From our earliest school days to our current nine-to-fives, we’re conditioned to work first and play later. The underlying message is clear: Until serious tasks have been completed, fun and enjoyment are off the table.
Joseph Kemp, © Chris Clark / Courtesy of Games that Matter
Joseph Kemp, founder and CEO of Games That Matter, experienced this firsthand, amid the grueling process of studying for the bar exam. But enduring the slog sparked an idea, one that his company is now taking to the masses through its flagship product, Disbarred: The Card Game. What if you could incorporate having fun into the learning process and—even better—the outcome?
“It’s a hard process of sitting there for two months studying every single day for a test that you need to practice law,” Kemp says. “And I said, ‘I wish there was a fun way that we could play with friends to really learn this material.'”
Disbarred, which was released last December, uses scenarios, rapid-fire questions, true/false prompts and questions that spark debate to bring knowledge to players without them even realizing it.
“I believe fun is essential to learning because learning can be fun and are usually not synonymous,” Kemp says. “However, the gamification of learning has been proven to have lasting effects. People not only learn by doing but learn better with engaging content.”
As they play Disbarred, players will pick up high-level knowledge in more than 10 areas of law—including criminal law, torts, constitutional law, contracts and landlord/tenant law.
“We included everyday scenarios that people face so players can get tools they could use in real life,” Kemp says. “We also included a lot of legal pop culture references that will make the game much more dynamic.”
Disbarred is not just for lawyers. Kemp wanted to expand the audience because he believes these are topics that everyone can benefit from knowing.
“I am a first-generation everything,” he says. “So I’ve seen how people get involved with the law, not knowing their rights, having inadequate representation, for example, and how those things can really steer people’s lives south if you just don’t know essential things that you should know.”
From Side Hustle to Full-Time Founder
Kemp set aside his idea following law school graduation and began work as a startup and venture capital attorney. After learning he’d passed the bar, he revisited creating a game to help with exam preparation. He fielded the concept with his co-founder, another lawyer, and vetted it with other legal and gaming professionals.
“We’re taking things from our background as well as what we learned in law school and our practice,” Kemp says.
Kemp quit his corporate job after a year and a half to focus on building Disbarred. Before turning your side hustle into a full-time gig, he recommends waiting until the project gets busier and you start to see the numbers grow.
“You have to also have a plan in terms of, ‘OK, we’re here, but things need to scale also. So what does that look like? Should I hire somebody before I quit or do I save up some money and then figure that out?'”
In 2024, Kemp crowdfunded the game on Kickstarter, raising over $10,000 to make his idea a reality. He and his co-founder then spent the next year finalizing and preparing for the official launch. This included marketing on social media, pursuing promotional opportunities, such as Kemp appearing on a business competition reality television show, and cold outreach to game stores to get Disbarred in more hands.
Kemp is also developing a companion app to Disbarred that he describes as Heads Up! meets Duolingo. He says it will offer the fun and pop culture of the physical game, along with opportunities for users to experience deeper learning.
“You’ll be able to select certain legal topics to dive into, and we aim to build partnerships with test prep companies and law schools to gamify learning for [more general] exams and exams like the bar,” he says.
Kemp felt confident in his legal and gaming knowledge, having played video games since age 3, but soon discovered building his own company required new skill sets. So in addition to querying ChatGPT, he also sought mentorship from industry veterans in the legal, education and gaming fields.
“I am a new entrant to the gaming industry, essentially as a founder, not as a consumer,” he says. “So... connecting with the folks in the industry has been super helpful for me to get to the next stage, and they’ve been very supportive and welcoming.”
Playing with Purpose
While the mission of Games That Matter is to equip the public with essential knowledge in a fun way, Kemp also integrated a charitable component into the company by giving back a portion of its proceeds to organizations supporting aspiring attorneys in need.
“Some of [them are] the same organizations that have helped me and my co-founder kind of get to where we are today,” he says.
Games That Matter donates copies of Disbarred to organizations that help aspiring attorneys, as well as know-your-rights organizations. They also award an annual scholarship to one pre-law student to help with law school admissions and to one law student for career mentorship.
Kemp says success with Disbarred will be twofold—he wants people to have fun playing the game and to support organizations that are working to equalize the playing field in the legal profession.
“Those two prongs are our real successes,” he says. “Building community through play while people are learning and then having an impact on organizations that are doing good work to positively impact the world and country.”
In the future, Kemp wants to expand distribution of Disbarred and create games that center around the business and medical fields. He credits his past and any future success to his hustling skills.
“You just got to keep going,” he says. “And it’s not easy. It’s totally not easy, and it’s not fun. But the rewards are fruitful in the end because, again, I’ve realized as I keep hustling, things do come to fruition at a certain time.”
Featured image by Munthita/Shutterstock
This article was first published in the March/April 2026 issue of SUCCESS Magazine. Get your copy here.
