“There is nothing new under the sun,” the writer of Ecclesiastes said — but he wasn’t talking about Jason Dinger’s creative games. Families once gathered around the table to play games together all the time, and for many gammers, they still do. Social media has taken away a lot of face-to-face togetherness, or multiple televisions in the home splits family time when everyone likes to watch different things. Dinger and his wife always enjoyed playing games. In recent years they disconnected the cable TV and started spending time sitting and playing board games with each other, or with family and friends. That type of social time sometimes seems forgotten, until a group of friends start playing together and realize the laughter and conversation is much more interactive when games are in play. Last week Dinger was a guest speaker at the New Iberia Kiwanis meeting and captivated the lunch crowd audience with his amazing story.

What are the three games you have in development?

Captains of the Gulf was the first game. Each player has a boat, the blue one I named Donna after my wife. The other three are named for the wives of the friends that helped test-play the games, as a way of honoring them for the time they put into developing the game.

Crescent City Cargo is set in the French Quarter and Sweet Harvest is about sugar cane. I have five more I’m working on.

What is it about your games that make them different than other popular games you’ve played?

They’re driven by theme and there is very little to no down time when its not your turn. It goes by very quickly. You’re not going to be bored and playing on your phone. You’re going to be engaged. Planning is critical and there is a lot of time for tactical play. I may be fishing oyster and crab and you’re fishing shrimp, but I’m going to go get those shrimp because then you have to go further to find a catch. You and I both know the tactics. Strategy is me doing my own thing. Tactics is me doing something that affects you. It took me years to learn that in the military. There are also bonus markers, you can choose how to use them, adding crew or players use as needed like buying fuel or selling catch to the dockside market. Also wild cards and fishing seasons change. There are a lot of pieces and components to the game.

How long are the instructions for Captains of the Gulf?

Sixteen pages. Or you can watch a YouTube video. There is a gammers convention every March or April in Lafayette and I was the featured guest last year. They had me do a teach and then a play through that they recorded live. That’s one way to learn how to play. I get messages or pictures from people all over the world playing it and they all bought it in Germany the day it was released. In Japan, their actual culture of over fishing the waters came out in the board game.

Are you a man of faith and do you believe God deposited this in your brain?

Absolutely. I was a pastor for 10 years before I went to work for the city of Morgan City. I became a pastor while I was in the military. I was in the U.S. Army eight years and I loved it, but my children were 2 and 4 years old when I got out. It was a matter of putting my family first. Then I got out and started in the oil business and saw my family less. Three years into that, I got the chance to make a lot less money working for my city government but I was home at night and on the weekends. I was able to coach my kids in sports, whatever, like developing these games. I’m not smart enough to come up with this on my own, it literally came to me in a dream. The publisher came to me — my favorite game publisher and the most prestigious one in the world. Captains of the Gulf had a limited printing of 1,000 units. When the convention started, it sold out in 12 hours. The rest of the convention they had the tables set up and people were playing the game. Things don’t work this way. Crescent City Cargo could come out sooner, but he wants to time it for a specific convention. Having a game come out then is tantamount to winning an award. He wants all my games to come out that way.

Do you play a lot of different games?

We budget a certain amount each payday to buy new games. Our thing is I grew up poor and I knew what games meant in our family. I got to know this family on Facebook that plays board games as a way to keep their financial situation from their daughters. They don’t have cable or electronics, they play board games as a family. We gave them a game and now another guy found out about them and are ordering them games on Amazon. My son and I were playing a game for Father’s Day and he asked me if all of my games were going to be about Louisiana and I told him, I can’t help that. I started one about the Spanish American War, but I got burned out before I finished it. With the Louisiana theme games they take over my heart and soul and just come out. Captains of the Gulf came out in October and I get messages of people that have played it 20 times in six months. That’s unheard of with most board games.

“ Whatever you do,

work at it with all your heart,

as working for the Lord,

not for human masters.”

— Colossians 3:23

New International Translation