Twice a year the gaming community at WPI gathers in Founders Basement for Gaming Weekend. This activity includes role playing games, board games, clay-fighting, and card games. Sponsored by the Science Fiction Society (SFS), Gaming Weekends draws in both students and alumni to friendly competitions, some of which are out of this world.
Although some games take hours to complete a single turn, the majority of games are easy to understand and last from half an hour to an hour. Games might star aliens, knights in shining armor, or elfish beings creeping around for spells. Games cover from the common to bizarre to the creative. Lunch money is a card game featuring little girls fighting street style in the playground. Cosmic Encounter includes a simple conquer theme with complex alien powers and alliance scenarios. Settlers of Catan builds homesteads and roads around plains, mountains and forests to block your opponents cities from growing. While some games are science fiction related, many others are simply rare and unusual, but plenty of experienced players exist to teach freshman and those just dropping by how to play.
Role playing games, which often require extensive character development and complex story lines, run all weekend long. These games can hold from four to twenty or more people, all jabbing, stabbing and casting spells on each other. Famous for their large sided dice, these games often require hours of improvisational story telling.
This event will run again in the spring. All students are welcome to attend, as membership in the SFS is not required to play. The Science Fiction Society meets every Wednesday at 7:12pm in Olin Hall.