On Game Night at San Quentin, over 70 residents filled the gym to play tabletop games alongside a single member of the prison staff.
Residents filled a dozen tables lining the basketball court as Game Night aimed to showcase the four specific games of “Dungeons & Dragons,” a role-playing game; “Settlers of Catan,” a resource management game; “Legendary,” a deck-building game; and “Magic the Gathering,” a card trading game. Other games included “Munchkins,” “Stratego,” “Pirate’s Cove,” “Scrabble,” and many more.
San Quentin librarian Gabe Loiederman, the only staff member in attendance, played “Magic the Gathering” with seven residents.
“For the purpose we intended, it was a flop, as we were trying to bring together staff and residents, but for the incarcerated community it was a success. Everyone seemed to have [had] a great time,” said Arturo Vazquez, Vice-Chair of Wall Busters, an independent group of incarcerated gamers who aim not just to change CDCR’s perspective of gaming in prisons, but also to use tabletop games as a catalyst to connect gamers and CDCR’s goal of rehabilitation.
Wall Busters Chair Cristan Rooms called games a form of therapy and described the positive effects of gaming he has witnessed.
“I’ve seen people who play D&D grow, leave gangs, get educated, and join self-help groups. They open up in the game and then open up outside the game,” he said.
Rooms pointed out that besides the benefits of personal development resulting from role-playing games, a variety of games use teamwork to create a spirit of staff-residents amalgamation.
“[In D&D] every member has a role, and that allows for natural cooperation. Not only will staff and residents socialize, they will work together and even engage in a form of therapy together,” Rooms said.
Recently, San Quentin held several events that involved staff members and residents, such as the two physical activities of pickleball and basketball. Wall Busters aims to invite staff to engage with residents in less physical and more social activities.
Vazquez said tabletop gaming has a distinct social quality and involves getting to know opponents and teammates very well, as opposed to the more impersonal sports activities. “Tabletop games are on a turn-by-turn basis, which gives people time to talk and get to know each other. There’s no moment to talk in the middle of a basketball game.”
Residents have handcrafted many of the game sets, repurposing pieces from Scrabble or decks of playing cards. Because administrations have frowned upon prison gaming in the past, many game sets remain unavailable for purchase from vendors. Wall Busters hopes to change that.
The group would like to hold monthly game events for residents and to hold quarterly game events for both residents and staff. The quarterly events would take place Friday mornings to make them easier for staff to attend.
Yanci Dakin, a resident who attended the event, reminisced about other prisons that held similar events. He also noted the benefits he has found in the gaming community.
“We don’t turn anyone away. We all stick together and make friends along the way,” Dakin said. “[Gaming] helps people come in and do something with others, to adjust to social environments. [It] helps them grow.” Willy Alarcon contributed to this article.
Written by By Randy C. Thompson, Staff Writer, and Bostyon Johnson, Managing Editor
