What Is Go Play NW?

Founded in 2007, Go Play NW is a small TTRPG and board game convention focused on creating a welcoming atmosphere for playing fun games and making new friends right here in the Pacific Northwest.

We hold two events each year. Join us for fun games and new friends, online and in-person!

• Go Play NW Online, March 14 & 15 on our Discord
• Go Play NW Seattle Summer, July 24–26 at Seattle's Centilia Cultural Center

What is the Membership Drive?

First thing's first: the Membership Drive is your opportunity to get an Attending Membership at an early-bird price! An Attending Membership is your ticket to Go Play NW Seattle Summer. Get yourself a ticket, help us out, and save $30!

If you want to know a whole lot more, read on.

For us, the Membership Drive is when we collect the majority of our funding for the year. And that means we have a big baseline goal to reach: $12,000! That number covers the summer event venue, COVID safety supplies, and the administrative costs to operate for the year. It’s what we need just to hold the in-person event.

Beyond that baseline goal, more funding means more amenities, like the drinks cooler, the sound baffling drapes, the big poster map and schedule. We want to bring back the Zine Zone! And of course we want tents to keep our outdoor play tables comfortable.

Go Play NW is a social club—that means we’re funded by our members! We don’t have corporate sponsorships or government funding, and we’re limited in the donations we can accept. Your membership in Go Play NW enables us to hold our events—and because some of the major expenses, like reserving the venue, must be paid in advance, buying your 2026 membership now helps us be sure we can meet those expenses!

If you like minutia, especially tax minutia, you can read more below.

Here’s what that looks like for our 2026 membership drive:

Funding and Membership Goals

Funding Goals

• $12,000: Baseline goal
  • This covers the summer event venue, COVID safety supplies, and the baseline administrative costs to operate for the year.
• $13,000: Drink cooler
  • Help us make chilled refreshments available for free to all our attendees at the Seattle Summer event.
• $14,000: The Zine Zone and fun badges
  • We had so much fun at the Zine Zone last year! Help us bring the Zine Zone back by chipping in for the cost of pens, paper and printer ink. Plus, we'll spruce up your badge with fun graphics!
• $15,000: Sound baffling
  • Help us make our indoor space more accessible and pleasant with pipe and drape
• $16,000: Tents for the outdoor gaming areas.
  • Help us make the outdoor experience at Go Play NW Seattle Summer better for everyone!
• $17,000: Annual Budget Covered + Volunteer Support
  • Our full annual budget is fully covered! This is a huge weight off our shoulders. We’ll celebrate by buying snacks for the volunteers, and most importantly, sending you 1,000 hugs and kisses. Seriously, it would be amazing if we hit this goal during the Membership Drive.

Membership Goals

These include memberships at every level, so the more members, the merrier!

• 50 members: Go Play NW Online 2027
  • Help us cover the infrastructure and resources needed for the Online Event. Let's play more online games! (Join us for the 2026 Online Event!)
• 100 members: Big schedule and map!
  • When is your game? Where is your game? Help us make bigger and clearer graphics for navigating the Seattle Summer event!

Help Us Make Go Play NW Happen!

Memberships

Ready to show your support? Become a Supporting Member or Attendee Member! You can purchase memberships for others, as well!

• $25: Supporting Membership
  • Help Go Play NW go, even if you won’t be attending our in-person event! This is a great way to help support our free Online Event.
• $110: Attending Membership
  • Join us for the Seattle Summer event! This purchase grants you attendance for all three days of our in-person event, July 24–26.
  • You can purchase memberships for others, for example if you are purchasing an Attending Membership for someone you are attending with!
  • The price of Attending Memberships purchased after the Membership Drive will be $140.
• Feeling extra generous?
  • You can add on extra membership dues in $25, $100, $250, and $500 increments to give us even more support! We rely on these generous donations to make Go Plan NW happen.
  • We have also added an option to sponsor a scholarship and stiped for $200, to help reduce financial barriers and make it possible for more people to attend Go Play NW.

Add-ons

In addition to memberships, we've got some goodies! These cannot be shipped; they are only available for pickup at our in-person event.

• Sticker sheet: $30
  • Stickers are 6 unique designs each drawn by members of the GPNW community: Star, Brendan, Kate, Kona, Violet, and Sovanny!
• Shirt: $30
  • We know you crave niche, nerdy t-shirts, and what could be better than one that supports Go Play NW!?
  • Features a new design by Sovanny Vorn, screenprinted for us by the Vera Project.
  • The shirts will be black and available in sizes XS to 2XL.
• Sponsor an attendee: $200
  • Sponsor an attendee for the Go Play NW 2026 Summer in-person event! The funds from this add-on will be used to cover attendance for people who otherwise couldn't come, including a travel stipend.

Example sticker: "Go the Wood Nymphlet" sticker design by Kate Barbaria

Sneak peek! Shirt design by Sovanny Vorn. The final design will be revealed later during the Drive.

Other ways you can help

Volunteer

The generous support of our event and staff volunteers is what makes Go Play NW possible! Volunteering is a great way to meet new people or strengthen your connection to an event you love. Come and join us!

Want a free badge to Go Play NW? Volunteers signed up for 8 or more hours at a Go Play NW in-person event get a complimentary badge for the whole weekend!

Find out more about how to volunteer.

Spread the word

We love making new friends! Inviting more people to Go Play NW is a great way to make sure the event you love is even more fun. Both because your friends will be there, and because the more members we have, the more amenities we are able to provide.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

I just want a ticket to Go Play NW Seattle Summer, do I have to become a member?

The short answer is yes! If you buy an Attending Membership, your membership is the ticket!

Wait, why do I gotta be a member?

GPNW is a 501(c)(7) nonprofit social club. We have fancy documents that say so. This means that we’re funded by our members! This also means that we are, essentially, only funded by our members.

We’re tax-exempt for the purpose of a stated “recreational undertaking.” In our case, that undertaking is playing roleplaying games together. But there are rules about how we collect money for doing this—a nonprofit social club must be primarily supported by dues, fees, or similar charges paid by members.

And that’s why we’re asking you to become a member! So we can do a cool shared recreational undertaking (playing games). If you want to imagine that everywhere it says “Attending Membership” it instead says “ticket,” we can’t stop you ;).

Is this a recent change?

No, we just changed how we talk about it. We’re trying to be more clear, which also sometimes is more confusing! We appreciate you bearing with us.

Can I still attend if I can’t afford it?

Yes! We have scholarships for those who want to attend but can’t afford to. Check out our scholarship page for more information and an application link. Please don’t be shy about applying for a scholarship! We want you to attend!

If you don’t want to apply for a scholarship, and you don’t want to pay for a membership, you can also attend by volunteering! Find out more about how to volunteer.

Will I be able to buy a ticket later?

You will be able to buy Attending Memberships later, but you’ll have to pay a little more. Attending Membership prices will increase to $140 after the membership drive. Getting your memberships early is a big help to us, so we offer a discounted rate during the membership drive to thank you for signing up early.

If you won’t know whether or not you’ll be attending until the day of, or can only attend for a single day, we will have single-day and walk-in memberships available.

You can find details on all these different ways to get tickets on our Membership page.

Thank you

Go Play NW wouldn't happen without the support of our community every year. In addition to financial support, appreciate all the ways you show up for us: your time, attention, and enthusiasm. We can't thank you enough.