WELCOME TO THE NONPROFIT WORLD. Capital Campaign is a board game simulating nonprofit operations, created by local James Peters. (Photos via Capital Campaign's website)

A board game with an unusual theme, Capital Campaign was designed and developed by Lake Hallie resident James Peters, a four-year endeavor that will be celebrated at an upcoming release party.

The board game may not be for the newbie gamer due to its intricacies, but anyone can take a whack at it at the release party held at Lazy Monk Brewing from noon-6pm on Saturday, May 13.

So what’s the game all about? Peters has worked in the nonprofit world for more than a decade, and he came up with a nonprofit-themed game about five years ago after becoming immersed in the board-gaming craze that’s developed over the past few decades in the U.S.

“A friend of ours introduced us to modern board gaming many years ago, and I was immediately hooked,” Peters said. “At some point, I started to develop ideas for my now board game based on some traditional Eurogaming mechanics. It was shortly after that I realized how strongly a nonprofit theme fit within these mechanisms; it honestly started to develop itself.”

The game simulates operating a nonprofit organization, moving players through fundraising to volunteer recruitment to event planning, all within a fun and challenging structure. Suitable for two to four players, the game is estimated to run four about two hours and is suggested for folks 12+ years old. 

As described on the Capital Campaign website:

"Capital Campaign is a heavy worker placement/tableau-building game featuring variable abilities, unique worker roles, a rapidly-escalating scale of play, and many paths to victory. The signature mechanism that drives the game is gathering and planning out your resource management within a limited number of turns before they are gone and you start the next year fresh. Capital Campaign allows players to immerse themselves in a deep, rich world of philanthropy and doing the most good to come out on top."

Peters initially tested the game locally before accessing a larger community of game designers at live events, where he was able to aggressively playtest it. “It has been playtested over 200 times between local, regional, national, and online play testing communities,” he said.

In 2021, Peters brought Capital Campaign to the Stonemaier Games 2021 Design Day, where it was voted a Top 10 game.

Select limited-edition versions of Capital Campaign will be available for purchase at the release party. The game is Wisconsin-made by Game Crafter, a Madison-based manufacturer, and also has its own website where folks can watch a sample game to gain a better feel of how it works.

Visit Capital Campaign’s website to learn more about it, view a video of a game in action, and more.