I am sitting in Room 303. It is 3:30 in the afternoon, and the club is in full swing. The room is abuzz with excitement, and the cheering and jeering of the audience is deafening. With the exception of a few members just there to watch and talk, the audience are all contenders themselves, waiting for a chance at victory. As for the participants, they are always having fun, whether they’re pounding someone into the ground or getting utterly destroyed by their opponent. This isn’t a pit fight, though- it’s Game Club.

Game club is held every Wednesday in Room 303 from 3:15-4:15. There are either one or two Nintendo Wiis set up in the room, each loaded with usually some kind of fighting game, often one from the “Super Smash Brothers” series. Other games, such as “Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations” and “Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom” have also been alongside the occasional non-fighting game, such as “Mario Party 8.”

Tournaments occur on the last Wednesday of every month. During tournaments, tensions run higher than any normal session will ever experience. When asked what his favorite moment in these tournaments was, sophomore Adam Falcon replied, “When I was gonna win as Fox, but when people ran across the screen like idiots, and I failed to land a last hit, it went to Sudden Death. Then I lost [that round] as Lucas.” Excitement isn’t the only thing that increases during tournaments. The amount of players also increases. There are normally about 10 attendants but that number balloons to at least 16 during tournaments.

The tournaments are advertised around the school, and entrants have to sign up beforehand. Usually, there are snacks on the back table during a tournament. Everyone has fun in the end, despite the occasional “salty” (a gamer term for “angry,” or more specifically, “sore loser”) player.

When asked why Game Club started, Mr. Bullington responded, “Game Club started as a place during lunch where students could go to play games with their friends. When I started teaching here last year, other teachers asked if I could take it over, and we made it into a formal after-school club.”

11th Grader Ismail Roberts, when I asked him why he likes Game Club, said “It’s the only club that I actually like because we get to play video games that we are not able to play during the [school] day.”