The Game of Enlightenment

How powerful are your sixth sense, insight and intuition? What are your ultimate goals? How do you stay true to yourself in challenging times? What is your karma?

Fusing philosophy, heart-centered compassion and inspired play, there is now a highly entertaining board game that helps you explore these essential questions and more. It’s called the Gift of Enlightenment, and those who play take an imaginary and epic journey through human existence.

Designed for 2 to 6 players, the Gift explores the seven chakras or energy centers in the body, as well as the concept of karma, or cause and effect. While seven chakra stones, aura cards and chakra crystals are some of the Gift’s playing pieces, the game’s woo-woo factor is offset by cards that deal out positive and negative human qualities. The reality-based nature of the game is further reinforced by beneficial or negative actions that are committed and endured as players experience inevitable existential challenges, plunge into the Karma Pool and weather deep dilemmas.

Unlike any other mass market game I have played, the Gift triggers “Eureka” moments of individual and group discovery. Accordingly, it is fascinating to play with one’s family and friends: this writer finds it especially intriguing to play with children and teenagers, as the game fosters intimacy and calm. Its contemplative style and emphasis on self-mastery of body mind and spirit make the Gift the polar opposite of MONOPOLY, where everyone is out to claw their way to the top of the commercial world and amass the most wealth.

With a game board imprinted with the CIRCLE OF LIFE, the player’s objective is to successfully make their way along the PATHWAY TO ENLIGHTENMENT. The first player who can successfully take this PATHWAY (or who is winning the game when a Time Limit is up) wins the game, and is given a gift (in actuality, a reading) from the BOOK OF ENLIGHTENMENT. Written by Annette Martin, a Karuna Reiki master, the book contains musings on Balance, Compassion, Delight, Empowerment and other aspects of human existence.

In broad strokes, here is how the game is played:

In the center of the board is an illustration of the seven chakras. Each chakra and its rainbow color also appear on the circle of life. (For later reading, players consult the BOOK OF ENLIGHTENMENT for commentary on each chakra.)

Players each select one of the seven chakra stones and then take turns to throw the dice. The player throwing the highest number goes first, and play continues clockwise from player to player.

Each player places their stone on the START; then they throw the dice. They can move their stone in any direction they choose around the CIRCLE OF LIFE and can continue to move in any direction on each go.

As players make their way around the circle of life they must follow the philosophical and gaming rules furnished with the Gift. You start the game holding five HUMANITY cards. As the game progresses you can hold less than five cards, but never more than five. If you pick up a HUMANITY card at any time, the rules dictate that you must keep this card. When you have five cards or less, that is the end of your turn. When you hold more than five cards, you must discard one of a different chakra color, or a different card of the same color.

The winner is the first player to take the PATHWAY TO ENLIGHTENMENT. To do this, you must achieve two feats: first you must be holding only five positive HUMANITY cards (blue) and no negative HUMANITY cards (red). In addition, you must have activated your AURA CARD by collecting all the crystals of the seven chakras. Once you have achieved this state you can take the PATHWAY TO ENLIGHTENMENT and receive a gift (a reading) from the BOOK OF ENLIGHTENMENT.

But if your karma lands you on the PATHWAY TO ENLIGHTENMENT before you have achieved the previously mentioned feats, you must go to the wasteland part of the game named “FALSE IDOLS” and wait, and wait. The key to playing the game is to lose the red HUMANITY cards, gain blue HUMANITY cards and win chakra crystals.

When someone wins, he or she shuffles their five positive HUMANITY cards and places them face down in a row. They then take the CHAKRA cards; shuffle them and place five cards face down to cover their HUMANITY cards. The player then chooses one of the pairs of cards (by intuition, guidance, insight). Turning these cards reveals one positive HUMANITY & one chakra color. The player next finds this HUMANITY in the BOOK OF ENLIGHTENMENT and reads the message at the top and then the special message accompanying their chosen chakra color. These messages form their GIFT OF ENLIGHTENMENT.

Designed to bring more love, light and healing into the lives of those who play it, the Gift of Enlightenment is available at gift, toy and other retail stores around the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as at www.giftofenlightenment.com.

written by kyle roderick