Frequently Asked Questions

Please select your question from the following list. If your question is not here, ask and we will try to find the answer. We may even add it to this list.

What is your mission?
What is your Vision?
Where can I buy Red Heifer Games?
How did you come up with the name Red Heifer Games?
What is a heifer?
What does that foreign text at the bottom of your web pages mean?
Why is the heifer red?
Are your games religious or something?
What does a red heifer have to do with games?

What is your mission? Our mission at Red Heifer Games is to bring fun interactive family and educational games into your living room for about the same price as a new movie video. Our games are conveniently packaged in durable plastic VHS cassette cases with attractive cover artwork. Instead of letting them get lost in a closet or a child's room, why not store your Red Heifer Games with your videos? That way, the next time you can't agree upon which movie to watch, play a Red Heifer Game instead!

What is your Vision? We envision parents spending time interacting with their kids instead of using the computer or television as a baby sitter. We see parents involved in their kids' education. We see teachers able to keep the attention of their students by getting them involved in something beyond a lecture. We hear the voices of children telling their teachers and parents that they enjoy using games to learn. We see improved grades as a result of retained learning-by-doing knowledge. We see curious students, eager to learn more. We see people finally realizing that Marx was wrong, that the mass media is the real opiate of the people. We see parents, teachers and students finally free from the addictive slavery of the talking heads telling them how it is, free from the corporate admen telling them what they need, and free from the mind numbing hypnosis of the flickering screens. We envision people able and willing to think, strategize and act for themselves. We envision a renewed wonder and interest in creation as people begin to think beyond themselves. Though our contribution may seem small, our vision is large.

Where can I buy Red Heifer Games? We are delighted you asked! The answer to that question is, "It depends." Read on.

If you are buying for your own personal use, please check our list of retailers for a store in your area. Your local retailers work hard and deserve your support, so please visit (or at least call) them first. We're sure they'll be happy to sell you our games. If your favorite local educational store, book store, game store or hobby store does not yet carry Red Heifer Games, ask them to visit our web site for a list of distributors who will be happy to sell them our titles at significant wholesale discounts. We can also sell our games to you directly through our online catalog, but we have to charge extra for shipping. We have to collect Michigan sales tax (currently 6%) for any orders shipped within Michigan, and there is an additional fee (currently 3%) for paying with a credit card. Orders shipped outside of Michigan may be subject to additional local, county or state taxes. Please check with your tax authorities before placing an order.

If you are a professor, teacher or home schooler buying Red Heifer Games in support of a curriculum, good for you! As designers of educational games, we welcome you as our most valued customers. Keep in mind that many of the stores on our list of retailers offer significant discounts for educational purchases, so this is probably still your best source for our games. However, if you can't find our games locally, you can still order them through our online catalog. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer an educational discount for direct purchases. But we will refund domestic ground shipping charges (an effective discount of up to almost 15%) for educators who provide a copy of the syllabus or other curriculum outline in which any Red Heifer Games are used. Additionally, we welcome brief stories from parents and educators who have had success using Red Heifer Games in an educational setting. Many of these stories will be shared in our educators' area as a valuable resource for future parents and educators. Depending upon your location, educational orders may be exempt from sales and/or use taxes (please check with your tax authorities), but rush shipping and credit card orders still incur additional fees.

If you are a retailer, we request that you first check our list of distributors for a reliable wholesale source in your region. Distributors pay us big money up front to buy in bulk, and they deserve to collect on the gamble they take against being able to sell our games later. Plus, the big discounts they get on bulk purchases allow them to pass along our games to your store more economically than we can sell them to you directly. If your favorite distributors do not yet carry Red Heifer Games, please direct them to our web site. For retailers who wish to order directly, please contact us. We offer a 45% discount and waive domestic ground shipping charges for bundles of ten (10) games of the same title. (Sorry, but there is no mixing and matching at the bundle level via direct sales. Please inquire with our distributors.) We must have your federal and state tax identification numbers on file to report Michigan sales taxes, but rush shipping and credit card fees still apply. Whether your store buys from our distributors or directly from us, we will gladly advertise your store's name, address, phone number and web site on our list of retailers by which we refer customers to your store. Just provide us with a copy of your distributor invoice with your order for Red Heifer Games highlighted, along with all relevant contact information. If the contact information for your store has changed or is incorrect, please let us know and we will fix it as soon as possible.

Finally, if you are a distributor (or a high-volume retailer willing to pay larger sums up front), you'll be pleased to know that, collectively, sales to distributors make up the bulk (pardon the pun) of our business. Please contact us directly to place an order. We offer a 60% discount and waive domestic ground shipping charges for cartons of one hundred (100) Red Heifer Games in any combination of in-print titles. (Yes, mixing and matching is allowed at this purchase volume level.) As with retailers, we must have your federal and state tax identification numbers on file to report Michigan sales taxes, but rush shipping and credit card fees still apply. As an added benefit to distributors who carry Red Heifer Games, we will gladly advertise your contact information on our list of distributors by which we refer retailers to your distribution center. Just provide us with all relevant contact information along with your order. If you operate a store in addition to handling distribution, we will gladly list your store's name on our list of retailers as well. Just provide us with a copy of a sales receipt with the line item(s) for Red Heifer Games sold at retail highlighted. If the contact information for your distribution center and/or high-volume store has changed or is incorrect, please let us know and we will fix it as soon as possible.

How did you come up with the name Red Heifer Games? The owners' last name, Rodeffer, is rumored to be descended from an old Germanic term for "red heifer." This has never been confirmed by a linguist, but the fact remains that several members of the owners' extended family operate family farms, cattle are raised on some of these farms, and some of these cattle are at least partly red. In any case, it makes for a good story. Beyond that, we design educational games. Coincidentally, several of the owners' relatives (many of the same ones who are farmers) are also teachers. Red Heifer. Games. Only concatenation remains.

What is a heifer? A heifer is a young female cow. One historical definition is a cow which has not yet born a calf. A more modern definition is a cow less than three years old.

What does that foreign text at the bottom of your web pages mean? The first line is Numbers 19:9 from the Law of Moses (also known as the Torah), and is written in Hebrew. This is just one verse from a portion of the Jewish Law that describes the red heifer sacrifice, which was for purification. The second and third line are Hebrews 9:14 from the New Testament of the Christian Bible, written in Greek. Again, it's just one verse from a portion of that letter to the early Jewish Christians that describes how the blood of the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus), is even more effective as a sacrifice for purification than the red heifer sacrifice. If you hover and pause your mouse cursor over the image, a window with the translated text should appear. The window should then remain open as long as you keep slowly moving your mouse cursor over the image.

Why is the heifer red? The answer to this is just a guess at the moment. But according to the Law of Moses, the red heifer chosen for sacrifice had to be all red. Priests would examine the heifer, and any white or black hairs would disqualify it, as would two hairs growing from a single follicle. The red is a foreshadow of the blood of the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). That blood would be sufficient to pay for and cover over all sin in the same way that the red hair completely covers the whole body of the red heifer. No black hairs and the fact that the red heifer had to be burnt completely meant that the Messiah would be completely pure, sinless, perfect. No white hairs meant that even though the Messiah would be the Son of God, He would choose to be born into fragile human flesh. Having temporarily left His heavenly throne to live and minister among people, He would also refrain from wielding Godly power to prevent His own death on the cross. Instead, throughout His ministry, Jesus Messiah would rely upon God the Father, praying to Him for all of His needs. No double-haired follicles meant that the Son of God would always be of one mind and never turn from His mission of loving self-sacrifice to pay for the sins of Israel and all who believe in Him. Under the Law of Moses, the waters of separation were meant to signify that Israel was a chosen and blessed people, a nation set apart from the rest of the world. In the Christian church, the waters of baptism signify, among other things, being set apart from the rest of the world into God's family. We recommend that you read Numbers chapter 19 and Hebrews chapter 9 and consult a Bible commentary for more information.

Are your games religious or something? Actually, no. We currently have no plans for making any specifically religious games, but if we do in the future, they will be categorized as such in our online catalog. In a world where so much of the available entertainment (including some games, especially video games) is rife with profanity, violence and sexual perversion, we want Red Heifer Games to be a light in a dark place. As such, we design our games to be free from "objectionable" materials, including in-your-face religious overtones. Red Heifer Games are suitable for use in both classroom and family settings, and educators should have no reservations about incorporating them into any public, private or home-based curriculum.

What does a red heifer have to do with games? The owners are unaware of any cattle who actually play games. (Cow pasture bingo doesn't count.) However, many of the Rodeffers enjoy games at family gatherings, sometimes bending the rules a bit here and there.