A group of four students sat together aiming foam guns at each other, all for the sake of a game called Cash ‘n Guns. All sorts of people hung out and talked pop culture, two of which were a couple who first met at a meeting similar to this one.
In between loud bouts of light-hearted arguments, friendly smack-talk and silly debauchery, members of a University club called Table-Top Tirade (TTT) had fun playing card games, board games and socializing with folks of similar interests.
“[This club is for] anyone with a geeky passion who wants to have a great time and meet new people,” junior mass communications major and current club president Emily Bowen said.
Taking a look around this club on a particular day yielded a load of laughing, costumed people playing games and cracking all sorts of jokes, many of which were inside jokes formed in past meetings.
Two were dressed as the comic book characters Deadpool and Harley Quinn, and another dressed as the protagonist from popular British television show “Doctor Who.” Spooky, goofy music was played for the season, such as tracks from “Beetlejuice,” “The Twilight Zone,” and “Goosebumps.”
There is a wide selection of games on the docket at TTT, from standard playing card games to Dungeons and Dragons, and Pokémon.
“We play pretty much any game,” Bowen said.
Every Wednesday, Point Park University students are implored by TTT to come down and join in on a myriad of different games of various types. Meetings are typically held from 6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. in the commuter lounge, on the fourth floor of Lawrence Hall.
On Nov. 15 and 16, from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., the club is holding an event in the multipurpose room of Lawrence Hall with table-top games and video games.
One of the games played at the club is Cash ‘n Guns, a card-based game focused on active, spoken communication among players in turns. Players take on the role of a gun-slinger bent on collecting the most amount of money at the expense of their foes. Throughout play, participants find it easy to get on edge; yelling and swearing throughout is far from uncommon.
“You have to pay attention,” former University student and former club president Jaqueline Steier, who still attends meetings said.
Point Park’s table-top gaming club is more friendly, casual and social than that of the University of Pittsburgh’s, according to Steier, who has attended both.
“Some of the most fun I’ve had is getting introduced to new games,” Steier said.
Magic: The Gathering finds itself at TTT as well; Magic is a competitive trading card game with fantasy characters. Players find themselves thinking hard about every choice like a game of chess.
“It’s a thinking game and it’s creative,” freshman cinema production major Matt Brendle said.
He originally got into Magic during his time served in the Army. “Magic is a way to unwind and take a break from the work of life,” Brendle said.
The current secretary of the club, sophomore public relations and advertising major Mandy Toledo and Kenneth Heidkamp, a former vice-president of the club and 2011 information technology graduate, are a couple thanks to TTT.
The two initially met through a mutual friend at one of the meetings, according to Heidkamp said. Toledo wasn’t all that into Magic, but Heidkamp was able to turn her onto it, he explained.
“It was very nerve-wracking,” Toledo said in regards to first participating in the club.
She found it difficult to operate in such a new environment with people she didn’t know, but now she is the secretary, she said.
“People [are] themselves here,” Brendle said.
