About Gotta Play Games

Our Story

Gotta Play Games is a family business, born from a family of ten. With eight kids spanning every age and interest, finding something everyone could do together wasn't always easy. But games? Games brought us together every time.

Over the years we've played hundreds of them: card games on road trips, board games on Friday nights, strategy games that stretched into weekend-long rivalries. Those moments around the table became the heartbeat of our family.

But our story goes beyond game nights.

A family shaped by difference

Several of our children are neurodivergent. Over the years, we've navigated diagnoses, school systems, and the everyday joys and challenges of raising kids who experience the world differently. We watched those same Friday night games do something remarkable: create connection in moments where connection didn't always come easily. It leveled the playing field in a way that nothing else quite could.

Those experiences changed the trajectory of our family. Our CMO (Chief Mom Officer), Elena, watched her children so closely that she decided to go back to school, after eight kids, to earn her master's degree in clinical and mental health counseling. She's now a therapist working with families navigating neurodivergence every day.

As two of our sons on the autism spectrum approached high school graduation, we encountered a reality many families know too well. Despite their talents and work ethic, meaningful employment opportunities are hard to find. Research from Drexel University's Life Course Outcomes study shows that only 58% of young adults with autism have held a paid job in their early twenties, the lowest rate among disability groups. More than one in three are disconnected from both work and education. We didn't want to simply accept those statistics. We chose to act.

From passion to purpose

Gotta Play Games grew from a family passion into a mission: creating a real workplace where our sons can take on meaningful responsibilities, gain experience, and build a path forward.

Every game we create reflects that thread — built with purpose. They are designed to bring people together, shaped by lived experiences, and grounded in the belief that seeing the world differently is something to celebrate.