A new trading card game has come to Lebanon County, and interested locals have the chance to test it out.
Arcade Battle Cards was created by Eric MacFaline, 35, who lives in Myerstown with his wife and two children. MacFaline owns Holey Truth Body Arts LLC, 748-750 Willow St., and serves on the Lebanon Family Health Services board of directors.
The longtime Lebanon County resident is involved in numerous community initiatives and has created a new opportunity for individuals with shared interests to gather — through Arcade Battle Cards.
“I wanted to make something that created a really safe and fun environment for people. A game that invokes conversation. Something that is competitive but has a really easy learning curve,” MacFaline said.
MacFaline, who has a background in playing games and video games, has been working on the trading card game for the past 14 or 15 months.
The biggest change since its original form? “Originally, the game had no theme,” MacFaline said. “It was just me, all of the enemies and power-ups and all of that. There was no rhyme or reason to it. Until, eventually, I said, ‘You know what? I love video games. Let’s theme this after video games.’ It’s something that a lot of people really enjoy.”
Another aspect of Arcade Battle Cards that differentiates it from other trading card games is its price — or lack thereof, as it’s completely free to play.
“Unlike other card games, we put out all of our files,” MacFaline said. “Everything is available that people can print out their own cards at home. And we allow people to bring those in to play.”
The video game-themed trading card game made its official debut in the evening of Nov. 2 at the Lazer Factory, 211 Piper Circle.
“I was really, really happy with the way that went,” MacFaline said. “Subsequent events at the Lazer Factory have also been amazing because they’re an incredible host. They’ve been so good to us and to our people.”
Organized play events are held every other Thursday, with the most recent one held on Dec. 28, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Lazer Factory.
During organized play events, playtesters play the trading card game and give MacFaline feedback on what they like and don’t like about the experience. So far, specific feedback has included how quickly the game can be learned and that the game can be enjoyed by youth and adults alike.
“I’m really grateful to [playtesters], all of the people that have been helping us out to create such a fun game and a fun scene,” MacFaline said.
Since its debut, the game has been positively received by the public, with people traveling from other states and virtually reaching out from other countries.
“Someone came from Virginia. They brought their kid up,” MacFaline said. “We’ve had people all over the world, have been reaching out, trying to get cards from us, which I’m really happy about. I’ve got collectors from Dubai to Japan.”
MacFaline also noted the rarity of the opportunity for Pennsylvanians to help develop a trading card game, as many are developed in other areas.
“I’m going to make sure that when the game is in large production that it stays in Pennsylvania,” MacFaline said. “I want to give Pennsylvanians those jobs of creating and shipping that out, too.”
Also in looking towards the future, MacFaline hopes to expand the organized play events to numerous locations and encompass a variety of activities.
“We do have a couple different businesses in the area that would like to host events,” MacFaline said. “So, the Complete Martial Arts Club in Hershey wants to have an event. And for that event, we’ve designed some kind of … it’s a fighting game type enemy, that they’ll get to face off against.”
MacFaline closed by saying, “Please come out. Give it a chance. We’re sure you’re going to love it. We haven’t had anybody who hasn’t liked it yet.”
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