Alex Neal, 18, left, and Jake Thomas, 22, far right, both from Ypsilanti, play ‘Cardfight!! Vanguard’ during a recent Gamer’s Club meeting. Erin Fedeson | Washtenaw Voice
By ERIN FEDESON
Staff Writer
Laughter and conversation bounces back and forth in the air above the cards shuffling, dice rolling and video gaming music.
Fun yet controlled chaos describes the atmosphere at the Gamers Club.
This social club meets every Wednesday from 6-9 p.m. in TI 116.
It offers video games, card games, role-playing games and board games each meeting.
At the March 11 meeting, a group of students clustered around a Monopoly board in a corner.
Meanwhile, Alex Neal, 18, and Jake Thomas, 22, played Cardfight!! Vanguard at a different table.
“It is similar to but faster than Yu-Gi-Oh,” Neal explained. He joined the club last semester after his friends introduced him to it.
Thomas, who’s studying culinary arts, has been in the club for two years. He explained he switched from playing Yu-Gi-Oh to Cardfight!! Vanguard because it looked interesting to him.
“I play other games like Cards Against Humanity and Monopoly,” Neal said. He added, if he understood the game offered by the club, he would play it.
Not all of the games were for groups as one student hunched over his hand-held game next to Neal and Thomas.
The club also offers a DnD, a.k.a. Dungeons and Dragons, or Pathfinder game every semester, club president Jacob Cantrell, of Ypsilanti, said. One of the most popular card games is Magic: The Gathering.
Achieving organization is a challenge, Cantrell said. The club’s average attendance is between 27 to 36 members each meeting.
The original club started in either 1998 or 1999, Cantrell explained.
Matthew Vancena, a former WCC student and known as “Bear” by the club members, re-founded the club three years ago.
The Gamers Club will host a charity event for Saint Jude’s Children Hospital, Cantrell said. This event will offer two different card game tournaments: Magic: The Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh.
