For the 2023-2024 school year, the Associated Student Body has approved 29 new clubs. The Accolade’s cub reporters from the beginning journalism class will report on each new group in alphabetical order. For the previous ones that have already been posted, be sure to go to the Feature section. 

It’s no secret that many students are engrossed in their phones in the 21st century, spending most of their screen time either playing mobile and video games or watching YouTube or TikTok content.

Many most likely have forgotten about the traditional screen-less board games to entertain themselves – face-to-face competition ranging from the allure of collecting the most fake paper money in Monopoly or the Game of Life to the hands-on experience of moving actual pieces across squares as in Sorry!

Approved by the Associated Student Body [ASB] on Monday, Oct. 9, the Board Game Club creates a place to get away from electronics and hang out with friends, said junior Malekai Yun, co-president of the club. 

“As a kid, I loved playing board games with friends and family,” Yun said. “When I was little, and my cousins came down from out of town, we’d always play Monopoly. Win or lose, we all enjoyed playing, and it was something that we did all the time, which brought me to love the game.” 

Yun said he decided to start this group alongside fellow junior Giovanni Diaz after talking about what they envisioned upon getting the ASB’s approval. 

“I decided to bring board games to Sunny Hills as I saw a chess club, but not a club for just board games in general,” Yun said. “So me and my friend thought, ‘Why not start a club for board games?’ We can chill in a classroom during lunch and just have a fun environment for us and others to play board games.”

The club’s nearly 20 members share a testament to the chill and fun environment Yun describes that draws so many to join.

“I was passing by and saw my friends,” said junior Ramon Garganera, who was invited Friday, Dec. 9, by Yun to play Connect 4 while he was passing by in the hall during a club meeting. “[This] club is cool, … I will [be coming] back.”

Upon entering Room 71 during the group’s lunchtime meeting, club members can pick from a selection of interactive activities that adviser Christian Llamas keeps in a plastic bin, including Uno, Dos, Guess Who? and Sorry! Members can also bring their own screenless ones to play with each other.

Sophomore Wyatt Boles said he joined the group during its first meeting after Yun met him in the Sunny Hills soccer team and invited him while promoting what the club had to offer. So far, Boles’ favorite is Uno, a card game that up to 10 players can play.

“[It’s] really competitive … because everyone is included,” Boles said.

The club’s environment is fun with every victory bringing smiles on faces and with every defeat producing light-hearted teasing from the winner.

Llamas said Yun had approached him to be the adviser, and since then at the meetings, he’s also joined in the game-playing.

“The meetings are a good time for members to come spend time together,” said the Spanish teacher, who has played Uno and Operation. “I get a chance to get to know students outside the classroom, and the students feel like they can be themselves more.”

Members are free to eat their lunch and play or even watch others play and cheer their friends on. 

“[Our goal] was seeing students who weren’t friends before, play games with [each other] and have fun together,” Yun said. “I don’t plan on holding any board game tournaments, but it could be a consideration for the future. We have plenty of board games for a lot of students so the amount of students as of now is a good amount.”

The Board Game Club meets every other Wednesday at lunch in Room 71. The group also posts updates on its Instagram @shhs.bgc. For more information, contact Yun at [email protected] or Diaz at [email protected].