Games club takes play seriously
by Pamela Wells
Staff Writer
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Apr. 19, 2000
http://206.144.247.83/200016/potomac/news/8200-1.html

Bruce Cudmore/Special to The Gazette
Mike Bagman, Anita Locke and Victor Hutcherson,
members of the Potomac chapter of Games Club of
Maryland, play a board game recently at the Potomac
Community Center.

Wei-Hwa Huang of North Potomac pulls six cards from a
deck and looks at them.

He places three on the table and tells his opponent, Doug
Hoylman of Chevy Chase, that he will add a floor to the
building and collect $13 in play money. He spends $5 on
cards.

Hoylman looks at Huang intensely as he puts four cards
on the table, and tells Huang that he will put a flat roof on
the building and take five cards.

Huang and Hoylman are playing Landlord by Rio Grande
Games -- a type of card game with specially made cards
where players build apartment houses, lease them and
collect the rent -- at the Potomac chapter of Games Club
of Maryland at Potomac Community Center on a recent
Wednesday.

"I love playing games," Hoylman said. "It is good exercise
for the mind."

Huang agreed.

"I leave work early to come here on Wednesdays," Huang
said. "Playing games is relaxing and it helps me to unwind
from a busy day."

The Potomac chapter of Games Club of Maryland is a
small, loosely knit group of people who come together
most Wednesday evenings at Potomac Community Center
to play board or card games.

Huang said the group has its roots in games night of
Metropolitan Washington Mensa -- a chapter of the
national organization for people with high IQs -- that
began meeting in the 1980s.

The group started a push for more members a couple of
years ago, so Huang searched on the Internet last year
and found Games Club of Maryland in Baltimore.

Huang became a liaison to the Games Club of Maryland,
and more people began to show up Wednesday nights,
which is still listed as games night of Metropolitan
Washington Mensa, as well as the weekly meeting for
Games Club.

The purpose of the club -- which welcomes gamers of all
ages, from novice to experienced -- is to have fun, learn,
share, grow, play and to promote playing games of all
kinds. Some of the games the club plays are Monopoly,
Risk and Settlers of Catan.

The club promotes a positive mental attitude, good
sportsmanship, fair play, flexibility, open-mindedness,
patience and communication. It also offers its members a
bi-monthly newsletter, a personalized membership card,
club T-shirts and discounts on future conventions
sponsored by Games Club of Maryland.

"Gaming is a wonderful hobby," said Keith Levy of
Baltimore, who plays host to the Reistertown chapter of
Games Club of Maryland. "I love sharing that hobby with
people."