I first went to Game Club during my sophomore year. It was an accident in many ways; I’d seen the display my freshman year at the Club Fair, and shown an interest, but turned away because it was on math team day. However, as my interests have strayed from math to fun, I rediscovered this club. They meet every Tuesday in B144, and it exists just for fun. As I have participated in many clubs, I’d have to say that a lot of them have a deep purpose to them: Math Team, Science Olympiad, Robotics, and others all exist to compete and strengthen their member’s academic skills. Alliance informs the school and participates in many different activities. Amnesty International works to support human rights. While all of these causes are noble, it’s nice to be able to have a club just for fun. I’d say Game Club fits this to the letter. To give you an idea of this flexibility, I thought I’d show you our meeting last week:

I’m extremely late to this day’s meeting, but that’s okay; we don’t take attendance and we don’t care who shows up when. My friend, Wendy, was visiting home from college, and that’s why I’m late. I drag her into the club to introduce her to another friend of mine, Justina, and find her playing ER (Egyptian Rat Screw) with another friend, Miranda. I’m a little hesitant about joining this game–it looks as if they’ve just started–but Justina is haplessly playing with her cards, and they go flying, initiating a new game: 52 pickup.

I help them clean up all while saying goodbye to Wendy, and we deal the cards, starting a new game. We play mindlessly for a while, Justina consistently goofing off. She’s flicked cards across the table more than once, and it costs her; she’s quickly out of the game, but that doesn’t bother her. She ‘tries’ to slap back in, randomly slapping the deck and not paying attention to when she could get in. It’s always with a toothy grin at me before she resigns herself to her fate. Miranda hands over for her phone for Justina to amuse herself with while she and I finish up the game.

I can see another group of regulars, mostly seniors, playing around a standing table; ironically, they’re all sitting. They’re playing a game I’ve never played before: Avalon. I’m often hesitant joining games I don’t know yet, mostly because others do know how to play, but I’ve done it before, and they’re always ready to explain. However, I stray away today because I’m having fun playing ER. There are not a lot of people here today, only about 5-6 seniors and the three of us. We have the door open, to let new people wander in, but we’re also self-conscious–we can get kind of loud. The poster in the corner boldly displays the club, and the cabinet’s ajar, revealing our piles of games. I turn back to our game, slapping the next card down.

It’s a long game in the end, she and I battling it out for about 15 minutes. It’s one of the longest games I’ve ever played, and, while Miranda’s a better player than I am, I win. The game, however, lasted so long that we had no interest in playing it again. We all know what’s in the cabinet of games. Anybody could choose from several games, including Bananagrams, Scrabble, One Night, 7 Wonders, and many others. Normally, the three of us like to play ‘Exploding Kittens’, a card game where you have to avoid getting the ‘exploding kitten’ card. Today, however, the other people in my group are interested in playing chess. I’m pretty sure we have a physical set, but I pull up the app on my computer (fun fact for you all! If you’re ever bored, there’s chess on your computer that you can play with others or against the computer). Miranda taught Justina how to play chess recently, so she’s still learning. I help her along occasionally since I learned to play chess when I was four, but my computer glitches several times. Eventually, I tell them that they should just start a new game on their computer; I want to go home, anyway.

It’s a rather uneventful meeting, but it’s just what I need to relax after a long day at school. Everyone here is kind, and we play nice. To those who are considering joining, I have two messages: one, it’s fun and non-restrictive! You can show up once every five weeks, and nobody will care that you didn’t show up the other four weeks. Except maybe your friends who had wanted to play with you. The other message is to not be intimidated. I know I was when I first came to this club, and still am sometimes, because we get rowdy. But if you join and start playing, you’ll find yourself being just the same! Just dive in, I promise you won’t regret it.

Till next time,

Emma

Opinion articles written by staff members represent their personal views. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent WSPN as a publication.