A historic reference to the pieces used in a game known as Knucklebones. There are many stories about how games impact human behavior presently as well as historically and Knucklebones’ story is simply one cool one that inspires a potential belief that we may actually need play for our long-term survival.

Brett A McCall is a geek with a community leadership degree. Over 3 decades Brett has studied  Games, Game Design, Storytelling, Transmedia, Sustainability, Power, Freedom, Influence, Electronics, Computer Science, Physics, Business and Marketing. Peace is his top priority and active engagement with the community is his key strategy, which is how he landed in making and playing games.

In 1983, Brett’s introduction to video games transformed a mild curiosity into wild obsession with electronic intelligence and virtual reality. He competed and mastered multiple games through the next 15 years as well as the study of computer science and programming. The most interesting games for him were the ones that allowed for head to head competition, specifically sports and war games. Strategy involving a deep understanding of the rules has always draws Brett into the mechanics of each game he plays.
He learned to program in Basic when he was 11 years old (1986) and disassembled his Dad’s IBM XT when he was 12.
Voted Most-Talented and Most-likely-to-take-his-laptop-to-the-Prom by the same class of 1993!!

After graduating High School and setting a college path for a degree in Computer Engineering, Brett departed the mainland to spend 11-months on foreign exchange in Budapest, Hungary. Leaving his laptop behind Brett dove into books, people and culture. Discovering his love for story and a newfound passion for the sport of Ultimate Frisbee, Brett’s return presented more challenges than expected and he chose a different academic focus in Community Leadership.
Brett has started multiple companies and has chaired multiple organizations. Today, Brett is the Executive Director for TEDxAsheville, the Design and Technology discipline head for HATCH and he coaches Soccer and Ultimate in the region.

In the 4th quarter of 2010, Brett decided to shift gears in a major way! Asking difficult questions like “What is my Purpose?”, he launched into a process of introducing play into every area of his life. From family chores and going to bed on time, to career development and meeting new people, Brett created more than 30 games that engaged more than 200 people by the end of the year.
One of the most influential games he created, called “the Rules of Engagement”, Brett practiced the art of the Journal with his friends, mentors and colleagues. In the process, he realized the way people were choosing to interact inspired a new pursuit into a series of projects that made gaming a way of influencing mass amounts of people. A strong desire to connect game mechanics that actually engage people in making real change in the world is how Brett started SheepsKnuckles!!