World Games Expo highlights cultural games

Students were able to learn and play games from around the world at the first World Games Expo, hosted by the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Programs on Tuesday at Cal State Fullerton.

Kristen McVaugh, a graduate assistant for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs, said it was important to have this event so students could highlight games from their culture and share their cultural pride and excitement with the campus community. 

The diversity initiatives on campus partnered with Student Programs & Engagement and the Association for Intercultural Awareness to share games from different cultures. 

The event featured soccer, mahjong, chess, cricket, bowling, Teqball, Daruma and many other games along with two food trucks on the lower level of the Titan Student Union, Tuffy Lawn and the Student Recreation Center. Over 150 people participated in the event. 

Cynthia Barajas, a graduate assistant for student programming and engagement, said “the main mission of this all was just to combine diversity, combine culture, and combine a lot of people to come and celebrate it.”   

McVaugh said planning for the event started in the spring of last year. They recruited several clubs and organizations to participate in the event. Of five clubs that submitted games to the event, only two clubs were present. Marketing for the event began last semester in the fall. 

“I love the idea of having people’s cultures represented within ASI and within Fullerton overall, and I’m glad we were able to provide the food trucks to obviously get more engagement,” said Aundrea Nuñez, a graduate student for Associated Students programming and engagement. “I think people are enjoying it so I think we got a pretty good turnout.” 

Patrick Aniel, a second-year mechanical engineering major and president of the Japanese Anime Club, said that participating in the event was a good way to promote the club to possible new members. 

“We’re trying to focus on making sure that we get a lot of people into our club, finding a focus and finding a home, maybe for some people to hang out, especially with a very niche topic like anime or Japanese culture in general,” Aniel said. 

They said the club chose to play daruma at the event because it was easy. Daruma-san ga koronda is a Japanese game similar to Red Light, Green Light, where players slowly move toward someone while they aren't looking. 

“People have watched ‘Squid Game’ and probably might make that connection. In a way, they might be like, ‘Oh, I want to play Red Light, Green Light,’” Aniel said. 

Ana Alves, a second-year graduate student in the master’s program for kinesiology and vice president of the Teqsports club, was promoting sports like Teqball — a sport that was invented in 2014 that combines elements of ping pong, volleyball and soccer. To play Teqball, it requires a specific curve-shaped table, similar to a ping pong table, and a ball used for soccer or volleyball.

“We have a lot of people playing, learning this sport, and we have people signing up for our future club, so I’m really happy for this event,” Alves said. 

Because this is the first event of its kind, McVaugh said she would like to see more club participation to continue holding the event. 

Fhil Ladores, a second-year communications sciences and disorders student, said he enjoyed the event but would have liked to see more sports that aren’t as well-known. 

McVaugh wrote in an email to the Daily Titan, “We are excited to help students share the diversity within the fitness realm of sports and games, so we would love to have even more students participate next year!”