Nerd Out with Chatham Tabletop Gaming Club
Students enjoy playing tabletop games in Carriage House. (Liam Lyons)
Sophia “WORM” Margittai ’25 had a nagging feeling something was going to go wrong. The president of the Chatham Tabletop Gaming Club was waiting with 14 other club members for their ride to the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival earlier this semester.
“It’s five minutes late... 10 minutes late... 30 minutes late... an hour late,” recalled WORM, who uses the singular “they” pronoun.
Thankfully, someone came to the rescue: one of the club’s members brought a minivan, allowing everyone to fit neatly into their own vehicles and carpool to the festival in Westmoreland County.
“If we had more than 15 people, even 16, it wouldn’t have worked,” WORM said. “It was crazy.” Frustrating as the mixup was, the solution served as an example of the closeness of the community created by the Chatham Tabletop Gaming Club.
WORM started the club in fall 2022. Their original intention was to create a group to play Dungeons & Dragons, the influential fantasy roleplaying game that has amassed a legion of devoted players since its release in 1974.
But the club’s scope broadened almost immediately to include games like D&D – whose “campaigns” require a high level of commitment as they stretch across multiple hours-long sessions – alongside games with a lower barrier to entry, such as the video game Mario Kart or the card game UNO.
One of WORM’s goals for the club was to create a sense of community at Chatham between people on campus. They noticed at meetings that many commuter students joined gaming sessions in Carriage House to socialize outside of class. One of those students was Fiona Lilly ’25, who is now the club’s treasurer.
“I commuted last year, and I really wanted to find ways to connect with people,” she said. “I saw there was an UNO contest, and I saw there was a new club forming ... and I’m like, yes, that sounds good. I like games, this looks like this will be fun and not too much effort.”
Now that she’s a club officer, she joked she might have misjudged how much effort she’d put into it. “It was just a lot of fun,” Lilly said of the inaugural UNO tournament. “The first event being a big success was honestly really impressive.”
Part of the draw to the club is the friendliness of the competition, Lilly said. Slower than playing sports but more energetic than a regular social gathering, it provides an easy ramp to meeting people with similar interests. It also offers a low stress, low stimulation environment for students who have autism— something students on the autism spectrum have expressed appreciation for, WORM said.
“It just gives you a feeling of safety knowing that you’re welcome, knowing you’re amongst your peers, knowing that it’s okay if you don’t socialize with everybody, because the fact that you even showed up is really great and you should be proud of yourself for that,” they said.
“As a club, we are here to play games,” Lilly added. “When you walk up, you don’t have to worry about making conversation. All you have to worry about is playing the game. As you play the game, it enters you into a social situation in an easier way than having to start a conversation with a stranger without that tool.”
Sebastian Mull ’25, the club’s lore keeper – he keeps track of the games and helps explain rules to new players – said the club is planning more events for the semester, including another UNO tournament and, on Dec. 1, a scavenger hunt, where the club will hide clues and riddles related to sustainability around campus. The winner, plus the top two runners up, will get prizes.
But anyone who’s looking for a fun and relaxing game can come to the club’s regular events, like when they play Magic: The Gathering and other games on Thursdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Carriage House. The club is also looking for more Dungeon Masters, the people who oversee and narrate Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.
You might be surprised how much fun you have when you can lose yourself in a game surrounded by good company.
“I really want the CTGC to continue being a bridge between students of all different backgrounds and occupations because everyone should be able to nerd out,” WORM said. “That was the intention behind the club's creation, and it will always remain our core value.”
Keep up with the Chatham Tabletop Gaming Club on their Instagram page, and watch my.Chatham's Happenings page for announcements about club gatherings.
Mick Stinelli is a writer and digital content strategist at Chatham University. His work has previously appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 90.5 WESA, and WYEP.org.