Deal Us In! Board Game Club Wins Club of the Month

Games on offer include Monopoly, Connect Four, and The Game of Life. Photo: Vanessa Feng Wu

By ABDALLAH HUSSEIN, DAVID SAMPSON, and VANESSA FENG WU

Remember the time your parents tried to drag you home or asked you to help out with the house chores, but there you were, immovable as a rock, eyes focused on the table, begging for “just one more round”? Monday and Wednesday afternoons at 3:30 p.m. in the school library might bring back those memories, as students meet to go head-to-head in classics like Uno, Monopoly, Guess Who?, Battleship, and Connect 4 in the Board Game Club.

The club, which is run by co-presidents Kevin Figueros ‘24 and Selena Huang ‘26 and vice president Farishta Delawar ‘26, was named Club of the Month for November by the student government for its high attendance and community.

Figueros revived the club last year. “I was thinking of random ideas and found out that the Board Game Club used to be a thing,” he said. “Apparently it died down in 2006, and I wanted to get it running again.”

Delawar said the club intends to “build a safe community for people at Midwood where they can make friends, socialize, and increase their communication skills.”

Ms. Emily Cornell, a librarian and the club’s advisor, admires how the group uses social media to attract participants. "[The popularity] surprises me because it’s board games, whereas a lot of students playing video games all the time,” she said.

Dozie Chindoh ‘24, who found out about the club from its Instagram page, came to play against one of his friends in chess.

Jeremiah Rosario ‘27, a club member, says that his favorites to play are the card games Slapjack, Spit, and Speed. “I've been playing cards for years now, and it’s one of my favorite pastimes,” he said.

One strength of the club is that it is well-suited for freshmen who could use some help fitting in. A meeting time during 11th period makes the club more accessible to underclassmen.

“When I was a freshman, it felt like the best thing I could use was some sort of bonding experience," said Delawar. “It was hard to get to know people because they were in their own personal circles, and I wanted to make a club where people could express themselves and make friendships with each other.”

This may have led to the club's roaring success. “We didn't expect so many people to come at first,” Delawar said, “but then we managed to get over 100 members. Club of the Month made the expectations higher, so we created even more activities.”

From the start, the club’s effort was obvious. “In the club fair, they had the most engaging board,” said Serena Li ‘25, Midwood’s junior vice president. “They even brought balloons!”

That’s where their social media manager, Ricardo Torres ‘26, found out about the club. “The fair was very eye-opening and taught me a lot about different clubs, but this one seemed to catch my eye,” said Torres.

When the Board Game Club meets at the library, there are usually groups of people engaging with each other in a myriad of games. It was nice to see such hospitality among students, ranging from freshmen to seniors, who seemed to get along really well even though they could’ve just met.

“Usually, for every club meeting, we have a group of people and we play one game with them to get them connected to each other,” said Huang, the co-president. “Sometimes if we see someone who doesn’t look enthusiastic, we go up to them and start a conversation.”

Freshman Eva Huang was attending for the first time. “When we started playing, everyone just started laughing,” she said. “It was a nice moment. Games are how people connect.”

Everyone should try to visit the Board Game Club at least once this year for the variety of games and new people you can meet. Maybe you can even Connect 4 with a new friend.