The San Francisco Bay Area is home to some of the most passionate creators in tabletop gaming, surrounded by a dedicated community of playtesters and event organizers.

To better support our community, we've brought together some of the most active organizers and local groups under the umbrella name of Golden Gate Gamemakers. We hope to be a strong community resource that goes beyond what each of us can do alone.

This is not a new group, but a consolidation of our many existing groups and smaller events. Altogether, the communities that comprise the Golden Gate Gamemakers are currently running 12 events every month that serve hundreds of game designers and players. Now, instead of a tangled network of Facebook groups and Meetup pages, we can focus our combined efforts on one group per platform, with a single centralized calendar. A central organization will help all of us to more easily reach new designers and playtesters.

Our vision is to foster a stronger regional identity as a hotbed of tabletop game design and raise the profile of all designers in the San Francisco Bay Area on a national stage. We hope to provide educational resources, mentorship for creators, and establish connections between local gamemakers and local retailers.

Board game playtesting events will always be at the core of our community, but we also want to expand the types of events and designers we support. If you are a store owner, passionate playtester, or a creator working on a board game, card game, tabletop RPG, miniatures game, or escape room then we want to be a resource that is here to help you!

If you would like Golden Gate Gamemakers to support your local event for tabletop designers, or are interested in getting involved as an organizer, please reach out to us.

- The Golden Gate Gamemakers

John Brieger, Bernie Lin, Eliot Miller, John Velgus, Chris Solis, Amanda Sabolish, Ronald Melencio, Mark Schynert, Bree Woodward, Scott Caputo, Michael Dunsmore, Phillip Schwarzmann, Jim McCollum, Jordan Nichols, Randy Angle, Theresa Duringer, John Furth, Glenn Cotter