Sometimes the school day can be so draining, and students need somewhere to unravel their mind, have fun, and socialize. The Game Club is the place to go. It is in its pilot year and run by Mr. Scalzo, a social worker at the high school. The club started meeting very recently in Room 262 from 2:30 to 4 on Tuesdays. Mr. Scalzo hopes to turn the club into something truly fascinating.
“It’s a strategy board game group and we meet every week after school, around 4 o’clock on Tuesday, and we play games–board games.”
Mr. Scalzo explains his motive for the club’s birth: provide opportunities for face-to-face socialization. Kids love playing online games like Fortnite and Minecraft, but people aren’t really socializing in person. He wanted to make a group that fosters people’s love for games, but has them socialize face- to-face.
His plan is to make a club that is eventually school-sanctioned. The game club will introduce new strategy games and provide a place of safety and face to face conversation and friendships open for all. Mr. Scalzo says it’d be great to grow it as much as possible
Jierui Lin, an active participant, has some thoughts to share.
He explains that the Game Club is all about board games and video games are non-present, and that it’s fun because it features board games and there are no phones. He claims that finding people who like playing board games is very hard because everyone is glued to their screens nowadays.
“My favorites are Chess and Risk,” Jierui said. “Sadly only one person can be at my level in chess and it is very sad. Risk is fun because the people who showed up had no idea how to play and it is fun to manipulate them for gain, and tragic when they don’t listen and lose early.”
Though Jierui is competitive when he plays board games, it is all in good fun. The club warmly welcomes members of all abilities. Jierui has ideas about how to include players unfamiliar with the games.
“I would think that a game to be introduced is Stratego, which is a game I play for fun just for a moment,” Jierui said. “There are also many versions and ways to play chess that I could introduce.”
Jierui is one of the people who will help the Game Club rise to prominence.
