A new organization has come to the attention of the students at Point Park: the Point Park Uno League. And yes, all they do is play Uno.

What started out as casual tournaments with friends for a few years soon turned into a club that has been decently accepted on campus. With around 130 members joining at the SAIL activities fair, this group has taken a simple game and turned it into something that is available for the entire student body. 

Bryan Partika, senior, explained that they chose Uno for the games’ simplicity and accessibility to everyone.

“Anybody could play, no matter how skilled or unskilled you are,” Partika said. 

Partika is hopeful for the next tournament to be scheduled within the next two weeks, with biweekly meetings following the first. As of now, there are plans for eight tournaments, which will be held on Monday nights. As club president, he has responsibilities pertaining to the behind the scenes work of the club. He has to make sure everything is in check with SAIL, and also his fellow officers. 

“If we have a lot of people playing Uno during these tournaments, we’re going to need all of our officers on deck knowing what to do,” Partika said. “My main job right now is delegating responsibilities to everybody…We [the board] know what we have to do to make sure that people aren’t just having fun, but they’re also making friends.”

Junior Carlos Polanco, vice president, also has a say in planning and helping with tournaments and will oversee the president’s duties in his absence. 

“We wanted to have a club that’s fun outside of schoolwork,” Polanco said. “It’s a crazy idea that’s coming into play and I think it’s a good way for students to find different friends.”

Polanco explained that if a consistent group of people continue to show up to meetings, they hope to hold an end-of-semester tournament with rankings each week, planning to have the top 32 participate in playoffs. 

“The general reaction is ‘What’s the catch?’” Partika said. “And to be honest there is no catch, people can choose to play in the tournament or just play with their friends in a casual setting.”

R.J. Lane, senior, has the title “Keeper of the Rules” on the club board. 

“I am the guy that teaches all the new recruits how to play by our sets of rules, since everyone has their own set of rules, which are wrong, but I teach them the right way to play,” Lane joked. 

He makes sure that no one is intentionally cheating, makes sure everyone understands the rules and that everyone is playing right. 

“The traditional rules are being followed, but we are playing doubles, which you can put multiple cards down at once depending on the circumstances and what card is in the middle,” Lane said. “Uno can get really intense, but it’s still really fun to play.”

As for the future of the club, they hope to expand and continue the club through the underclassmen, keeping it as a steady club here at Point Park. 

“There’s no commitment, there’s no event you have to go to, we’ll email you the time,” Lane said. “We’ll be there playing Uno anyway.”