Chapter Spotlight

Zombies take Chicago

By Beverly Lau ’06

We in Chicago discovered something new this year. Reedies LOVE board games! Personally, I haven’t met a Reedie who didn’t like to think about optimizing resource production to gain victory points.

So far, we’ve had three board game nights, each centered around a different game. Our first event featured Settlers of Catan, which I learned to play at Reed. Our second event, held on Friday the 13th, featured Last Night on Earth, the zombie board game. (It even came with its own spooky soundtrack, which we played throughout the night!) The most recent event introduced players to Carcassonne, a board game set in Medieval France, in which players build cities, roads, and farms with intersecting tiles.

Here are some things we like about board-game nights:

They’re cheap. People bring games they already own and we have a snacks-and-drinks potluck.

They’re easy to plan. We find a host, we pick a date and time, and we advertise. No pressure on the hosts to cook or reserve tables, and (hopefully!) not much cleanup afterward.

They allow for easy socialization. It’s easy to talk to somebody else when you have a common goal—like killing zombies.

They attract people of all ages. Since conversation need not be the main event, alumni of all ages have been known to show up. (Not to imply that we don’t talk about random other things as well.)

They’re fun! Board games are fun. Period.

So, bring on the zombies—er, I mean board games!