Goshen artist finds a winning hand with Mennonite card game

GOSHEN — Mark Eash Hershberger wanted a project that would result in something he could touch and hold.

As a graphic designer and artist, he liked the idea of paper that would show his cartoons and drawing. What he didn’t expect when he started on The Mennonite Game Card Game was that it would land on the market, much less have a successful Kickstarter.

“I wasn’t planning on selling anything. I just wanted a finished product,” he said.

By the time the card game was ready for public play, he thought he may get 100 orders. When it was said and done, he got 260 financial backers and sold all 375 sets. He’s ordered 100 more.

Eash Hershberger grew up Mennonite in Harrisonburg, Va., and graduated from Goshen College in 2010. He met and married Lauren Eash, who grew up in this area. And they settled here to start a family.

That information is the type of cred that has value in the verbal version of “The Mennonite Game,” a version of “six degrees of separation” in which members of the small tribe of ethnic Mennonites in North America ask strangers about family, job, school or other information to make potential connections. The game gets played a lot in Mennonite strongholds such as Goshen and Harrisonburg.

Eash Hershberger, 29, decided to play with the concept so people could play a card game based on it. As an avid game player, he liked the idea of a physical game, but didn’t want a board with pieces. He started outlining the game on index cards and drawing characters.

The finished game for two to four players has 42 character cards, 45 connection cards and 34 event cards. The goal of the game is to be the first player to collect 10 character cards. Various cards dictate drawing various numbers of cards or taking other actions. The "church potluck” card prompts one player to put cards in the middle and then take turns picking from the collection.

Eash Hershberger drew himself and other friends or family into the game and even offered seven Kickstarter supporters to choose someone for him to draw onto a card. He’s the guy on the “Father” card. His spouse is on the “Mom” card. He included some prominent historical characters, including the female character of Elizabeth Dirks, an early Anabaptist martyr.

He pokes fun at Mennonite culture in the game. The “Handshake Harry” and “Chatty Kathy” characters could be someone all too familiar, but not necessarily welcome. The playful drawings and actions associated with them are likely to make some laugh at themselves and help others understand the odd ways of this Anabaptist group in this part of the world.

Over the last two years, he played and honed the game with a small group of family and friends.

He also worked on the game alongside a full-time job, now at River Oaks Community Church doing graphic design and media work. He and his wife are also busy raising a family of boys ages 4, 2 and 3 months.

The Kickstarter went live Oct. 13 and ended Nov. 3 with an eye toward getting games in backers’ hands by Christmas. He finished the game and sent it off for printing on Nov. 20. He’s been gluing and sanding 40 wooden boxes with magnetic lids that some backers get. “I personally made them,” he said.

Shipping more games than anticipated has been the most difficult task and biggest learning curve, he said. His wife’s support has been evident in that task as in others along the way.

“The last couple weeks have been pretty stressful,” he said.

The game, priced at $35, is available at Better World Books in Goshen and via “The Mennonite Game Card Game” Facebook page.

The game is new, but early reviews from buyers are positive, he said. After the next shipment of games is sent, he’ll enjoy a break, but hopes to expand the game. He could see developing an expansion set in the coming year, he said.

Eash Hershberger is talented and smart and created something others could enjoy. He’s created a game that is, at least in the view of this Mennonite, both playful and instructive. Combining whimsy and religion isn’t easy these days, but Eash Hershberger has done just that.

Marshall V. King is a food writer based in Goshen. You can find him on Facebook (DiningALaKing) and on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (@hungrymarshall).