I'm an awkward guy. Rough way to start a business pitch, but it's the truth. 

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In high school, I struggled to connect with peers or build meaningful community. Terms like "introvert," "socially anxiety," and "over-achiever" were ways of excusing my loneliness as a personality trait. But in reality, I just didn't have a good medium to connect with other people who shared my interests.

 

And I wasn't alone. Research shows that in 2021, almost 2-in-3 young adults in the U.S. felt lonely "frequently," "almost all the time," or "all the time." The rate was especially high among adults, 63 percent of which exhibited diagnosable symptoms of anxiety and depression. These young adults enter times of transition -- going to college for the first time, starting a new family, or moving away for a new job -- and lose the support structure of family and close friends. We're comfortable in isolation, so the awkwardness of making friends easily becomes a barrier preventing us from reforging those fulfilling relationships. 

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For me, the solution came with tabletop games. Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering were amazing mediums to connect with others with something to talk about, but they were expensive and complicated. I knew there had to be a better way. A game that anyone could learn and use to invite others to play. Then, by playing together, anyone could make friends and build a regular community of weekly gamers. 

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My first solution is the Basic and Generic (BaG) tabletop RPG. BaG RPG launched on Kickstarter in 2020 as a modular, generic tabletop RPG system anyone could start with quickly, and gradually learn over time. Over 250 backers around the world brought the game to life, and recognized the same need I did. Two expansions later, BaG continues to grow and sell as an inexpensive way to tell stories with new friends. 

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More recently, I've doubled down on the community aspect of Hoodwink Games and released Starset: The Great Dimming, an RPG focused on finding hope in the grimdark future. With over 570% of its funding goal, Starset rocketed past expectations on Kickstarter and created a global launch. The game's rich lore and unique, story-based character creation knits players together into a close crew, forced to rely on one another for survival. The universe's living lore is open for anyone to contribute to, allowing the system to evolve as our community feeds it with their own exciting adventures! 

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Today, Hoodwink Games serves members across the globe in six continents, in over 20 countries. As one podcaster said, the sun never sets on the Hoodwink Empire. We hope you'll join us as we seek to find every lost soul and pull them back into deep friendships again.