Results // Community Survey 003
Waystone’s Community Survey 003 wrapped up in August, and it’s already informed some new developments at the club!
If you’re new to this whole wargaming speakeasy thing, Community Surveys are how we ensure that the club keeps evolving with the interests and needs of our members, with most of the options and opportunities within the survey being community-generated.
Here are the big takeaways:
Takeaway #1 —
We feel the love.
Let’s start with the absolute most important thing:
According to the results of this survey, members feel overwhelmingly that Waystone is an amazing place to spend time and play games. Folks are finding new opponents, the reservation system is working well, and people are grateful for the new connections they’re making.
I really love being part of this community!
Keep doing what you’re doing! And thank you for asking for our feedback - it really helps the community feeling.
Takeaway #2 —
New hours + opening an additional day!
Remember back when the club was all "by reservation”? Last spring’s survey spurred us to establish dedicated hours and to reduce the cut-off time for making reservations to under 24 hours. Since then, Stefan and I have been working under the assumption that weekends would be the club’s most popular days. In fact, these 11-12 hour shifts on Saturdays and Sundays have turned out to be some of the quietest. It’s Wednesdays and Thursdays that are often booked out days in advance, and in Community Survey 003 folks indicated that they’d appreciate another weekday opportunity to get in for some games.
If you were to extend any hours, Monday and Tuesday evenings are the only time I’ve felt like I wanted to play but couldn’t.
We also saw that folks would love to be able get in on the weekend just a little bit earlier in the day. With all this in mind, in November we’re shifting weekend hours to open and close earlier, and taking the exciting step of opening an additional day (Tuesdays). This also means that we’ll have some new(ish) faces behind the bar, which is a huge step for the club, and something we’ve put lots of thought and conversation into. We’ll share more details in the following weeks.
Takeaway #3—
Folks love hobbying together.
Until recently, most club events have been limited to leagues and campaigns that are member-led, or open-ended special interest events such as Wednesday drop-in Kill Team Night. The survey showed us that a lot of members continue to appreciate events like these at the club, with Sunday Hobby Time being the event that most folks said they’d like to see continually supported.
Sgt. Kughii, who now oversees Waystone’s daycare for lost & found bits, started service as a demo marine, available for anyone to assemble for free at Sunday Hobby Time.
Community Survey 003 also illuminated that the community is interested in the idea of hobby-related workshops and classes. We’ve started to begin some conversations in the club Discord about potential workshops. We want to know what specific topics you all are interested in, from color theory to the very basics, so if there’s something you’d love to learn, let us know in the club Discord or via the Contact page!
Takeaway #4—
Waystone will support Planned Parenthood in Fall/Winter 2022
Since its inception, we’ve wanted Waystone to be a locus for making a collective community impact. In its first 6 months, our community contributed $500 to both the Trevor Project and the Ballard Food Bank. This was made possible by the club’s Community Amplifiers, individual donations, as well as special year-long membership offers that had a portion of the proceeds set aside specifically for charitable contributions.
In Community Survey 003, four charitable organizations were nominated by members for the club to support, including Extra Life, Seattle Recreative, and Planned Parenthood.
It was close, but Planned Parenthood was the most popular choice. Given recent attacks on reproductive rights for people all over the country, we’re proud that our club is choosing to take a stand to make reproductive healthcare more accessible for anyone who needs it.
Takeaway #5—
We want lounge upgrades and Waystone-branded stuff.
A significant portion of all revenue the club generates is set aside for evolving and improving the club. Based on suggestions and feedback in the survey, these are what we’re going to be investing in:
Continual development of club demo armies (a project since last survey).
Improving the seating at the club (another ongoing project)
Custom dice trays for sale and/or use at the club (the design process is already underway!)
A revamp of the lounge area to improve the experience of eating or hobbying in the space.
Custom Waystone glassware for use and/or sale at the club.
Other suggestions included offering some Waystone t-shirts. Thankfully, our farseers predicted this millenia ago, and a fresh batch is now available for purchase at the club!
Takeaway #6—
New Fall Menu, NA Drink Options, and food
We’re completely revamping our Fall drink menu, and Community Survey 003 informed some of the biggest changes.
Interestingly, our most popular request was for increased non-alcoholic options. You may have already seen me mixing some new NA spirits on Friday and Sunday nights, or even had me foist an experimental NA cocktail on you in response to the results flooding in. I’m particularly excited about the new NA Negroni. To me, a Negroni is an absolutely quintessential cocktail. Being able to offer something that cleaves to that timeless formula but which anyone can feel comfortable drinking at any time feels pretty momentous.
The new NA negroni.
Chilled moscatel sherry served up with a rose ice cube.
For those who still enjoy dulling their tactical acumen a little in order to make things fairer to their opponent, worry not—Stefan is pursuing relationships with some highly requested breweries like Holy Mountain Brewing and Cloudburst. We also have some new house red and white wines, and are making the club’s robust array of sherries more visible on the menu.
Last on this note, we’re looking into offering food at the club. We now have some extra refrigeration space in our storage which creates the potential for offering premade snacks, salads, or sandwiches. I’ve been reaching out to local providers, but if you have a connection that you think could be an excellent fit for the club, please let us know!
Final Thoughts // Stefan & Dustin’s Wellbeing—
Something I have to acknowledge before closing this massive blog post out is that many folks were true to what Waystone stands for and took advantage of the open-ended comments space to express care for Stefan and I.
Honestly, you guys are doing everything right in my eyes. I’d love you two to start getting paid for everything you guys do. I just hope you two are still having fun running this place. Just don’t forget that you two are PEOPLE and need to take care of yourselves too…
Less than a year ago neither of us had any experience doing any of this—which is a bizarre thought. We just wanted to make a cool place to play, and were resolved to figure it out as we went. This has made it challenging, but also allowed us to envision something truly unique. Meanwhile, we continue to learn and get better at this whole club/bar/game-place proprietorship-thing.
A humble but more concrete milestone I’ll share is that in August, for the first time, Stefan and I were able to pay ourselves roughly minimum wage. We’ll never conflate financial progress with the club’s overall success, but this a great sign for the overall well-being of the club. It has been a momentous sigh of relief for us that also opens up creative possibilities for the future of the club.
Memberships are far and away the thing that has made this progress (and this magical place as a whole) a possibility, so thank you to everyone who supports the space in this way.
Till next time. //
