If you come upon a group of people getting excited and furiously yelling at each other, chances are they are playing a board game, a study-break activity that is becoming popular among CU students.
Scrabble, Apples to Apples, Taboo, The Game of Life, Scattergories and Cranium are some of the more popular games.
“I enjoy playing games because it gets people talking and opens them up when they are on the same team,” said freshman political science major Natasha Fischer, who lives in the Smith Hall International Program (SHIP) in the Kittredge Complex.
Fischer enjoys playing a variety of board and skillz games each week in the SHIP office with fellow students. SHIP mentor Lindsey Eppich, a junior anthropology major, helps organize the games.
“It’s so much fun,” said Eppich, who has been a SHIP mentor for the past two years. “We are sitting around in the office when I have office hours, and someone says, ‘Hey, let’s start playing Scrabble.’ And next thing you know, there are 15 people in there playing Taboo along with us.”
They play so often, a routine has started.
“Monday nights we like to order cookies from Boulder Baked and play games like Jenga, Taboo, Scrabble and Catch Phrase,” Eppich said. “One night, we had 15 or 16 people in the office, and we were yelling and making so much noise that people kept checking on us. It was a blast.”
According to Fischer, games will be organized whenever they feel like it, and through playing those games, she has gotten to know her fellow SHIP students better.
“It’s a good way to meet each other and a good study break,” Eppich said. “It also helps (students) connect with (mentors) when we’re playing games, and once they feel comfortable with us, they can talk to us about bigger problems.”
Libby Ahroon, a junior pre-communications major, enjoys playing games such as Outburst, Taboo and Cranium Turbo Edition with her roommates or her family.
“It’s a lot of fun to bond (while playing these games) when you may have nothing really to talk about,” she said. “It’s a good four hours that you can hang out with friends.”
According to Ahroon, the games can become competitive, but usually it’s all in good fun.
For an extensive list board game descriptions, rules and much more, visit Board Game Central
