The five-reel penny slot ‘Noah’s Arch’ features cartoon animals and a cartoon Noah who line up in various combinations for prizes that top $100. For the first time in history, International Game Technology is launching a slot machine based on a biblical theme.

‘Although the fourth book of the Bible is called Numbers, I’d have to agree with you about this slot theme being a first’, Ed Rogich, marketing vice president for the Reno, Nevada slot maker said.

‘It wasn’t meant to be biblical’, Rogich said, ‘but rather a farcical play on the animals in the ark, cartoon animals. There’s no religious statement.’ This slot machine’s prizes are based on pairs of symbols, which is how the inventors settled on depictions of animal pairs aboard the ark.

At least one U.S. religious leader contends there’s nothing cute about it. ‘We resent that and repudiate Noah’s Arch slot machine,’ Ralph Colas, executive secretary of the American Council of Christian Churches commented. But despite this, Rogich says that it has been approved for play in several U.S. casino jurisdictions, including Nevada, Missouri and other Midwestern states.