Gaming is more than just fun, it’s education at its finest
What is Enrichment Gaming (EGP)?
EGP is a mentorship-based enrichment program that uses tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons to teach social and emotional skills.
Participants develop empathy, resilience, creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking.
Professionally trained Educator-Game Masters lead groups of 3-5 players through immersive stories that promote problem-solving and character development in a way that maximizes growth—and fun!
EGP participants immerse themselves in an ongoing experience of playing a heroic character who is also part of an ensemble team, where every hero has a set of valuable specialties, and all are necessary to succeed in the game.
Through the safe and supportive context of weekly game sessions with their cohort, participants learn transferable skills and strategies to understand, engage with and transcend real-life challenges.
What Do EGP Participants Learn?
Respectful communication with peers and adults
How to collaborate with others as part of a team
Empathy for others who are different than them
Creative problem-solving in challenging situations
How to respond with resilience and equanimity when the unexpected happens, or something doesn’t go their way
How to take turns and share the spotlight
That their actions have consequences not only for themselves but for others, and to value the good of the group
Why Role-Playing Games?
Role-playing games encourage players to cooperatively create a story where everyone matters—with just enough excitement and uncertainty to make it fun!
Role-playing games also allow players to try on new identities and social roles as they direct their individual characters’ paths through the story.
Every EGP session provides practice in collaborating with each other, and the Educator-Game Master as players solve problems, overcome obstacles and explore new ideas.
Who Should Participate?
All youth ages 8-18 are welcome in our Enrichment Gaming Program.
Adult games are available as part of our Party and Team Building packages—click here for more information.
TGA particularly welcomes and celebrates neurodivergent, differently-abled and non-binary/LGBTQ+ participants.
If you have specific concerns about your participant or have questions about what group might be the best fit for them, please contact us at enrollment@thegameacademy.org, and we will be happy to discuss your situation!
How Does It Work?
Participant students join us once a week at various locations (either online or in-person) for a game session of either 2 or 4 hours in length.
Each gaming group has a ratio of no more than five participants to one trained Educator-Game Master (EGM) who directs the sessions and facilitates collaborative storytelling activities.
At the beginning of the term, the EGM provides suggestions and choices for the type of story (e.g., fantasy, sci-fi, mystery) and game systems (e.g., D&D, Pathfinder, Cypher, FATE) that are available to play, and then each gaming group decides together what kind of story and rule-system they are interested in playing over the term.
Beginning players are taught the basics of role-playing and the specific rules of the game system by both the Educator-Game Master and their more experienced peers.
During the sessions, the Educator-Game Master “narrates” the overall story and encounters that arise, and players decide how their characters will respond. Whether they are exploring sunken shipwrecks, driving off invading monsters, or brokering interstellar relations, players engage in fun, collaborative storytelling which focuses on the social and emotional development of participants while simultaneously presenting academic content as desired.
Some days, players take a break from the game to spend time developing individual or group projects about either their specific game or the general subject of role-playing games, including but not limited to: artistic projects, game design, world-building, and adventure ‘modules’ or side quests.
We also encourage players who want to learn how to Game Master to develop and practice those skills during “guest GM” sessions with their group.
We also offer specific enrichment classes geared towards helping experienced gamers level up to become excellent game masters, by teaching the basics (preparation, table management, character design, player immersion, managing encounters, etc.) and giving tips/strategies and materials to streamline gameplay mechanics and ensure a smooth, functioning game with maximum player investment and immersion. If this sounds like something in which you are interested, please check out our Fundamentals of Game Mastering courses (one for adults and one for youth). The adult course is part of a series of Game Master Training and Certification courses, allowing you to become a certified Game Master through The Game Academy!
Who Are TGA’s Educator-Game Masters?
TGA’s Educator-Game Masters (EGMs) are professional educators, game developers, game industry insiders, and behavioral specialists with decades of gaming experience.
TGA staff have developed and/or implemented programming and/or curriculum in partnership with the National Science Foundation, UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan, the Marin County Teacher’s Association, and a wide array of public and private schools.
All EGMs undergo a training process that orients them to TGA’s educational philosophies and best practices around running tabletop role-playing games for our community of participants. These EGMs are encouraged to constantly strive toward improving their skills and methods, and they meet regularly with both their peers and our leadership team to share and discuss both challenges and successes at their respective gaming tables.
How Much Does It Cost?
Our Enrichment Gaming Program uses term pricing rather than individual class pricing. Each Enrichment Gaming Program term runs for a period of 12 weeks, during which we guarantee a minimum of 10 sessions.
If you sign up before the term starts, the cost is $450 (for 2-hour classes) or $900 (for 4-hour classes).
If you register after the term begins, we will prorate your classes at the full-term rate ($45 or $90 per session).
Attendance and refunds policy:
Due to our term pricing structure, you will not be credited for individual missed sessions. If a participant must drop out at the beginning of a term, please get in touch with us at enrollment@thegameacademy.org to discuss whether a partial refund is warranted.
For families with financial hardship:
We are committed to offering a limited number of partial scholarships for participants in our youth programs, depending on the need of the applicant and the current level of our scholarship fund. We desire to refuse no youth participant due to inability to pay, and we will do whatever we can to help. If you are interested in applying for a scholarship, please get in touch with us at enrollment@thegameacademy.org to receive a scholarship application.