Meet Frances Dinger, our CHS Summer 2010 intern. Frances will be a busy contributor to the site through the summer before returning to school at Seattle University where she is the newly selected editor in chief. You can follow her on Twitter at @f_e_dinger and find out all sorts of good scuttle about what it’s like to have @jseattle for an editor. Please wish her luck!

Capitol Hill might have lost out on Facebook but we’ve gained a game maker. Game company Wonder Forge is sandwiched between Victrola Coffee and McMenamins’ Six Arms bar on Pike after moving out of its previous home in South Lake Union.

“Board games sometimes stay in houses for 20 years,” said CEO and founder Jacobe Chrisman. “It’s cool to know you’re creating something generations of kids will play with.”

Wonder Forger founder and CEO Jacobe Chrisman. (Photo: Frances E. Dinger)

Wonder Forge will host a game day in August or September during which the company will invite Capitol Hill families into their space to learn about how games are made, test some of their products and also give some goodies away for free! Play tests are arranged by Forest-Pruzan Creative and the company will not specifically target Capitol Hill families for play testing  but Chrisman says he is certain the company has worked with Hill families in the past and will continue to do so when matched with them through the Forest-Pruzan database.

According to Chrisman, Izzila Toys on 12th will carry Wonder Forge products soon. 

Chrisman was the head of product development for Cranium–another Seattle based game company–and founded I Can Do That Games in 2007. I Can Do That holds licenses for classic stories from Dr. Seuss as well as for the Curious George and Richard Scary series. Many of the games mesh basic board game principles with physical movement. The company’s games have won more than 40 industry awards including the National Parenting Center Seal of Approval and the Creative Child 2008 Game of the Year.

Though Chrisman says he came into the game making industry on a fluke, he has since gotten sucked into the business and is glad to bring it to the Hill. According to Chrisman, the company moved primarily because it needed a larger space but the Seattle native was also attracted to the energy of the neighborhood.

“[Capitol Hill] has a creative vibe. It’s a good fit for us,” said Chrisman.

One of I Can Do That Games’ Curious George themed games “Hide and Seek Zoo.” (Photo: Frances E. Dinger)