METRO SEATTLE GAMERS

A place to explore games in depth...

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other reasons to join

You may have interest in joining Metro Seattle Gamers for any of the following reasons:

You want more space to play the games that interest you.
You want more time to play the games that interest you.
You want more privacy in the space where you play games.
You require a central location to enable your players to meet as a group.
You dislike the uncertainty or lack of control when playing games at other venues.
You are looking for players who might play less commonly played titles.
You are looking for more experienced players.
You want the games that you play to be visible on a regular basis to the community.
You want to socialize in an environment that is just about playing games.
You are tired of running between venues and want to hang your coat in one place.
You prefer to use your own space for more private uses…or you have cats.

Whatever your reasons, we hope that you will come by to pay us a visit. Newcomers are very welcome!

ABOUT THE CLUB

Metro Seattle Gamers is not a store or a restaurant: we are one of a small number of self-supporting game clubs in the world.

The venue should serve the gamers. Our club was founded on the recognition that the environment in which a game is played can determine how a game is played or even whether a game is played. Our members want more freedom to focus on and study the games that we are playing. Rather than accept the limitations and subtle incentives of other venues (stores, restaurants, conference spaces), our members choose to take responsibility: we pay our own way to play the games that we want to play in the way that we want to play them.

Taking responsibility allows our members to have amenities not found in most other venues: more space, more time, privacy, live game storage, a game library, media aids for play, and more. Many of these features also allow less commonly played games to be visible, and playable. For all of these reasons, we believe that our club's capabilities serve to complement those of other game venues in the Seattle area.

Metro Seattle Gamers is also a social hub for our members. It is valued as a center for friendships, both over and away from the table.

CLUB HISTORY

Metro Seattle Gamers has two parents: Dragonflight and the University Simulation Gaming Association (SGA), the latter of which met at the University of Washington. The current Dragonflight organization was started in 1981 to continue the Dragonflight annual conventions and to promote the hobby generally. The SGA started in 1979: it was a registered student organization that met for long hours of gaming in a conference room on Saturdays and held shorter sessions during the week in an office in the Husky Union Building (HUB). Dragonflight and its convention predate Metro Seattle Gamers by about ten years; the convention and the club are separate divisions of Dragonflight.

During the early years of Dragonflight, the SGA provided a large percentage of the game events and staff for the convention. In time, the HUB became prohibitively expensive for a campus gaming club to use, so in 1990 members of the SGA asked the Dragonflight Board of Directors to consider sponsoring a game club to serve the Seattle area.

In October 1990, the first Metro Seattle Gamers was opened in Ballard at 1139 Northwest Market Street.
In June 2007, Metro Seattle Gamers moved to its second location at the Interbay Business Center, 1600 West Armory Way.
In June 2017, Metro Seattle Gamers moved to its third location at the Nickerson Marina Building, Suite 200D.
In May 2019, we moved upstairs to Suite 301.

The club has seen its share of trends in gaming. Early in the club’s history Wizards of the Coast held one of its first organizational meetings at MSG (note: we never had any formal affiliation with WotC). The 90’s at the club saw Magic, LAN gaming, experimental wargaming, lots of Titan, and the early beginnings of Euro gaming. Since the turn of the century, we saw considerably more Euro gaming, some rail gaming. Now we are seeing a resurgence in wargaming, long and complex Euros, and role-playing games.

MSG's old location in Ballard
MSG's first location in Ballard.

MSG's second location in Interbay. We were in the wing directly behind the entrance.

MSG's newest location in the Nickerson Marina Building.

games playtested at msg

Games that have been designed by MSG members, or playtested at MSG include:

1914, Offensive A Outrance
Alien Frontiers
Atlantic Wall: D-Day to Falaise
Battleground: Kingdom

First Victories: Wellington vs Napoleon (Glory & Empire Series) *

Gallipoli 1915: Churchill's Greatest Gamble (Rifle & Spade Series)
Hitler's Reich
Hurtgen: Hell’s Forest
Illusions of Glory

Mons 1914: The Mad Minute (Rifle & Spade Series) *

Seljuk: Byzantium Besieged (Levy & Campaign Series) *

Star Fleet Battles
Throneworld
Totaler Krieg
Wings of the Motherland

* Titles with an asterisk are in the publication pipeline.

other self-supporting clubs

Metro Seattle Gamers is part of a small breed of self-supporting game clubs: clubs that ask their members to support the costs of providing space and other services. Below are a few clubs around the world that perform similar services. If you know of other such clubs, we would be happy to add them to this list:

Columbus Area Boardgaming Society (Columbus, OH)

Metropolitan Wargamers (New York, NY)

The St. Helens Wargaming Society (St. Helens, Merseyside, UK)

Tin Soldiers of Antwerp (Hoevenen, BE)

Verne & Wells (Kirkland, WA)

A self-supporting game club can provide a very liberating gaming experience. If one is in your area we hope that you will patronize it.

This is a good spot to place your secondary navigation gadget, like Navigation links, or Secondary menu.

The club is open when members are playing games, led by a key holder.

Our clubhouse is located at:

Nickerson Marina Building
Suite 301
1080 W Ewing Pl
Seattle, Washington

(206) 781-0047‬

Mailing address in on the Contacts page, although email is much faster than physical mail:

info@metroseattlegamers.org

Click here for more location and contact information.

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