Leveling Up Social Advocacy Skills: Game, Connect, Grow!

Game On Youth is a unique table top gaming group designed to help participants make friends while learning new board games and valuable social skills in the process.

Game On Youth is a safe space for participants to:

• Build connections with other like-minded youth
• Practice social advocacy skills such as "reading the room," considering others' thoughts/feelings, self-advocating in a group, and cooperative problem solving
• Have fun in a relaxed, casual setting without feeling judged for things such as stimming, hyperfocus on singular topics, or overstimulation

While we do not require a diagnosis to participate in this non-therapeutic group, most of our participants are neurodivergent and have diagnoses of Autism, ADHD, and/or social anxiety.

Game On will be most appropriate for kids who are able to independently function in a classroom, but might need moderate support in socializing with others. While they can carry on a conversation, the topics may be narrow or their interactions may seem "odd" to people who are neurotypical. Your child should be able to follow most directions independently and learn new games with demonstration, visuals, or verbal assistance.

We are happy to announce that Zulu's Board Game Cafe in Bothell will be allowing us to use their facilities this year! They are a great local company who wholeheartedly support our mission to help participants make meaningful social connections while building up a love of board gaming! They also have a great selection of food you can order on club day!

• Opening - participants gather and engage in casual conversations as everyone arrives
• Teaching - participants learn 1-2 new board games a week. These include both competitive and cooperative games such as 7 Wonders, CodeNames, Cascadia, Azul, The Mind, Unstable Unicorns and SpaceTeam.
• Playing - participants play the board games they learned with support from an adult leader to clarify any game rules. Check out what we've played!
• Closing - participants provide feedback on what they liked or didn't like about the games they played. This feedback is taken into account when the following week's games are chosen. Time permitting, this is also a great time to continue casual conversations and other age appropriate activities (such as trading Pokemon cards and Minecraft/Roblox screen names!)

All of our groups are currently facilitated by Brandi, a former special education teacher, licensed behavior analyst (both at the national and state level), and tabletop game aficionado. You can read more about her on the About Us page.

Game On Youth meets once a week for 1-1.5 hours each meeting. 

We run groups in 2 month cycles which allows for flexibility for families who may want to temporarily stop attending for school sports and activities then resume at a later date.

Our class fees vary depending on the group format, meeting length, and the number of participants we can accommodate. For example, our Tabletop Gaming Groups can welcome more participants than our Role-Playing Game (D&D) Groups, which are designed for smaller, more immersive game play.

All fees are billed on a 2-month cycle to simplify scheduling and planning. To see current class offerings and exact pricing for each group, please click the links below.

We believe every child should have access to our programs, regardless of financial circumstances. Hardship discounts are available for a variety of reasons, and we welcome all families with any level of need to apply. After selecting a group and completing the registration forms, you can click the link provided in the "Hardship agreement" policy to request a fee reduction to be applied prior to making your payment.