On Nov. 5, the Director of Esports, Dr. Russel Hamer, held a Board Game Night in Purcell Hall. This is not the first event Hamer has held in Purcell. Some of the other events include various video games including FIFA that many people enjoy.
As the director of Esports, Hamer controls a bit of everything. He assists in coaching many teams, he directs the game studies and Esports minor and he teaches courses such as gaming, game culture and game design--which he will be teaching next semester. He also teaches courses on streaming and he streams all the matches played by Mount St. Mary’s University. “It’s a mixed bag, some of it’s just managing the facility and equipment, some is teaching course, it’s all over the place.”
Esports holds an event almost every Friday “that range in the target audience.” Sometimes it is the FIFA tournaments, but they also hold a Nickelodeon Night a month which has a much larger audience.
Hamer mentioned that the collection of board games that had been shelved in the Esports building were formerly in the library where they were not used. Seeing as the Esports building is “dedicated to playing games,” Hamer thought it would be the perfect place to store them.
There are some people that play games from the collection housed in Purcell. Because of this, Board Game Night was picked as it was an event that they thought “a lot of people would be interested in.”
There are a wide variety of games that were available to be played that ranged in length and difficulty. There were easier more known games such as chess and checkers that everyone could take part in. There were other games that were also on the shorter side such as “Coup” which is a great multi-person game and is easy to pick up. Not only that, but it is quite short, so it is easy to pick up multiple games quickly.
There were also some mid-level games such as “Catan” or “Carcassonne” that do not take too long to figure out and is relatively easy to play while relaxing with friends while also requiring some strategy. Then there were games like “Betrayal at House on the Hill” that start to get a little intense.
Overall, there was something for everyone to enjoy no matter how invested in board games they are. It was a great opportunity to play some games with friends and chill out on a Friday night.
It was not a large turnout, but hopefully, there will be another Board Game Night in the future where there are more people so more games can be played. Purcell Hall is a great place to have these events because it creates the right atmosphere to get into a game.
With a little more advertising for the event, it might get more people who are interested in board games to come. It would be good to keep a lookout there for any future events which you can find on the Mount Esports Instagram.