New bi-monthly print-only zine ‘Gayming Manual’ launches celebrating LGBTQ+ gaming & nerd culture
Our sister magazine, Gayming – the world’s only global online magazine for the LGBTQ+ video gaming community, has announced the launch of Gayming Manual, a print-only zine celebrating games, TTRPGs, collectibles, and the queer geek culture built around them.
Pre-orders for Issue One are open now at gaymingmag.com/zine and fans can become Patrons with a range of additional benefits by joining the new Gayming Manual Patreon.
The launch comes at a moment when queer creators and publications are finding their work increasingly shadow-banned, demonetized, or removed outright by the same platforms they depend on to reach an audience. Gayming Manual sidesteps that entirely by providing a physical product that can be held, read, and enjoyed, free from censorship and restriction.
Gayming Manual publishes bi-monthly, six issues a year, with Issue One landing November 2026 — just in time for the Holidays.
The zine is themed to invoke memories of the manual that used to come tucked into the case of physical games, before the age of digital downloads and online guides. Each issue is 40 pages, full color, and made entirely without generative AI. Every issue also features original, collectible cover art by a different LGBTQ+ artist: one piece that wraps around the whole issue, front cover to back, unfolding into a single complete image.
Inside, readers will find interviews, features, and reviews of physical video games, tabletop games, geeky products and so much more. Themed like a game manual, every feature is a “level,” every regular column is a “sidequest,” and competitions are “rewards”, where one lucky winner can get their hands on a major prize.
Every issue also gives back, with $1 from each sale going directly to the Gayming Foundation, supporting its work for the LGBTQ+ gaming community.
Issue One features:
- Voice actor Samantha Bowling writes about why representation means giving Native creators room to grow, not just succeed
- Holiday Gift List of queer-made physical media and merch to buy for your nerdy loved ones
- Retro review of the Sonic the Hedgehog 35th Anniversary Legacy Cartridge from iam8bit & SEGA, marking 35 years of Sonic
- Interview with actor, comedian and filmmaker Brandon Rogers
- Canadian beauty and gaming content creator and trans advocate Stef Sanjati takes on our 20 Questions challenge
- Tales from the Tabletop, a column by advocate and streamer Tanya DePass
- Gayming Lore history column with a look back at Dragon Age II
- Comic Strip by Kayla Shaggy
- Cosplay Corner showing off the creations of Gayming’s real-life fans
- Competition for one lucky reader to win a Sonic the Hedgehog 35th Anniversary Legacy Cartridge Collection, featuring Sonic the Hedgehog & Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Issue One’s wraparound cover art is by queer video game illustrator Isa Happyfield, a Japanese concept artist and art director based in London, UK, who has worked on numerous video games and produces his own queer superhero manga and roleplaying game, QUEERZ!. See more of his work at linktr.ee/isa_happyfield.
In addition to purchasing individual issues, fans can support independent queer geek media by becoming a Patron through the new Gayming Manual Patreon. Patrons not only get every issue of Gayming Manual as soon as it’s off the press, but also an exciting range of benefits including additional exclusive content in the ‘off-months’, 20% off Gayming merch, discounts/benefits from advertisers, and a lot more!
“At this exact moment, we’re seeing a huge resurgence in physical media ownership at a time where companies are going digital-only. As queer people, we’re also living through one of the most draconian moments of online erasure and censorship, watching LGBTQ+ accounts and communities get taken down again and again, often without warning or explanation,” said Robin Gray, Founder & Publisher of Gayming Magazine.
“It’s time to go back to go forward. Back to a time when we bought and owned physical media. Forward to a future where the queer games, comics and books we love can’t be censored — because we’re holding them in our hands, not scrolling for them in a billionaire’s feed. That’s why I’m so excited to be launching the Gayming Manual at this time, to meet this moment for the queer geek community.”
“Gayming Manual will give our geeky LGBTQ+ communities the uplifting (and endlessly nerdy) physical media they’ve always deserved,” said Joel Medina, Editor of Gayming Manual. “Queer geeks around the world are searching for offline content that celebrates their many fandoms and interests and is free from meddling by ‘corporate overlords.’ With this zine, we’ll center their interests and identities, with each issue offering an inclusive reprieve that uplifts marginalized artists from across the globe.”
To find out more, pre-order Issue One or join the Patreon, head to gaymingmag.com/zine.
