Tucked away in the University of Rhode Island’s Memorial Union is the gaming club, housing student competitions in console video games, card games and competitive computer games.
The club’s first room is adorned with posters and drawings from club members, a wall of board games and a table of gaming laptops. This leads into another small room, which contains various video-game consoles like the Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2s and Xbox 360s.
“I think [the club is] definitely more casual focused,” fourth-year Jack Henderson, the club’s vice president, said. “We play whatever games together for fun.”
The club does not have formal meetings like many other clubs, according to Henderson. Instead, they host weekly tournaments on Fridays and monthly tournaments open to all students.
When the gaming club’s room in the Memorial Union is open, any student can come in to play games, relax or study in between classes, according to Henderson.
“It’s definitely a nice tension reliever,” Henderson said. “Especially around exam season when everyones stressed out of their minds.”
The club hosts tournaments of games like Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, Rivals of Aether 2 and Street Fighter, according to Xan Allen, fourth-year student and president of the gaming club. These tournaments are in-person within the gaming club space, and members, as well as people within and outside of the URI community, can fight with other players on these games.
Super Smash Brothers Ultimate is the club’s most popular game for tournaments, having brought in almost 100 people for one of their monthly tournaments, according to Allen.
They mainly focus on fighting games where students can compete against each other, according to Allen. However, some students use the space to play single-player video games and card games such as Magic The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh.
“We’re trying to make the club more sustainable for other games,” Allen said. “[The most popular game in the club] used to be Smash Brothers Ultimate, now it’s Rivals of Aether 2. Some people get annoyed when they come into the club and that’s the only game being played.”
The gaming club members bought a personal gaming computer this year, which Allen said they have been saving up for since his first year at URI. The club set up a fund for anyone who wanted the computer in the space to contribute, which cost $900.
“The computer has more leniency for what games [students] can play, which will give the next generation more options,” Allen said.
The club’s executive board is getting close to graduation, with both its president and vice president in their fourth year, meaning a majority of the club’s leadership positions will be open next fall. Allen hopes that after he leaves the club that new leadership can diversify while still keeping the core audience for its gaming tournaments.
“If people have an interest that maybe the club isn’t as interested in, but they want to spearhead it, we are very open to letting them use our room and equipment if that would help them,” Allen said.
Last year, the gaming club had two students who played Warhammer tabletop games, according to Allen. They would set up the battleground with small figurines on the table.
“It was really cool to see them use the space in a new way we hadn’t thought of before,” Allen said. “Making connections and seeing if people wanna play the game that you are interested in is a great way to make a friend or try out a new game.”
The club hosts weekly tournaments every Friday and their upcoming monthly tournament will be held on Nov. 23 in Memorial Union Room 132A.