Tabletop and card game retailers are unionizing

This push to unionize games workers mirrors the current labor movement’s momentum. With more workers filing union election petitions with the National Labor Relations Board, 2022 saw an increase in their ability to organize their jobs. And it’s not just making headlines; the data supports the surge, too. According to the NLRB 2,510 petitions for union representation were filed between October 2021-September this year. This is 53% more than last year. And the moment isn’t just about digital shops. There is a growing desire to unite in the tabletop business.

Cards Against HumanityIn 2020, workers from the studio with the same name were granted the right to form their union. Soon afterward, workers from Pathfinder publisher Paizo received the same rights. Companies like Noble Knight Games, Mox Boarding House and Card Kingdom are expanding the tabletop and card game industry into warehouses and retailers.

Photo: Charlie Hall/Polygon

“The gaming industry is kind of a dangerous industry in that it’s work of passion,” Devin Zebertavage, Noble Knight Games digital media specialist, told Polygon. “We do it because we love it. And it’s that perfect storm for any employer who wants to take advantage of their workforce.”

A second Noble Knight Games employee, who asked to speak anonymously, continued: “The tabletop industry is exciting, and it’s fun. I think employers count on that when they offer us wages that aren’t in line with the responsibilities that we’re being asked to have. We love our company. We are passionate about the industry. That’s why we’re [here]. We just think that our expertise and our talent deserves better wages, better benefits, and a better working environment.”

Noble Knight Games is an online retailer of tabletop and board games. They are now the most recent to apply for a union vote at the NLRB. In addition to better pay and environment, workers told Polygon that sick days aren’t a thing at Noble Knight. “It’d be nice to get some of those,” Zebertavage said. “Our PTO is already pretty scant.”

The group, called Noble Knight Games United, filed its petition on Oct. 31 after “years” of prep work, looking to cover an estimated 70 employees who support a physical and online retail store, offices, and warehouse. Zebertavage stated that there has been talk of unions for many years. However, Communications Workers of America joined the fray in May. CWA, for its part, has been a major driving force at video game union shops and has been pushing into tabletop and card gaming, too — unifying digital and tabletop gaming in the shared labor struggle.

Noble Knight leadership denied the union’s requestIt was not supported by 70% of workers, but voluntary recognition. In the days since that request, Noble Knight has hired a “union avoidance” law firm called National Labor Relations Advocates. The lawyer hired lists his services as helping companies “besieged by union threats and harassment stand up and fight back.” On its blog, the firm provides tips to “maintain control” of a business, referring to unionization as an “attack.” Another blog post considers whether union organizing or COVID-19 is the bigger threat to companies, calling COVID-19 a “temporary pain” while union organizing is a “long-term pain.” Noble Knight Games workers consider this move, hiring National Labor Relations Advocates, a union-busting attempt.

Polygon reached out to Noble Knight in order for comments.

Card Kingdom workers made up more than 100 people and were part of a union that was filed in May with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 3000. In July, they won their union elections. Card Kingdom is a Washington-based company that focuses on primarily the food industry. The Gathering: Magic and the Gathering cards — a collectible that increased dramatically in value during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Card Kingdom workers claimed that revenue reached a maximum in the last two years, without any increase in wages or benefits. This was on top of stressful work conditions and a dearth of safety regulations. cases of repetitive strain injuries.

In June, retail and service workers at Card Kingdom’s retail store and restaurant, Mox Boarding House in Bellevue, Washington, filed a petition to cover nearly 40 employees — also with CWA. In this petition, workers alleged the company has “poor retention of staff” due to low pay and unfair management practices. They’re looking for representation to “protect both ourselves and those who come after us,” workers wrote. As Card Kingdom workers, Bellevue Mox Organized Workers also won this year’s union vote.

Card Kingdom management told Polygon that it’s “welcomed” unions at both its Card Kingdom and Mox Boarding House, Bellevue locations; Card Kingdom is in negotiations now, while Mox Boarding House will enter bargaining soon after winning the vote on Aug. 30.

Mox Boarding House is unique because it spans a wide variety of roles — it’s a restaurant with a full kitchen, a board game cafe, and a retail store. It’s a huge space, with hundreds of board games to play and rent out, plus the shop and its The Gathering: Magic and the Gathering sales business. Cade Herrig, a retail sales associate at Mox, said employees got together and started talking about wages: “Most of us don’t make enough to cover rent by ourselves,” they said. “Most of us don’t get paid enough to make ends meet without having multiple roommates or second jobs or other income streams. It was a very basic mathematical question — we need to be getting more out of this to stay here comfortably.”

Herring stated that many of his staff were not qualified. wantsIt is a great place to work and live. There are many people who enjoy their work.

“Gaming, tabletop, board games […] it’s an industry of passion,” Herring said. “You see this on the video game side, too, with the instability in career choices and layoffs. Unionization is an incredibly important step towards protecting people and allowing them to work on their passions and work on what they deeply care about while still being able to make ends meet and put food on the table at the end of the day.”

Tabletop and card gaming workers are unionizing for the same reasons anyone else is — “better pay and working conditions, benefits, and having a collective voice on the job that meets with management as an equal,” UFCW 3000 communications director Anna Minard told Polygon. The push forward toward a unionized game industry, which includes tabletop and card gaming workers, is an important way to ensure so-called passion industry workers get “a powerful voice in the workplace so they can earn the compensation and respect everyone should get in exchange for their labor,” she said.