#2: Boardgames

The one activity that will always resonate with me when I think “College experience” is actually not alcohol, but instead boardgames. Let’s not forget I was a complete prohibitionist my freshman year, I toyed with alcohol for roughly 2 months my sophomore year before going cold turkey for a year and a half, I used it as a “recovery formula” after my breakup, and now I’m in the healthiest state of drinking in moderation. Regardless of all these facts, boardgames ironically allowed me to bond THE MOST with all the friends I’ve made at UCSD. It remains to be seen how long these bonds will last after graduation, but I will always remember the four years of memories I’ve had in playing boardgames with all of my friends.

FRESHMAN YEAR:

The first boardgame I ever played at UCSD was Quelf, and this was on John Torres’s 18th Birthday (October 2008). It brought me closer to my apartment mates (Ryan, Victor, Brett, John Torres, Howard, and Leandro) as well as our neighbor Alexis. Granted, it was pretty funny seeing Brett not know all seven continents and getting slightly angry when he got questions wrong. SIGHSIGH Good times.

Any way, in being so closed-minded at the time, I refused to engage in underage alcohol-consumption, refusing to hang out with my suitemates (and my neighbor suite) whenever they participated in partying activities. I appropriately began spending my weekends with friends two floors below me – playing fun pure games like Cranium. (With Ann, Minju, Tina, Sharon, etc.)

In the summer of my freshman year, I worked at a dreadful place called Conference Services. Not having many friends around, I spent the lonely wee hours of my summer watching Beverly Hills 90210 on my laptop. Eventually though I bonded with one of the people I was living with (Robert). We randomly started hanging out with one of our neighbors one day and played Monopoly. Then they all got into a room to smoke some weed, so me and Robert ultimately left the building.

SOPHOMORE YEAR:

Fall Quarter (mostly Weeks 1-3) comprised of playing the game “BANG!”, introduced to me by my roommate Jonathan Chou. After the perpetual joking of “banging one another”, we eventually got the hang of the game, playing till roughly 3AM every day (with Howard, John Torres, Leandro, Tyler Nelson, etc.). I still won’t forget the times when John Torres & Michelle yelled at one another over the game; and the time when Jonathan Chou called Julie Chen “Stupid” over the context of the game. John Torres gave me Monopoly on my birthday appropriately enough (and yet, we rarely ever played it). Making friends with Amy and Rosario resulted in them coming over to not only play Mario Kart, but also  Bang!, Apples to Apples and Monopoly.

When I brought back “Loaded Questions” from my house, it became by far the most played game that would consume my sophomore year.  These games became not only bonding experiences with my apartment-mates sophomore year but also new people! Lauren, Kunal, and I had our first “hang-out” January 22nd which comprised of playing both Apples to Apples and the Game of Life. After the very memorable Spirit Night the PAW clique developed and solidified as a collective unit as me, Alex, Matt Diamond, Kunal, Amul, Wanting, & Lauren would hang out. What activities did we do? BOARDGAMES of course, in the form of Bang & Cranium. I also played RISK with Tyler’s neighbors (Maya, Linda, Katie, Nina, Doug), which we never finished even though we said we would…

Risk eventually took over as a dominant game in our bonding experiences with one another. Unfortunately for all of us, that game has a tendency to make people “VERY ANGRY”. I remember Austin coming over one day (to hang out with John Torres), criticizing my game play with Howard. I told him to leave the apartment, to which John Torres said “You can’t do that”. Such a sad…. sad…. time. LOL.

With that, the PAW clique bonded, I broke away from my apartment-mates and life moved on.

JUNIOR YEAR:

Tiffany Saw invited me over to her place, and that was where I met a ton of people (through the playing of…. BOARDGAMES!) Where I met and played Taboo/Loaded Questions with Louise, Michelle, Vaibhav, John, Jonathan Cui, Yao Lin, Gordie, Matt, Angela, Lisa, Daniel, Kristy, & Dylan. We played for several weeks on end before the whole thing just exploded upon itself.

The way I bonded best with the members of ICRA (during ICRA training) was through boardgames. It was only through the initial playing of Loaded Questions that we began teasing one another (Making fun of Cindy/Geetha). The ICRA clique had its early roots in Loaded Questions as Rashika, Amul, BeeJohn, Geetha, Cindy, & I played during the one week they called training. Granted, we didn’t really hang out during the Fall Quarter, but things began to change in subsequent quarters as me and Geetha got together, and we began playing more and more games together.

It was in fact probably Cranium: Scribblish that got me, Geetha, Matt Diamond, Bijan, & Brett to bond the most (picture below):

The night before Geetha and I “got together”, we played boardgames together. Clue became another fascination this quarter, as I continued to play with my previous PAW-mates, Scrabble was played with Amul & Lauren, and Monopoly played with my ICRA-Clique mates. And yet, Loaded Questions remained the funnest way to bond with people:

Whether with Geetha, Rashika, Bijan, and Amul or other groups (Adam, Jessica, David, Michael, etc.), the end result was sheer entertainment for all of us. Not to mention creating bonds that were immensely unforgettable.

SENIOR YEAR:

The “Settlers of Catan” became a hot commodity over the summer as me, Geetha, Lauren, Tyler (with other people: Rosario/Adam/Jessica,etc.) interchangeably played.

Not many boardgames were played Fall Quarter, but after my breakup, I relied on boardgames to achieve the pure happiness I once had. It didn’t end up being the same, the mere entertainment value wearing away.

Some things were satisfied with the introduction of new boardgames such as Munchkin Fu & Guillotine (but they were otherwise long and excessive at the same time). Eventually, things changed as my new group became primarily Henry, Sid, Luke, Adam, & Jessica. We played boardgames for a while but I needed an even better escape from the post-traumatic stress of a breakup.

HENCE, BOARDGAMES AND DRINKS I & II. Intertwining boardgames and alcohol was not only creative, but it was immensely fun. Fortunately for everyone involved the boardgames and drinks eventually just turned into a party.

Boardgames & Drinks I attendance: Alex, Adam, Rosario, Henry, SId, Jessica, Tyler, Michelle, Louise, Amy, Brian, Angie, Julia, Vaibhav, Dylan

Boardgames & Drinks II attendance: Tim, Manuel, CHris, Tyler, Hiep, Natesa, Sid, Nandhu, Henry, Lillian, Thomas, Alex, Luke, Gail, Julia, Amy, Rosario, ANgie, Yue, Louise, Vaibhav, Michelle, Daniel, Melody, Jonathan Chou, Francisco, & Sheenanh

In the end, boardgames will always be a symbol of my college experiences: up from the beginning of the days when I bonded with my freshman/sophomore suites & apartment, to the days I bonded with newer persons, to the days I bonded with the PAW/ICRA cliques I once had, to the days of bonding with various factions (that aren’t really cliques anymore). In the end, boardgames will always serve a reminder of the indoor recess memories I once had growing up.