Sunday School at Number One Main Road is a solo exhibition by artist, curator and writer Bob Bicknell-Knight, exploring predatory monetization practices within virtual experiences and the insertion of gambling mechanics into the majority of mainstream video games today. Sunday School interrogates how our everyday lives are becoming increasingly gamified, making connections between loot boxes in video games, gambling and how embedded Christianity is within the English school system.

As our physical lives are becoming increasingly gamified the game industry has, for almost twenty years, been inserting ways of gambling real world money into video games. From purchasing extra lives to play another level in Candy Crush to buying new cosmetic options for your guns in Call of Duty, spending money within video games has become increasingly prevalent.

One of the most prevalent and destructive forms of monetization are loot boxes, consumable virtual items that are bought within the game which can be redeemed to receive a randomised selection of further virtual items, ranging from simple customization options for a player's avatar or character to game-changing equipment such as weapons and armour. As the items are randomised players have previously spent thousands of pounds attempting to gain specific products in different games. These gambling mechanics have become widespread across the industry, with considerable harm being done to the most vulnerable players; children and people with gambling addictions. Loot boxes are now illegal in several countries, whereas recently the UK government decided that loot boxes will not be regulated under betting laws.

Bicknell-Knight grew up in the English countryside during the late 90s and early 2000s and attended a Church of England state school that, every morning, had assemblies where all the children would come together to start the day, read portions of the Bible and sing Christian hymns, regardless of their religious affiliation. The way Christianity is embedded within many state schools in England, with children’s perceptions being subtly distorted over the course of many years, is echoed in how loot boxes have become embedded within the majority of mainstream video games today, becoming normalised for children who have grown up with loot boxes having always been in their favourite games.

Sunday School sees the exhibition space at Number One Main Road being transformed into a colourful “play space”, inspired by the aesthetics of Sunday schools, educational spaces usually connected to a Christian church that provide catechesis to children and teenagers before a Sunday church service. The exhibition is an exploration of loot boxes in video games, how they have transformed and embedded themselves within the video game industry and the gamification of everyday life.