For long stretches of time you have to be alert. You need to be ready for anything. Stress levels are high dealing with the realities of everyday life on a military base in a foreign country. But gaming during downtime offers a social experience to relax, have fun, and offer some mental escape for a few hours.

One gaming group in Afghanistan is having a great time playing the trading card game Shadow Era during their downtime. Mathew Zerbe from Utah is a civilian contractor in Afghanistan who is bringing his love for gaming to both civilians and military personal there. He knows firsthand how stressful the military life can be and what a needed escape a gaming group can offer.

Growing up, Zerbe loved playing trading card games and board games. While in the Air Force from 2006 to 2012, Zerbe was deployed to Iraq. Often both civilian and military personal would be stuck in the passenger terminal waiting for flights. Having games on hand, he would share them with different units to help them pass the time. Word soon got out and people started to go to him to see if there were any new games to test out. At the end of 2012, Zerbe came to Afghanistan with a civilian company. Not finding any gamers in FOB Sharana, he turned to his Android tablet for entertainment. “I gave Shadow Era a try. I played around and I was in love. I think the resource management system is one of the best in all of gaming. The simple choice of which card to turn into a resource is one of the most complex choices. Also, each card is unique and not a single card ever felt boring,” explains Zerbe. Now at FOB Bagram with some new physical Shadow Era cards, a new gaming group is flourishing under his leadership.