Last Wednesday was the official start to the Saint Rose Board/Tabletop Gaming Club. The official interest meeting was held in the commuter lounge and brought about 20 students out.
The first meeting was mostly about socializing and then official business will be planned for the upcoming meetings. The only topic of significance, specifically for the club, brought up was everyone’s availability. The rest of the time was spent with enthusiastic conversations about gaming. Nothing will discourage their gaming.
The upcoming meetings are scheduled for Wednesdays at 7:30 and Saturdays at 2:00. The club is planning to have elections. As of right now all titles that are held are “make-shift.” The clubs creator, Isaiah Agojo, has submitted a constitution to SA and is waiting for approval. With that approval the Board/Tabletop Game Club will have money to help pay for games, as well as a time and space to officially hold the club. The club is planning to still meet in the commuter lounge if approved.
“I thought it was weird that we didn’t already have one [gaming club],” said James Ferro, vice president of the club. Ferro said that his siblings have board game clubs at their schools and that he just expected St. Rose to have one. The surprise of Saint Rose not having a board game club was not just felt by Ferro. Agojo, and Secretary Cody Avdek both also made note that when they first came to Saint Rose and saw that there was no organization for games they were also surprised.
Agojo, the creator of the club, saw that there was no club for gamers and decided to take it into his own hands. The week before spring break Agojo started to create his outline for what he wanted the club to be. So far the constitution has been the hardest part.
The social aspect of this club is the most important part. At the interest meeting the room was humming with different conversations about Yu-Gi-OH!, Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons, and many other games. The people who play have their own language, but the group is not inclusive to hard core gamers. The club was created with the idea that the members would teach people how to enjoy games. “I want to promote the social, competitive, and joyous aspects of table top gaming on campus by providing a venue for people to play games meet people, make friends, and enemies, especially enemies,” said Agojo.
The idea of this club promoting social learning is also a large part of their future plans. The club would like to get involved with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and teach young children the fun of board games. They would like to get more involved on campus.
Ferro said “When I first came to college I was actually really upset. My roommate was out meeting friends, so I was just left alone in the room to do nothing, and that is really nerve wracking when you are in a new place. I want to have a board game meeting the first day of freshman move-in to get them out of their rooms and meeting people.”
The biggest thing that the members of this club would like people to know, they are not nerds. “At my orientation they asked what stereotypes we didn’t like, and I said, “That people that play Dungeons and Dragons are a bunch of nerds,” said Avdek, “There is this negative stigma for no reason.” Avdek also made a point that many people probably would be hesitant to join this club because they are afraid of being called nerds. “This gives people a group that says ‘You can do what you want here.’ It’s a little friend-making bubble without judgment.”The Saint Rose Board/Tabletop gaming club is still in development. For more information about the club, contact Agojo by email.
