Kara Gutormson

SDSU students warm up their dice and gather their Magic and Dragons to head to the Dungeons in preparation for game day.

To bring in the new semester, the South Dakota State University Games Club will be having a game day Feb. 9 in the Black Hills Room of the Student Union. The event will start at 10 a.m. and will go until 10 p.m.

The club invites anyone who wants to meet and compete with other area adventure gamers who play collectible card games, role-playing games, board games, miniatures and computer games.

Some of the games featured at the game day will be: Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons, Heroclix, B-17 Queen of the Skies and other role-playing games. David Laffrenzen, the SDSU Games Club president and a junior pre-pharmacy major, said meeting people with the same interests is definitely a perk of being a member.

The SDSU Games Club is a branch of the Midwest Area Gaming Enthusiasts (M.A.G.E.) organization. Jim Lurvey is the games club’s adviser as well as the director of the Brookings chapter of M.A.G.E. Lurvey has kept up his gaming hobby for decades. The fascination that started with toy soldiers in the late 1950s developed into his hobby in college, which was when Lurvey started playing miniatures and strategy adventure games.

First established at SDSU in the 1970s, the games club has faded in and out of popularity through the years. As the adviser, Lurvey has taken an active role to redefine the club and keep it alive. Even now, the SDSU club has sporadic membership and is looking for more interested students to join. The club will be meeting on Feb. 17, as well as every Sunday through April 6, from 12 to 6 p.m. in the Oakwood Room (273) of the Student Union.

The club welcomes first timers as well as veteran gamers. Popular games include Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons. The objective of Magic: The Gathering is to build a deck of cards that contains various types of cards that cast different spells. Casting spells allows a player to gain dominance over an adversary by taking away all his life points. Dungeons and Dragons is a role-playing fantasy game that entails acting, storytelling and social interaction. Players create heroic fantasy characters (such as mighty warriors, stealthy rogues or powerful wizards) which players try to develop and grow with each adventure completed. One person is the Dungeon Master, who controls the monsters and enemies, narrates the action, referees the game and sets up the adventure.

There are no dues required for the club. Students should just come to a meeting and be ready to get their game on. For more information on the SDSU Games Club or M.A.G.E., contact Jim Lurvey at [email protected].