The Board Game Faith Newsletter, Issue 9
Hello, Board Game Faithful!
Daniel: It’s Black History Month here in the United States - a time set aside especially to lift up the leadership and innovations of African-Americans both throughout history as well as today. To celebrate the month, we are making occasional posts on social media with links to resources highlighting Black leadership in the board game industry. But for you, our dear newsletter readers, here they are all in one place:
Jason Perez of Shelf Stories posted an excellent “Panel of Black Creators in Board Game” video on Youtube, featuring two of our favorite board game reviewers, Starla and Mik from Our Family Plays Games.
Elizabeth Hargrave (designer of Wingspan) has also assembled a helpful resource titled “Black Voices in Board Games,” showcasing designers, artists, content creators, and more!
Two other of our favorite content creators, not featured in any of the above lists, are Dwayne and Alicia from Black Board Gaming. Check them out too!
Kevin: I found myself particularly charmed by Black Board Gaming and Our Family Plays Games on YouTube. As human being gamers, we are fortunate to have so much diversity at the table, but we can all share a love of good cardboard fun.
Behind the Episodes
Daniel: What a joy to welcome Dan Thurot on our latest episode (“Games as Devotion”)! His authenticity and thoughtfulness really shine through his reflections on games and faith. We are hoping to have him back to discuss board gaming, spirituality, and aesthetics.
Kevin: I found Dan so interesting and profound, and his newsletter reviews are works of deep love and thoughtfulness. I also found his comments about Mormonism so fascinating. Utah Mormonism is a distinct subculture within the larger USA and Christianity that I know very little about!
Coming Up
Daniel: The working title of our next episode is “Spiritual Lessons from Cooperative Games Besides ‘Cooperation Is Good’.” It’s a horrible title, but we’re trying to find ways to dig a little deeper besides just the most obvious lesson. Please help us out! If you have a better title, or some lessons to share, please let us know by visiting the episode’s Discord channel here.
Kevin: This is the game within the game of the podcast – can we think of new stuff for cooperative games besides the blatantly and probably patently obvious? Cooperative games are 🤯 when you first encounter them, and they bring people together in such a marvelous way. Which is the perfect segue to the next section …
Games We're All About Right Now
Kevin: FROSTHAVEN IS HERE! It’s been tyrannical and frustrating to prep the game and revisit the rules, and we’ve only done 2 scenarios, but holy cow is it a genius of a game. Defeating a scenario is really a puzzle to work out, and you want to cooperate but you also want your own character to succeed, do great stuff, and upgrade. I hate Isaac Childress so much because, with the Gloomhaven world, he really has created something unique and wonderful.
Daniel: Kristen and I broke out Tapestry again the other day, and we were reminded once again just what a fantastic game it is. Somewhere amidst the miniature buildings on your city map, the exploration of the game board, the tech trees and more, the game manages to create an experience that is unique for us. It is unlike any other game we have played, and we love it. Plus we have two of its expansions, which make it even better.
Kevin: Yeah, but my Frosthaven Necromancer could totally destroy your “miniature buildings” on level 1.
Daniel: Not if you get too close to my Windmill of Doom!
Spiritual Stuff
Kevin: I’m teaching a class on Hell for the second time, and it’s really convicted me on how strange the history of Hell is. As a concept in Western Christianity (Catholicism and Protestantism) it has a checkered career at best. The Bible is not explicit about an eternal hell for sinners, and Christians from the very beginning have presented other possibilities, such as evil and sin are allowed to die (conditionalism), or there is some kind of purgatory, or all will be saved in the end (universalism). God’s justice and judgment must be balanced with God’s grace and mercy, and that final synthesis is beyond our comprehension right now.
Daniel: I think it’s so cool that Kevin is teaching a class on the history of Hell. Classes like that--coupled with his love of board games--are what make undoubtedly him one of the coolest professors ever.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about Dan Thurot’s comments from our last episode about the real harm that institutional religion has done to LGBTQIA youth over the years. As a local church pastor, I've seen that harm in the lives of young people as well. Religion can be such a great source of blessings, but it can also create tremendous suffering. This potential for great good and great harm is one reason I’ve become such a believer in the theology of play that underpins our podcast: I’m convinced that the more religion explores spaces of play and games, the more it can be a force for grace and welcome and joy in the world. In other words, the more religion becomes playful, the more it becomes (in my thinking) what it was meant to be.
Media We're Digging Right Now
Kevin: I’m really into The Last of Us on HBO. After episode 4 I’m worried the show is going to veer into weird warlords similar to The Walking Dead and other apocalyptic shows, so I’m hoping it finds a fresh take on that trope. So far it has been fantastic, and I just love the central relationship between Joel and Ellie. The writing and acting is so so so good.
Daniel: The Last of Us is a great choice, Kevin; we've been really enjoying it too. Kristen and I have also come to like Astrid on PBS (American Public Television). A French production, the show revolves around a police officer and criminal records archivist who investigate murders (sometimes with a supernatural vibe) around Paris. The real heart of the show, however, is the developing relationship between the police officer (who is neurotypical) and the archivist (who is on the autism spectrum). Watching how they learn to be thoughtful and sensitive to each other is heart-warming.
Thank You!
Thanks so much for being a part of the BGF community. We are grateful for each of you and the ways you make the world more awesome. And if you haven’t had a chance to tell us a little about yourself yet, we would love it if you could fill out this form please!