Making friends at college can be awful. It wasn’t until my second semester here that I really began to find my people. In the meantime, it can be quite isolating and lonely. Trading Card Games (TCGs) make the process of finding friends and a community a whole lot easier.
Three summers ago, I picked up Magic the Gathering, and my hometown friends bonded over playing until all hours of the night during our collegiate breaks. The next summer, I picked up Pokémon and began making new friends at my local game store (LGS), Tabletop Gaming Center. I slowly began to realize an obvious fact that a lot of people often forget: Making friends can be as simple as showing up.
I love playing TCGs, and the people that I’m surrounded with at LGSs all carry the same interest. After playing a little bit once a week, people started to recognize me. Instead of just telling my opponent what attack I was going to use, now I was telling them about how badly I failed my math exam a few hours prior. It’s very easy to have banter and conversation when you have the perfect medium of a card game to break the ice.
For a lot of people, making friends can be hard, and it’s my belief that TCGs are one of the best ways to find a community if you’re looking for one. So, where do you start?
For location, I have an entire column covering exactly where and how to play TCGs in Storrs! Go read that and then come back here.
For which TCG to play, I’ll give you a quick rundown of how to decide.
If you’re a big anime fan and have watched all 1,180 episodes of “One Piece,” the best place to start is the One Piece TCG. I’ve played a few weeklies at Tabletop Gaming Center with the “One Piece” community, and they’re all incredibly welcoming. Some even donated me some stronger cards to upgrade my deck with! If you’ve watched “One Piece,” you’ll have plenty of ways to start a conversation beyond the current board state. Even if you haven’t though, this is a great community of people, and is never a bad spot to start.
If you’re more of a video game fanatic, Riftbound could be more up your alley. Riftbound is the official TCG of Riot Games, with all the cards based on the League of Legends universe. I again have only good things to say about this community, as everyone is incredibly welcoming.
While there aren’t currently any on-campus clubs to play Riftbound or One Piece in, heading to a LGS in the area is a great way to make friends through these games.
Penultimately, Magic: the Gathering is the staple of TCGs. It’s the older brother to effectively every game there is, and you’ll find tons of support for this game no matter where you are in the world. Commander is the format that people usually find best for community building and having fun, but I personally have some trouble keeping up with all the things happening across a four-person board. While Magic is an amazing TCG competitively and a great foundation, starting with a more straightforward one-on-one format could be useful to learn the fundamentals before diving into the communal aspects of commander.
Finally, my favorite: Pokémon. This TCG is amazing for beginners and starters alike, with a pretty low skill floor. It’s easy to pick up, incredibly cheap to purchase and very fun to play. The community is warm and welcoming, and I’d recommend any person looking to make friends to find this game!
In the next edition of the Card Corner, I’ll be looking more at the competitive aspects of TCGs, and how the scene is functioning as a whole right now. I hope you have an amazing rest of your week, and best of luck on all your projects, homework and exams!