Meet Scott Kabel, Maker of The Pathfinder Club Game

Teacher and game designer Scott Kabel describes the game he has created for and about Pathfinders, called The Pathfinder Club Game.

You have created a board game called The Pathfinder Club Game. Who is the game for? Who do you envision playing it?

I designed the game for Pathfinders and people who value the organization. It has tested surprisingly well with ages 7 to 75. My hope is that Pathfinder clubs, church groups, and families with 30 minutes of downtime can enjoy some playtime together. We also plan to release the game in other languages, beginning with Spanish or Portuguese.

Can you tell us a little about the game and how you play it? Can you compare it to a similar game that we might know?

Readers can think of The Pathfinder Club Game as similar to Yahtzee, a classic roll-and-write game. In roll-and-write games, “write” refers to the fact that the game usually takes place on a sheet of paper: a game sheet. Players start with their own fresh game sheet and permanently mark it up during the game. “Roll” refers to the random input, such as rolling dice or flipping cards, that players need to use on their game sheet round by round. Other great examples of roll-and-write games are Quixx, Cartographers, and That’s Pretty Clever.

The Pathfinder Club Game will actually be a series. I plan to create a game sheet for all of the Pathfinder classes over the next few years. Of course, the initial game sheet is Friend. 

In The Pathfinder Club Game: Friend, players imagine their first campout as a Pathfinder. The game sheet features five activities: pitching a tent, hiking, swimming, learning the Pathfinder Pledge, and tending a campfire. During each of 15 rounds, players use the result of two dice to mark and make progress in one of these activities. They also have a limited number of opportunities to handshake with a neighbor to re-use a roll result, adding strategic depth and a fun mix of coordination and competition to the game. Each activity is scored at the end of the game, and the highest-scoring player wins.

Is it an educational game? What do players get out of it? Is it more of a competitive game or are there elements of cooperation among players?

Yes, the game is meant to place players in the world of Pathfinders to absorb some of the major values and themes essential to the organization. I took ideas from the official Friend Achievement Class curriculum to design the game sheet. 

For instance, a Pathfinder leader noticed that the animals shown on the game’s hike represent suggested honors for a Pathfinder’s first year. An area coordinator believes the game will be a helpful introduction to Pathfinder culture for youth who recently joined his church. 

So, I hope the game will be teachy without being preachy, so to speak. 

How did you get the idea to invent this game? Why a game about Pathfinders?

I am designing faith-based, family-friendly games because I saw a need for our church families to have opportunities to play together. Over the last few years, I have learned a lot about exciting developments in modern hobby gaming and at the same time have seen that there are not many modern games available for Christian families. 

More to the point, I grew up in Pathfinders. It is a world I am uniquely positioned to represent in a modern game. Pathfinder culture is rich for game content and Pathfinders are passionate people. It seems like a natural path to take.

Can you talk us through the process? What does it take to take a game from the germ of an idea to boxed and for sale?

Indulge me on this one. The process started with brainstorming important features of the Pathfinder experience. Then there were cycles of thinking through what themes and content to include and how to represent the content in the gameplay. For four months, I worked on a game with a board, cards, and player pieces. Players placed their pieces around a board to “earn experience” that would help them earn honors and graduate through the classes. I went through three or four iterations of that game before playtesting it with a group of professional game designers online. The feedback I got was that the game was thematically and mechanically dry and “no fun.” They suggested I start over. 

That day I started with a blank sheet of paper. I soon realized that I didn’t need to try to represent the whole Pathfinder experience in one game. Another key was that the roll-and-write genre would be a much better fit: the genre is usually more accessible than a standard board game. I could design the game so that any number of people could play simultaneously — even a whole club. It would be cheaper to make and thus buy, and I could break up the design in many smaller designs.

The game went through two more major iterations before taking its current form. In the process, I tested it with friends, professional designers, and church youth in person and online. Often playtesting led to simplifications on the game sheet and streamlining rules.

Once I was generally happy with the mechanics of the game, I transitioned from game designer to game publisher. 

I partnered with an illustrator and graphic designer I found through social media. Tristam had no previous experience with Pathfinders, but he was happy to research the organization and did a great job representing it. 

I began assembling an online community around the game. I wrote a rulebook and got community feedback to improve it. I am creating how-to-play and other media for the game. The publisher of another game of mine helped me identify a manufacturer, which has led to decision making about production specifications and shipping logistics. I am also navigating the legal layers of trademark licensing with the General Conference and a coexistence agreement with another game publisher who publishes a similarly-named game. I am pursuing distribution partnerships and translation services. Finally, my parents are helping me think through financial and order fulfillment details. It is a lot of new territory for me but worth the challenge to get the game into the hands of Pathfinders.

So you ran into some copyright snafus with the word “Pathfinder”?

There’s a story here. Among other firsts, this is my first time incidentally competing with a large game publisher. 

Paizo has published a popular roleplaying game called Pathfinder since 2009. They control the title pathfinder in the U.S. gaming space. At first I thought, there is no way they would mess with a game about a church youth organization. Eventually, I took the issue seriously and checked with Mike, a lawyer acquaintance and hobby gamer. He explained that branding is meant to help consumers avoid confusion while shopping. Because our game—then titled The Pathfinder Game—could end up on shelves near Paizo’s, Paizo could and probably would take legal action against us. I took Mike on as my lawyer and we have experienced a pleasant surprise together. We learned from Paizo’s lawyers that under normal circumstances the company’s response would be a “categorical no.” But in this case, they would consider what is called a coexistence agreement, under certain conditions. 

To avoid consumer confusion, we have since adjusted the name to The Pathfinder Club Game and moved the trademarked Pathfinder logo next to the title on the game box. We are also likely to be limited to selling the game outside of typical hobby gaming channels; however, because our main audience is Pathfinders, that should be no problem. The agreement process is ongoing, but Mike is very optimistic. I thank God that He brought Mike into the situation at the right time and that we found a door ajar with Paizo.

Did the General Conference give you their blessing to create this game?

The General Conference owns the rights to important branding elements of Pathfinders—the logo in particular. We have gone through a formal trademark licensing process with the GC. Otherwise, the GC would be very much in the right to shut down the game. I see it as essential to the success of the game that we have more than legal consent from the church. I am excited that at least the North American Division youth leadership and other Pathfinder leadership have shown support.

When will the game be ready to buy? How can people get it?

The game is available for pre-order on my website now. I expect that we will fulfill pre-orders within the next month or so. AdventSource is also going to carry the game, but I am waiting for timeline updates from them.

You are imagining campers at the Camporee all playing the Pathfinder Club Game?

First of all, in theory any number of people can play The Pathfinder Club Game at the same time. Having everyone at the Camporee playing it would be amazing. 

But more than that, I have some big ideas for Pathfinders and gaming in general. I am a huge believer in the value of play and the value of people learning to play well together. That is why The Pathfinder Club Game exists. I would like to lead out in creating hobby gaming and game design Pathfinder honors that illustrate the rich experience offered by games and put Pathfinders in the position of bringing community together and also creating their own faith-based games. Eventually, I would like to see clubs and even camporees hosting game design workshops and family-friendly gaming events.

Is this a “Sabbath game”? Is there still such a thing as games that your parents think are appropriate to play on Sabbath vs all the other games?

I set The Pathfinder Club Game in nature and designed it to illustrate important principles, create a positive atmosphere, and provide memorable moments of play. I am happy to leave it to parents and Pathfinder leaders to decide when it is appropriate to play. I also want to encourage such people to see games as more than entertainment, but as real-life pressures condensed into a small space and as opportunities for people to practice humility and good will. To further sharpen the point: our lives are best lived when we understand our identity is hidden in Christ and not in our performance. Any day of the week, good games tend to bring that reality to the surface.

Why do you think someone should buy The Pathfinder Club Game? How much does it cost? Where does the money go?

Someone should buy this game if they are curious about modern hobby gaming, if they value more face-to-face interaction and less screen time, if they love Pathfinders, and if they want to spend an enjoyable time with their friends and family. 

The game box includes 100 game sheets, a rulebook, four pencils, and two dice. It will cost between $20 and $30 depending on shipping costs and other conditions.

Described on my website, I have offered to partner with clubs who are still raising funds to attend the International Camporee. I will return 25% of their sales of the game back to the club. I have also promised 15% of general pre-order sales will go to support Pathfinders in financial need. The rest of the money will go back into producing future games.

I believe this isn’t your first rodeo—you are a game designer, is that right? Is that your full-time job? What other games have you created?

I currently have one other game design credit: New Kingdom: Sowers. Its publisher recently finished crowdfunding the game. It will be available on the New Kingdom Gaming website, as well as AdventSource eventually. It is a two-player card game inspired by the Parable of the Sower. I have many other designs in various stages of development and hope to release one or two a year.

I am not a full-time game designer yet. However, as a substitute high school teacher I am able to put a lot of time into designing and playtesting games and organizing gaming events on Oahu, Hawaii. I dream of designing full-time someday, but I am also happy to contribute in other professional ways. I have a PhD in education and would like to use it more directly at some point.

Do you have kids of your own to test games on?

Without a family of my own yet, I am happy to playtest my games with high school students, friends, and the great community of game designers online. 

How did you come to live in Hawaii? Is that where you are from?

I grew up in upstate New York, studied at Union Springs Academy for high school, Southern Adventist University for my BA in English, Andrews University for my MA in English, and the State University of New York at Buffalo for my PhD in Education. I moved to Hawaii after defending my dissertation in January 2020. It was a chance to decompress, look for work, and help out my friends in the Hawaii Conference. During COVID, I stayed to support young adult life for the church. 

Meanwhile, I have earned an income in many unexpected ways, including as a maintenance worker for the conference, a driver for Instacart, and now as a public school substitute teacher. As a substitute teacher, I have found that most teachers do not leave much meaningful work for the students, so I take as much time as I can to work on game designs, teach games to the students, or have them test my designs. I look forward to full-time work in higher education some day, but I am taking advantage of this season to build community around games.

Have you always been into board games? What other types of games do you like? What is the first game you remember playing as a child?

I grew up in a game-playing family and have always enjoyed puzzles, sports, and games. At the same time, I can testify that playing games has been a part of my faith journey. In the past, I was afraid to play games because I was afraid to lose, thinking that losing somehow meant I was stupid or of lesser value than the winner. It was not until the last several years as I have settled squarely into my identity in Christ that I can now enjoy games without my sense of self worth being on the line. Processing identity issues is one reason I encourage people to play games.

I remember playing games like Candyland, Trouble, and Bibleopoly. Of course, I also played a lot of Rook. 

About three years ago, I got very seriously into the gaming hobby and have come to enjoy a broad range of games, from light and fast to long and heavy. I currently own about 350 games.

What would you say got you into games seriously three years ago?

I have enjoyed games for many years, like circle games at summer camp and party games with friends. When it comes to modern tabletop games, I had some exposure from some friends in grad school. 

After that, a big step was to get over my fear of chess. Since then I have played over 12,000 games of online chess, coming to understand that experience and study are more important than something like baseline intelligence. 

I picked up a few light card games and played them with family. I started watching more game-related content on Youtube and Twitch, like reviews and playthroughs. COVID accelerated my interest; I played games online with friends and invested in my first substantive board games, like Splendor and The Quest for El Dorado. 

The tipping point was two years ago when I realized I wanted to try creating a game about hiking on Oahu. Then a perfect storm: going to gaming events and game stores to get more exposure to game concepts, joining game and game design groups online, prototyping my designs, and hosting game nights every week. Now I spend at least 20 hours a week doing something game-related.

Do you also play video games?

My passion is tabletop games. I also enjoy several sports, like pickleball, volleyball, and surfing, and play too much online chess. I don’t have much time for other kinds of games. 

Is game-playing starting to feel like just work for you?

Playing games has become an essential aspect of my social life and ministry. I run a weekly game night at the Hawaii Conference Office, which attracts mainly community members. I regularly host church gaming events, as well as a bi-annual tabletop gaming retreat at our church camp in Waianae. I am a regular at game stores and other gaming events around Oahu. I play as often as I can, sometimes learning two or three new games a week. Such a lifestyle of gaming, I have found, is vital to designing games and networking within the hobby community.

What is your favorite game? What do you think is the best game of all time?

I have to say my favorite game is the one that best fits the situation. Some of my personal favorites: The Quest for El Dorado, The Quacks of Quedlinburg, Archeos Society, and Modern Art. For those curious about the hobby, I’m happy to recommend No Thanks!, Sushi Go!, Deep Sea Adventure, Machi Koro 2, Just One, The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, Cartographers, The Quest for El Dorado, Cascadia, The Quacks of Quedlinburg, and Downforce.