If all goes according to plan, fans of G.K. Chesterton’s “Father Brown Mysteries” could soon be playing a new board game that challenges them to match wits and solve crimes like the famous priest-detective.
“It’s a unique game in several ways,” Joe Grabowski, president of the Philadelphia Chesterton Society, told Our Sunday Visitor about “Father Brown Investigations: The Death of Sir Percy Coldwell.”
Grabowski hopes a monthlong Kickstarter campaign will raise the $30,000 by Jan. 7, 2021, that he said the project needs for an initial production run of about 100 copies that would get the game into the hands of reviewers and customers.
Launched on Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Kickstarter campaign had raised a little more than $6,500 as of Dec. 21. The project has about 2 1/2 weeks remaining to reach its goal.
“Either we raise that amount by Jan. 7, or we go back to the drawing board,” said Grabowski, who noted that people who have pledged funds toward the project are not charged unless the fundraising goal is reached by the deadline.
The “Father Brown Investigations” board game is the product of several months’ worth of weekly virtual meetings of Chesterton fans around the world. The game features up to 200 cards that draw on the Father Brown character’s insights into the human condition to investigate crimes.
“That the character has lasted 100 years is a real testament to the strength of the character,” said Grabowski, the project’s lone “Chestertonian” from the United States.
Grabowski said the “Father Brown Investigations” game is made for fans of Chesterton’s writing and for audiences who may not know that much about the prolific early 20th-century English writer, philosopher and lay theologian.
“The idea originates out of the desire to bring Chesterton to new audiences,” Grabowski said, “And to deploy it as a tool of the New Evangelization, especially in an era when, let’s be frank, the image of the priest has taken some hits.”
According to a website for “Father Brown Investigations,” up to six players compete for clues as official police detectives or private investigators. Each player is granted “one special ability,” and has to watch out for other players interfering with their investigation. On top of that, there is the chance that Flambeau, the criminal mastermind in the “Father Brown” series, will scuttle the investigation.
Through the game, players are aided by the theological insights and criminological genius of Father Brown, whom Chesterton featured in at least 53 short stories between 1910 and 1936. The Father Brown character has been featured in multiple radio shows, movies and television series.
“Father Brown, he’s not a complicated character. Chesterton drew him as holy, virtuous, admirable, but also as a world-wise and intellectually gifted priest,” Grabowski said. “It’s not for nothing that Father Brown is the most famous of Chesterton’s creations.”
Grabowski joined the “Father Brown Investigations” project earlier this year after receiving an email from Nikola Bolšec, the president of the Croatian Chesterton Club, who came up with the idea for the board game and began the project about two yeas ago.
“Being an avid board game player myself and loving Chesterton and Father Brown, I just thought this was a great opportunity, and I wanted to be involved in it,” said Grabowski, 37, who has led the Philadelphia Chesterton Society for the past decade.
Though he loved the idea, Grabowski said he wanted assurances that the board game would be a high-quality product that could appeal to more than niche audiences like Chesterton aficionados.
What Grabowski learned eased those concerns. Polish game designer Jacek Malkowski helped to create the game. Malkowski already has two successful board games to his credit; “The Road to Bethlehem” and “Inspiration!”
Croatian artist Matko Antolčić and graphic designer Iva Risek also form the creative team. The cards are adorned with original hand-drawn depictions of Father Brown and other characters.
“We think the game really stands on its own as just a solid game,” Grabowski said. “It’s not parochial. It doesn’t have the qualities that unfortunately a lot of Christian or Catholic house art has. It’s not preaching to the choir. It’s meant to appeal to a broad public of those who like murder mysteries and board games. It plays well on its own.”
Over the last several months, Grabowski said the creative team has “game-tested” the product, using cards and materials printed on regular computer paper. Together, they have worked out the kinks and bounced ideas off each other, essentially building a board game from the ground up.
“We came up with what I think is a really great product,” said Grabowski, adding that the game could reach customers by Summer 2021 if the Kickstarter campaign reaches its goal. The campaign includes several “reward tiers” that includes a Chesterton reading guide that would come with the game.
“Our hope is that people will see what makes Father Brown a unique detective is what makes Chesterton a unique writer,” Grabowski said. “The insight into human nature, the paradoxical humor; all the things that Father Brown is famous for.”
For more information, visit fatherbrowngame.com.
Brian Fraga is a contributing editor for Our Sunday Visitor.
