Welcome to the Game Club page!

Game Club exists to give students a safe and fun place to play a wide variety of games. We play TABLETOP games (board games, card games, dice games, role-playing games) and VIDEO games (computer games, console games, even virtual reality games on occasion).

Game Club meets most Mondays, Thursdays, and / or Fridays in NHS room 006 from 2:30 to 4:30.

Last year we ran D&D sessions on Saturday afternoons from 1:00 to 4:00 in the NHS cafeteria. I am looking to move that to one of the above days so I can have more weekends free for my own personal gaming and time with my family. Let me know what you think about this. We could extend the time beyond 4:30 if we want a good 3 hour block of playing D&D (or other RPGs).

This year we are hoping to form an ESports team to compete in the newly sanctioned MIAA ESports League. We are also hoping to become one of Blizzard Entertainment's pilot high school programs in their Tespa ESports competitions. Blizzard, if you are unaware, is the maker of World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Hearthstone, along with many other games.

I have been playing games seriously since the mid-1970s. I have a collection of over 350 tabletop games that cover a wide variety of themes, complexity levels, time to play, mechanisms, etc. If you would like to a see a list of the tabletop games I own, go over to boardgamegeek.com and search for user crito13. I more than willing to bring in any game to teach and play. I will be keeping some games in the classroom on a basically permanent basis, bringing in some games for shorter lengths of time, and bringing in some games as requested. Since I play many of these games at home, make sure you let me know prior to the day you want to play to insure that I have it in class. 

Here is a short list of some of my favorite tabletop games. Games that are bolded and in red, are ones that I think high school students may really enjoy and work well in a game club setting.

COOPERATIVE GAMES - my favorite style of board game - players work together against the game - most can be played solitaire - some are easy, some not so

Pandemic - Players try to save the world from outbreaks of diseases. Uses cards exclusively (no dice) so much less luck based. I also have some of the variants: Pandemic Iberia (takes place in 19th century Spain and Portugal), Pandemic Reign of Cthulhu (horror version based on the works of HP Lovecraft), and Pandemic The Cure (a dice version of the original). All are great fun to play - as you can see as they are all in my Top 25.

Police Precinct - Players are police officers trying to both solve a murder and deal with other crimes and accidents around the city.

Ghost Stories - Players are monks that are trying to protect a small village from ghosts. This is probably the most difficult game to win and learn on the list.

Betrayal at House on the Hill -A semi-cooperative game where the players are exploring a haunted house. At some point in the game one of the players will become a "traitor" and then attacks the other players.

Expedition: The Role-Playing Card Game - An interesting and fun mix of role-playing, card play, and an app. Realtime for choosing what action your character wants to take.

Elder Sign - Players are trying to defeat the monsters and minions of the Great Old Ones. Based on the works of HP Lovecraft. Uses dice and cards.

Defenders of the Realm - Players are fantasy heroes trying to defend Monarch City from 4 big bosses and their minions.

FUSE - Realtime dice rolling game. Players have 10 minutes to diffuse bombs or the spaceship they are on explodes. Very hectic, but very exciting.

Walking Dead "Don't Look Back" Dice Game - Based on the popular TV show. A horror game where you try to survive the zombie apocalypse.

Warhammer Quest: The Card Game - Players are fantasy heroes trying to defeat monsters and collect treasure.

STRATEGY GAMES - these games tend to be more difficult to learn and require a bit more thinking than traditional or party / family games

New Bedford - Worker placement game of town building and whaling. Does an excellent job of recreating the Golden Age of Whaling.

D-Day Dice - Wargame where players are trying to storm the beaches of Normandy. Yahtzee-style dice rolling gives players the men, supplies, and courage to complete their mission. Can be played solitaire or with 2 players (can be played with more, best best with 1 or 2).

Diplomacy - A classic game of negotiations, diplomacy, and backstabbing. Players take the role of pre-WWI European powers and try to take control of the continent. Best with the full compliment of 7 players. There are some great online sites where you can play.

Paris Connection - A train themed game set in France. Players try to control stock in train lines as they expand out from Paris.

Ticket to Ride - A train themed game set in the United States. Players try to connect cities and complete routes to earn points. I also own Ticket to Ride: Europe - a few small differences, including setting in Europe.

Tiny Epic Quest - Players try to explore and adventure in a tiny epic kingdom. Also own Tiny Epic Zombies. Both of these games are realitively small but pack a lot of game in a small box and a small table space.

FAMILY / PARTY GAMES - these games tend to be easier to learn & my family really loves playing them

Sunset Over Water - A beautiful set collection game where you are artists wandering around and painting and selling landscape paintings.

Herbaceous - A set-collection game with an herb planting theme.

Tsuro - Tile-laying game where players try to be the last piece on the board.

Timeline Challenge - Players try to identify when events happened, what order things happened, etc. Very fun history themed game. You actually learn stuff while you play.

Concept - Players try to get their team to guess the word, phraee, quote, object, whatever by placing cubes on a board with a variety of picture. Pictionary without the drawing.

Codenames - Players are trying to have their partners identify the correct 8 words before the other team identifies their words. Grid of 25 cards - can only give 1 word clue and a number (ie, animal 3 would mean that there are 3 animal related words I want my partner to identify). I also own Codename: Pictures (no words) and Codenames: Disney.

Spyfall - Players are spys where everyone is randomly dealt a card with a location - except 1 who randomly gets a spy card - who is the enemy. Players ask questions to each other to determine who the enemy. Fun deduction game.

Birds of a Feather - A set-collection game with a bird-watching theme.

SPORTS GAMES - big sports fan and really enjoy playing them on the tabletop

Baseball Highlights 2045 - A baseball game set in the future with humans, cyborgs, and robots. Games are quick - play 6 cards each - and after each game players get to improve their team by buying better players. A great deck-building game even if you do not like baseball.

Bottom of the 9th - A baseball game that recreats only the bottom of the 9th inning. Players play out each pitch, with one being the pitcher and the other the batter.

History Maker Baseball - Baseball simulation with cards for individual players. One of the newer baseball sims and my new favorite of this type of game.

Soccer Blast - Soccer simulation with cards for individual players. Soccer is a difficult sport to recreate as a boardgame, but this one does is very well. Besides, soccer is my favorite sport.

Second Season Football - Professional football game where each team has a card and individual players are rated. Have many of the recent Superbowl matchups and some All-Decade teams.

COLLECTIBLE CARD GAMES - while I enjoy CCGs, I lean more toward other types of tabletop games

Dice Masters - More of a Collectibe Dice game. Have cards from Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Spiderman, X-Men, and D&D. This is a great game and my favorite collectibe game.

Magic: The Gathering - The first CCG on the market and still the most popular. Fantasy theme as players are wizards are casting spells and summoning creatures to defeat their opponent.

Mythos - Horror CCG based on the works of HP Lovecraft. One of the more interesting CCGs because it can also be played solitaire.

I also enjoy and own Illuminati: New World Order, Wyvern, Quest for the Grail, and Tempest of the Gods.

ROLE-PLAYING GAMES - I have loved playing RPGs since the 1970s when D&D first came out - easily my favorite style of any type of gaming

Dungeons & Dragons - Fantasy role-playing. The first and still most popular RPG on the market.

Call of Cthulhu - Horror role-playing in the world of HP Lovecraft's 1920s New England. My all-time favorite RPG.

GURPS - Stands for Generic Universal Role-Playing System. Great character creation mechanisms and can be played in any setting - fantasy, sci-fi, horror, historic, etc.

The Fantasy Trip - From the designer of GURPS, this was his first RPG. Very simple and fun.

Tunnels & Trolls - Fantasy theme. The 2nd RPG ever.

Toon - Cartoon theme. Very silly. Very easy to learn and play.