STRATEGY GAMING CLUB YEAR END ROUND-UP
This was a busy year for West Kildonan Collegiate’s Strategy Gaming Club. Even though the pandemic put an abrupt end to the year, the past 7 months were brimming with geeky goodness: there were nerdy talks about different fandoms, suspenseful Magic the Gathering brawls, magnificent Dungeons and Dragons storytelling, engaging LARPing, virtual reality gaming, and thought-provoking board games.
Before we continue with the round-up, the Strategy Gaming Club would like to thank the people who helped make this year a success: the adult supervisors/facilitators that worked with the club such as Mr. Jimenez, Ms. Saad, Mr. Atanacio, Mr. Ostlund, and Mr. Boissenault, and the many student leaders and members. Thanks for your support, involvement, and guidance!
GROWING MEMBERSHIP
This year, the Strategy Gaming Club expanded its reach within the school. For the past four years, the Gaming Club always had approximately 10-15 members. This year, that number ballooned to 40+ members. Students in the Club have a plethora of interests: Dungeons and Dragons, LARPing (Live Action Role Playing), video games, Magic the Gathering, board games, Anime, fanfiction, comics/manga, and geeky fandoms.
Due to the growing membership of the Club, we decided to create an infrastructure for leadership within the group. This was done in order to make sure that everyone in the Club kept having fun; with this infrastructure, leaders had the task of looking over different aspects of the Club.
LEADERSHIP
Sasha was assigned to be the Dungeons and Dragons leader; his role is to teach others how to play the game and how to become successful Dungeon Masters themselves. He currently has a successful campaign in progress; his group has been playing Dungeons and Dragons since the beginning of the school year.
Jayedon was in charge of the communications piece; he managed the Club’s Discord channel, a platform for gamers, geeks, and nerds to post memes, text chat, and voice chat. He works tirelessly to moderate the different discussions that happen within the Discord.
Ethan’s role was to plan and advertise events for the Strategy Gaming Club. He was one of the instrumental people in planning West K’s 3rd Annual Super Smash Tournament. He has shown immense leadership skills throughout the year.
McKay was assigned as the video game leader. Along with Ethan, he is another key person in planning West K’s 3rd Annual Super Smash Tournament. He helped design the logo for the Tournament and also hosted the event himself.
Caris’s role was to teach the other members how to play Magic the Gathering. She participated in the Magic the Gathering League this year, which was done in collaboration with Play n’ Trade. During that time, students attended after school league events at Play n’ Trade where they got to play with the newest Magic the Gathering cards.
Lastly, Diogo was the “Leader of Leaders” and assisted the other leaders in collaborating with one another. Another one of his tasks was to communicate with the other adults (Mr. Jimenez primarily) the current and future plans of the Club. He assisted with the budgeting for the Club, the Super Smash Tournament, and was a friendly face to the other members of the Club.
SMASH TOURNEY
On December 13th, the Strategy Gaming Club held its 3rd ever Super Smash Brothers tournament. The event was packed with approximately 30 registered players. The whole tournament lasted for about four hours, but time flew by! The tournament was filled with nail-biting fights between classic characters such as Mario, Luigi, Cloud, Link, and many others as they battled their way to the top! The winner was rewarded with the Strategy Game Club’s laser-printed trophy.
Throughout the tournament, there were other events going on. Food and drink were provided towards the 50+ attendees. Meanwhile, side games of Magic the Gathering littered the tables at the commons while they discussed the ongoing results of the tournament. Some attendees also played board games to pass the time between rounds.
The event was a success, and we look forward to holding more tournaments in the future!
CONCLUSION
The Strategy Gaming Club had other plans for the rest of the year – the West K Con (our school’s take on the classic Comic Con), bake sales, and other gaming tournaments – but the pandemic had put these plans on hold. However, this has not stopped the Strategy Gaming Club from staying connected with one another. The Club continues to communicate with one another through the Discord channel.
Gaming is simply one of those hobbies that can be done at home and from a distance with one another. Members continue to play video games, board games, and tabletop games at home.