scheduled an extra week with it. The next month when we started Joseph they asked if we were going to be using software, and I said “yes, next week.” Next week we had 8 students in class, and several brothers and sisters clamouring to get in afterwards! And I had to run down and borrow the pastor’s laptop. When he asked “why” I told him, “because we’ve finally figured out how to improve attendance!” Keep up the good work. –Emma Kaczmarek, teacher, Park Bible Church, Chicago