Editor’s Note: Matthew Chicoine interviewed Jack Dunbar via phone call on March 27th, 2024. Some of the questions have been rearranged and edited to provide the best reader experience without losing any integrity of the answers given.
Tell me a bit about your faith story.
I’m 32 years old and grew up in a small town. My parents didn’t expect to have kids and I’m an only child. My mom was raised as a Roman Catholic but she wasn’t really practicing her faith. Both her and my dad were nominal Christians. I was baptized as an infant. I got into youth group and got to know the Youth Group Leader. There was a talk about Mark 2 (the Healing of the Paralytic). Hearing this story and how Jesus has authority to heal spiritually and physcially opened my eyes. I prayed to accept Jesus, I went to bible studies for a few years.
When I was 16 I made a decision to follow Jesus and when signing up to go to college I was set on going to the University of Washington. I wanted to be a doctor, as I was drawn to the stories of Jesus’ healing, and I wanted to get out of my small town. I ended up being drawn to Whitworth College in Spokane. While all the faculty were Christian it was not a requirement for students to be Christian but I felt called to that school. I applied and was accepted. During my undergraduate degree I got involved in ministry. I received my Master’s Degree in Theology (2014-2016) from Whitworth as well.
I got involved in Pacific Keep Church after my Master’s Degree and in 2016 started serving as a lay associate pastor, baptized in 2018 and met my wife that same year. Between 2018-2023, I served as a full pastor. I have a young daughter, started a board game business, and looking to have more kids.
Since 2022 I have been working at Shepherd Financial Group (a faith-based accounting firm).
What led you directly to getting into board gaming?
Going back to 2016 with my church ministry, we were talking about the mission of the Gospel in our ordinary life. I loved playing board games with my cousins and friends. For me it was a way to be social. I was an introvert world (in a rural area and as an only child). I played games with my youth ministry kids, but I started to take it a step further by inviting people into my house to play board games. As I got more deeply in the hobby of collecting games I found it to be a way to build deeper relationships with people.
Fast forward to 2019, I was doing other work to help pay the bills to supplement the ministry work. As I was transitioning between jobs, the pandemic occurred. I had a friend ask me about how my work going and it led me to finding out my desire to work in retail but to sell something that I believed in. We started looking around the Internet for Christian board games and saw a gap in the market. The high-quality Christian board games were hard to find. I find the story of the Bible is the most compelling and creative work ever.
I discerned that the skills, experience, and passion for the faith made it possible for me get in to this work.
What games influenced Gardeners?
My wife and I got into Dominion. I started to think about making a clone of this game with Christian themes. In January 2020, I created a proto-type. I listened to Andrew Lowen’s podcast on marketing and I networked with other Christian board game designers. I also stumbled across his game Deliverance and this furthered my interest in the Christian board gaming niche.
Besides Andrew, what other Christian board game creators influenced you?
Gabe Barrett from the Board Game Design Lab. I joined a Facebook group Christian Game Design Conference- this way primarily focused on video games and was referred to Andrew Lowen. I also met Pete Schultz in 2020.
Pete helped me think through things practically. He made time for me and prayed for me. Andrew helped me connect more broadly online.
In 2021 after spending a lot of time learning, we found out my wife was pregnant and our daughter was born in August. This was a sign that I needed to focus on fine-tuning my board game. I came across my board game artist Melissa in the spring of 2021. Around Christmas 2021, I picked up the game Wingspan. I was intrigued because while it was complicated, it was communicated simply. It had beautiful art. This game made me see my clearer vision for my games.
I’ve heard Wingspan is an amazing game it’s been on my list to get for my collection for some time. What else influenced you in the game creation process?
When my artist would sketch things, my imagination was activated. It made me realize how I needed the theme to be more specific. I was thinking about the C.S. Lewis approach, maybe conveying things allegorically. I wanted to design these gateway games. I want my games to be a gateway to the faith, to board gaming, to the community.
The decision to gear my board game toward this specific type of audience (a gateway to board gaming) was intentional. Control over the theme was desired, avoiding potential changes from a publisher regarding the biblical subject matter. Additionally, the allure of building my own business proved compelling. Driving the creation of board games with a mission-focused approach was a motivating factor.
Around the spring of 2021, I had the design premise (strategic and approachable). I drew a Venn-diagram with my target market: the intersection of Christian families and thematic gamers. The overlap was the Christian gamer. I couldn’t be so Christian that it would turn off the thematic gamer and needed to be accessible enough of a game for the Christian family to learn and enjoy it.
Simplicity in a board is so key. How did you settle on your theme?
I noticed planting, farming, and nature themed games were doing well. I was thinking about having the game be an allegory for planting the Kingdom of God. We had the game rethemed and I had the full idea in August 2021. Less of a deck-builder more of a tableu game like Wingspan. Going into 2022, I had the pieces to the game, God was telling me I had another year to complete the game.
In 2022 I focused on developing and marketing the game. We also were in the process of building our new home, but somehow by God’s grace the game continued to developed. I had the full vision for the crowdfunding by the end of 2022.
How did your kickstarter go?
In April 21st 2023, on the three year anniversary of the start of this project, we launched the Kickstarter. This campaign lasted until May 15th and had 308 backers with $16,665 in Kickstarter funds.
All of the modeling and marketing stuff I learned lined up with my expectations. By the end of the year, I ended up making $25,000 and I was able to send the game to my backers in December 2023.
The reception has been great. People continue to order. My goal is to grow the company. The games are based on kingdom principles. New Kingdom: Gardeners has a discipleship component to it.
That’s awesome! So cool to see games do well on Kickstarter. What is next for your company?
I’m casting a wider net to see what works. I’ve published three games. The first is New Kingdom: Sowers. It’s based on the Parable of the Sower. Scott Kabel is the creator of Sowers.This game is going to Kickstarter April 2024. It’s a small box game for 1-2 players.
In July I’m crowdfunding a game called Prestige. This game is not biblically themed but the designer is Christian, Fritz Paull. It’s a city-building game. We will be going to Gen-Con in August.
Finally, I will be working on a co-operative battling game called Tribulation. The idea is to create diversity in my company board. Tribulation will appeal to pre-teens, teenagers, and young adults.
Any last message to share with my audience?
Thank you for taking the time to interview me. I want people to experience the love of Jesus and have fellowship in gaming. In the past, art was what got people into learning about the Gospel. I think board gaming is the new medium by which to bring people to Jesus.
I think God has given the call to evangelize to all the Church. It is my hope that New Kingdom Gaming will serve as a way for me (and those who play it) to glorify God.
About Jack:
Jack Dunbar is a Christian, husband, father, lay pastor and game designer (in that order) from Medical Lake, WA. He dreams of reaching other gamers for Jesus and encouraging believers in their walk by publishing high quality Christian and biblically-themed games. He, of course, loves board games, observing the natural world, being outdoors and spending time with his family.
