The Hobby Industries of America board of directors recently approved the restructuring of HIA in hopes of consolidating and strengthening the organization. The Basic Raw Material Suppliers were eliminated as an identified group and Trade and Consumer Publishers were split. Consequently, the voting membership sections are Manufacturer/ Consumer Publishers, Wholesalers, Retailers, Manufacturer Representatives and Trade Publishers. Communicating members will pay a $30.00 membership fee and will receive HIA publications, but will not vote in Association proceedings, be eligible to exhibit at the Trade Show or serve on the Board of Directors. GAMA Report The annual meeting of the Game Manufacturer's Association (GAMA) was held during the Origins convention at Towson State University, near Baltimore, Maryland, June 29th. Over forty member companies attended. Rich Banner of Game Designers' Workshop and Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo Games were re-elected as president and treasurer, respectively. Jack Van Shaik of Rafm Company was elected secretary replacing Penny Rubin who did not run for another term. The two new members elected to the board of directors were Lou Zocchi of Gamescience, Inc. and Helena Rubenstein of West End Games, Inc., joining continuing directors Tom Shaw of The Avalon Hill Game Company and Dana Lombardy of GAME NEWS. Discussion items at the meeting included; how to answer the special interests groups lobbying against roleplaying, GAMA support of the Hobby Industries of America (HIA), and how to attract new customers. The anti-role-playing sentiment is nationwide and while a lot is still focused against Dungeons & Dragons the product most identifiable with role-playing, the sentiment can't be dismissed as a fad. A volunteer committee was appointed to formulate an industry level response to the antirole-playing activists that can be used by local stores to counter thee arguments that the retailer feels he's facing alone. Fred Polk from the HIA then described the recent decision by the board of directors of the HIA to cancel the September trade and consumer show scheduled to be held in Detroit, Michigan. The GAMA members responded with some questions and criticism of the representation of GAMA in the HIA. There were no decisions made at the meeting regarding cooperation between the organizations, instead a series of informal meetings were held over the next several days that resulted in a proposal to HIA. The proposal outlined the requirements for GAMA support of the annual HIA trade show to be held in Chicago, Illinois, January 26th. The final item of discussion was how to get new customers in the hobby Some GAMA companies wish to pursue potential new markets through GAMA. Others prefer to expand as individual companies. Back to Table of Contents -- Game News #8 To Game News List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1985 by Dana Lombardy. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com