Felicia Day’s Geek and Sundry have nominated March 30th to be International Tabletop Day and are asking gamers to support it.
Not sure? Here’s 10 reasons why it’s a good idea.
1. You’ll be supporting local businesses
This is a great chance for local businesses to attract gaming geeks into the store. This a chance for gamer geeks to demo tabletop games for themselves and persuade friends to add a game or two their collection.
There’s also a chance that tweets (hashtag #tabletopday) will be shared by the Geek and Sundry team. This is an excellent marketing opportunity for your local hobby store.
2. You’re supporting the games industry
Events like this help encourage gamers to try a new game. That’s a chance for a publisher or manufacturer to recruit new gamers. Once a gamer has invested in some core rules then the chances are there that they’ll buy accessories and supplements.
3. You’ll meet new gamers
Gamers often get together but that’s generally with established groups. What if you’re new to a city or you’re looking for a new player to your current group?
Reddit and groups like Roleplaying Games on Google+ are no strangers to “looking for group” posts. Tabletop Day should be a real life equivalent with word of mouth there to act as social media.
4. You’ll help the image of the hobby
Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton and the others have done the hobby great favours by making it more accessible to newcomers. Their work on YouTube and with fan bogs has helped ensure a new generation of gamer geeks still have time for tabletop games. International Tabletop Game is another key step in that work.
5. You could launch an event
March 30th, 2013 is the first International TableTop Day but it need not be the last. If this one is successful then we might end up with an annual, publisher backed, gaming festival that stretches across the globe.
6. You will help your local convention
Not got a local gaming convention? International TableTop Day might help you earn one. The event could showcase the native support for games in your city. If retailers and enterprising gamers see that there are enough local fans then that might be all they need to launch a convention.
Already got a convention? Events like this help build buzz, fire up enthusiasm and help with networking. It might well be that at your local International TableTop Day that a famous RPG author agrees to come and demo their latest game at the convention.
7. You will help the sponsors
International TableTop Day has some impressive sponsors already; companies like Steve Jackson Games, Mayfair Games, Indie Boards & Cards, Days of Wonder and Asmodee. These companies are vital parts of the gaming ecology and by taking part in the event you help ensure these sponsors get value for their sponsorship money.
8. You might find your new addiction
With so many new games coming out (thanks Kickstarter!) it can be hard finding the next big game of your life. International TableTop Day may well help solve that problem; it’s a chance to discover what fellow geeky gamers are recommending but to try them out for yourself.
9. You could build the local gamer community
International TableTop Day isn’t restricted to shops and clubs. It’s entirely possible for you to use your own flat, university or favourite coffee shop (with permission!) to run a game on the 30th. If you do so then you’ll be the one who brought all the local gamers together. You’ll instantly become a key member of the local gamer community.
10. You get to be part of Geek and Sundry
As Felicia Day says in the video – this is a chance to have a little of Geek and Sundry in your own life. It would be cool to have photograph tweets from your tabletop game shared by some of the internet’s most famous gamers.
Share your views in the comment thread below.
