Articles in The Abbey are specifically pointed towards growing a missional gaming mindset from within your church and ministry.
We will be sharing the ups and downs we have discovered from trying to forge this sort of ministry and train/encourage you in the process.
When Chara Games’ Unauthorized successfully funded on Kickstarter, we were excited for the game’s potential. It was a good game on its own – which is why it received the InnRoads Approved seal – but there was a unique opportunity in this experience for some intentional gaming to open up… Continue reading
I spent years recruiting and training people to work with high school and junior high students. In every church, regardless of size or denomination, there were always those I pursued in this effort that I felt were downright born for youth ministry but wanted nothing to do with it. While a… Continue reading
I had been on my feet for hours. I woke up with the sun, lugged the rest of my gear to the room where our event was held, and had the morning running back and forth to ensure that everything was running as smoothly as we could make them. I… Continue reading
When we start communicating with churches to see about starting up gaming groups in their congregations – we have a litany of reasons why this sort of group is useful in a ministry context. Whether your church is in a center of nerd culture or the geekiest thing you’ve done… Continue reading
After the experience of busting out Onitama in the lobby of my church on a Sunday morning, I began wondering if there was more there worth exploring. It was a great time, engaging me in the communal aspect of church worship I hadn’t experienced in a long time. I talked with some… Continue reading
After three consecutive years in attendance, I decided that I was not going to be at Gen Con this year. In fact, there was only one member of the InnRoads team there at all, and even that wasn’t for us. While we had no official presence at the con, something… Continue reading
We’ve had a number of churches inquire about having us out to run a game day. Among the first questions I ask them are “What are your plans for follow up?” and “How are you going to get your congregations involved?” There’s no lack of one-time experiences designed to get people in… Continue reading
Legacy games started with a reworking of Risk in 2011. Risk Legacy introduced a progressive revelation of playable factions and other game elements hidden in envelopes and boxes. It also created a persistent mechanic where the last game you played will have a direct impact on every game played after it.… Continue reading
I have recently picked up a number of games that seem light when you look at them on the table, but hold a great deal of value in the play experience. The two that most typify this would be The Grizzled and And Then We Held Hands. These games have next… Continue reading
Recently an article was published in the Telegraph stating that board games are dying out. The author sited a survey that showed 73% of parents polled had vivid memories of playing board games with their families while only 44% of children surveyed said they play them now. From the instant… Continue reading
