You know what the best kind of drinking games are? The ones where you don’t actually drink anything and spend more time trying to screw over your opponents.

Before you get the wrong idea, let me explain; last night, Dork Club collaborated with shOUT for a gaming night. I might not agree with some of the things shOUT represents, but that doesn’t matter; what does matter is that we are a bunch of Wabash men getting together for a couple of games, some soda and pizza. I think that’s another thing I like about Wabash; we are polite and intelligent enough to set aside our differences long enough to have some fun and do productive things with one another. We exchange cards instead of ideologies, dice rolls instead of insults, and the worst arguments we get in are over whether or not Card A interrupts Action B. On the gaming table, everyone is equal (except for heretics and xenos. All shall burn in the light of the Emperor).

I spent the first few minutes just milling around, eating pizza and drinking soda. Afterwards, I settled down for a few rounds at The Red Dragon Inn, and that’s where my introduction comes into play.

Red dragon Inn is a pretty fun game. The premise is that you take the role of an adventurer in a fantasy world (think Dungeons and Dragons), however the adventure is already over and you and your buddies decide to go to the local tavern for drinks and games. Using your abilities and a pile of cards representing the bar, your goal is to drink your opponents under the table without passing out or going broke in the process.

Understand, this is all in good fun, and nobody actually gets hurt. If anything, we spent more time making Monty Python jokes than anything that could be considered rambunctious.

Anyway, the first round saw me as a Wizard (and his rabbit familiar named Pooky). I was still getting used to the game, so after losing most of my gold in a gambling match I had to work very hard to not get knocked out. Fortunately for me, the dwarf in our party had worse luck than me and had to bow out on account of having no money, followed later by the bard who had a severe case of “being targeted by the other members”. Sadly, my luck ran out and I lost the last of my money and was forced to leave the table. I took the time to finish setting up my Space Marines as a bit of a showpiece, while back at the table Professor Porter’s Half-Ogre ended up winning the round (yay for him).

With that round finished, and after a brief pause for snacks, we started a new round. I chose to play as the Elven Priestess (because you can’t argue with Elves), and did my best not to repeat the mistakes of my last round. I think I did pretty well, choosing to convert a few people and pray rather than gamble, and I did help knock the Thief out of the round. However, the Priestess is not very good at redirecting her drinks, so I ended up passing out towards the end of the game (although I did much better than I thought I would. Once again, Professor Porter won (this time playing as a human Warrior/ Barbarian) and as it was getting rather late I packed up my things and headed back to the house.

I think that when different clubs and groups can mingle with one another, we really get a chance to grow. Wabash is all about moving beyond normality and embracing new things, and it’s about being a gentleman and acknowledging that there are people out there that might not agree with you on some issues, but are willing to come together for food and games. Connections are what make people, and if we start connecting with one another then maybe we wouldn’t have so many disagreements.