Club of the Week: Alternative Entertainment
From board games and card games to yearly group trips to events like Comic Con and Anime Boston, the Alternative Entertainment Club at RWU provides students with super fun alternative options to drinking on Thursday nights.
The club meets on Thursday nights from 7-11 p.m. in the Feinstein College of Arts and Sciences and plays board and card games such as tabletop role-playing games, the card game “Magic: The Gathering,” and video games. It’s goal is to host fun and entertaining events where students can meet others who share their interests. They have open meetings where every student is encouraged to come even if they are not an active club member. People are allowed to bring anything fun they would like to play with other members, or just come to see what the club has to offer. Alternative Entertainment currently has about 20 active members, but an additional 10 or so pop in and out when they can find time. Students find meeting sessions to be a relaxing outlet from their academics.
In addition to their meetings, Alternative Entertainment plans yearly trips to the Rhode Island Comic Con and Anime Boston. Last semester they traveled to King Richard’s Faire, a renaissance fair, which recreates a 16th-century marketplace. The club is also passionate about holding Super Smash Bros tournaments. Additionally, they have organized outings to the Providence Place Mall. The club is very close and communicates frequently on its Facebook page.
This group recruits new members at the Involvement Fair each fall. Club members intrigue potential members by promising that they will play fun games. This club helps form friendships, as members bond over games that they mutually enjoy. The group helps to create fond memories and friendships that last a lifetime. Past and present club members can reach out to people in the group through the club’s Facebook page. The Alternative Entertainment OrgSync page is another hub for communication between club members.
The club is led by its executive board, which includes senior President Ben Scheff, Vice President Justin Campo, Treasurer Jacob Johnson, Secretary Kaitlin Boggs-Jones, and Game Coordinator Sam Karag. The executive board coordinates meeting times and events, and they also post polls on OrgSync where members vote on what events should take place.
Campo said that he enjoys the variety of activities the club takes part in.
“We hold weekly meetings for movies, board games, video games, and Dungeons & Dragons,” Campo said. “The fact that we can bring so many different people together is nice.”
Boggs-Jones agreed with this sentiment and said that the club has a sense of unity that she feels is a good selling point.
“We’re always interested in more people joining us on Thursdays, so if you’re looking for a place to hang out for a few hours, meet people, play some games, we’ll be glad to have you,” Boggs-Jones said.
