On March 20th, a contingent of Paizo staff visited the Washington State Capitol to run some games for state legislators and their staff. Logan Bonner and I received an invitation to the Legislative Game Day from the office of Steve Hobbs, our Secretary of State. Steve is a big nerd and recognizes that Washington state is the tabletop game capital of the world. When it comes to industry in this state, most people think of aerospace or agriculture. While those two sectors drive much of our state’s economy, you’d be remiss to sleep on the games industry, as Washington has the highest concentration of game companies in the country.
These Legislative Game Days bring together some of our state’s tabletop game companies, game stores, librarians, and others who use games in their work, such as using therapeutic gaming for veterans suffering from PTSD, youth programs, and those incarcerated in the state. Secretary Hobbs and his staff organize these events to get those in the games industry to sit down with state legislators and their staff so they can learn more about our industry, the games we make, and the concerns and challenges we have within our industry.
At this gathering, Logan and I were joined by Cosmo Eisele, John Compton, and Jenny Jarzabski. We had two tables set up running brief demos of both Pathfinder and Starfinder. I even brought Elemental Stones, but we were out of table space. We were joined by some of our friends at Green Ronin, Ravensburger, Wizards of the Coast, TinkerHouse Games, and Heart of the Deernicorn, as well as numerous local game stores like The Mystic Game Shop, Around the Table Games, and Mox, and other organizations such as Evergreen State College of Game Design. We were also able to make connections with others in the community, such as talking with the state library rep about how to better incorporate tabletop games into library collections and programming.
It was an evening of fun and camaraderie as we got to show off our games to lawmakers and their staff and to catch up with others in the industry. Events like these really help highlight not only the economic and community impact our companies have on the state, but also the importance of exporting fun to the rest of the world.
Adam Daigle
Director of Narrative
