The Fresno State FREAKS (Finding Responsible and Entertaining Activities on KampuS) club has grown since its fall 2010 inception.
Since its inaugural semester””with weekly events that averaged 17 people in attendance””the FREAKS club has expanded.
The club has more than 150 new members this semester, said Gregory Thatcher, who earned his doctorate in health promotion and behavior, and is the club’s faculty advisor.
FREAKS is a board game club that hosts tournaments and promotes building critical thinking by playing various types of non-traditional board games.
The club’s main goal, Thatcher said, is to provide Fresno State students and community members a fun, safe environment that serves as a viable alternative on how to spend a Friday night.
“The intention of FREAKS is to try to get the community and students the opportunity to have a safe place to come and have fun on the weekends to try to reduce health risk behavior,” Thatcher said.
On average, the events have more than 80 board games to choose from, Thatcher said. The games vary in time consumption.
“The games are sporadic in terms of the length,” Thatcher said. “We have some games that play in five minutes. We have some games that play in 10 hours.
“Certain games don’t get played at FREAKS because of the length, but some of the games will get started so that we can teach people.”
The club holds events every Friday from 5 p.m. to midnight in either the University Student Union or the University Dining Hall.
The venue for the weekly events are sporadic and depend on whether or not the dining hall is rented out by other parties, Thatcher said. When held in the dining hall, the events average more than 60 people in attendance, Thatcher said.
Club president Joshua Martin said the idea to schedule the events on Fridays was an efficient one.
“Students need time to study,” Martin said. “Doing it in the middle of the week just doesn’t make sense. Whereas doing it on a Friday night, people are going to out and have fun anyways, hey, why not come play with us?”
Thatcher said he believes the most popular misconception associated with the club is that it is only intended for serious board gamers with expertise and skill.
“People get intimidated because they are afraid they are not going to be able to play the games,” Thatcher said. “These games are easier than Monopoly once you’ve played them a few times.”
The club’s presence has expanded beyond the Fresno State campus. Thatcher said similar clubs modeled from FREAKS are in the process of being established at Washington Union High School and California State University, Fullerton.
Andrew Capitulo, a second-year student at CSU Fullerton and brother of FREAKS vice president Marc Capitulo, recently established a FREAKS club on the Fullerton campus. The club is officially recognized by the university’s student union, Andrew Capitulo said.
The club held its first event last Friday. Seven people were in attendance, he said.
The club’s central idea remains the same as Fresno State’s club, Capitulo said.
“This is an alternative way to have students, faculty and staff to enjoy good board games together and socialize,” Capitulo said.
Thatcher founded the FREAKS club at the University of West Florida and at Florida State University during periods when Thatcher was a professor at the two campuses.
“When I moved it to Florida State…what was interesting was that two of the lineman on their football team were the president and vice president,” Thatcher said.
“It was really interesting because we had a lot of people,” he said. “Football players would come on Friday nights and their coaches encouraged it to kind of keep them out of trouble.”
The club will host its biannual Liar’s Dice tournament on Oct. 19. It is the club’s most attended event, Thatcher said.
“There is a principle in behavior change that says, essentially, don’t give up on something until you’ve tried it at least once,” Thatcher said.
“The biggest thing about this club is, if you come and try it, you will enjoy it””I promise that. Give it a shot.”