OLYMPIA – Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs will welcome librarians and library workers from across the state during an event on April 11 at the Washington Library Association Conference being held at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center.
Hobbs is hosting a Tabletop Taste Test session where librarians will be able to try out tabletop role playing games. The event, “WLA After Dark,” will start at 7:30 p.m. Multiple game genres will be represented, including role playing, world building, and storytelling. Game facilitators will be available to run games and answer questions.
“I have been a fan of tabletop games for most of my life, so I’m overjoyed to sit, have some fun with our librarians, and play some games,” Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said. “Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games provide players with fun and compelling ways, including therapeutic usages, to strategize and build relationships.”
Tabletop gaming in Washington libraries, a program that started in 2023 when Dungeons & Dragons library kits were delivered to more than 50 public libraries, aims to encourage personal and academic growth through gaming, collaboration with community partners, and creating and disseminating resources that benefit the TTRPG community.
“Libraries are valuable spaces for learning and gathering,” State Librarian Sara Jones said. “The expansion of tabletop role-playing game services will allow communities to explore topics in new, meaningful ways.”
Topics for gaming sessions at the libraries include personal and academic growth, gender identity through character creation, racism, power dynamics, and more. Library officials said tabletop gaming allows people to express their creativity, connect with people of diverse backgrounds, and improve their social and critical thinking skills, all while going on adventures and fighting dragons.
Washington’s tabletop industry generates more than $2 billion annually and includes many of the best-known tabletop game companies in the world including Wizards of the Coast and The Pokémon Company International.