In lieu of its typical history lectures and exhibits, on Friday the Southeast Ohio History Center will be hosting game night with a historical twist.
The History Game Night event will feature popular games, such as Cards Against Humanity, Jeopardy! and What’s My Line?, all connecting to historical figures and themes. Jeopardy! will be played similar to the show, except every category will be historical. Cards Against Humanity will be a “PG-version” of the original Cards Against Humanity, and it will be based on history. What’s My Line? will have people put famous historical figures on their head and attempt to guess who they are through a series of yes or no questions, Eli Jablonski, the creator of history game night and the front desk manager, said.
According to Jablonski, this will be the first time they’ve done anything like this.
“This is experimental,” Jablonski said. “I wanted to have some events that were more interactive than lectures.”
Students have mixed reviews on their excitement regarding the event.
Erika Matie, a freshman studying conservation wildlife biology, said she is not overly excited about a history-themed game night.
She feels she would be out of place at an event like that because she is not very knowledgeable about the subject the games focus on.
“If I didn’t know that much about history and someone asked me an intricate question (it would be awkward)," she said.
Megan Miller, a sophomore studying history and political science, and a self-proclaimed “history geek” thinks history game night would be a fun experience for her, her fellow history majors and even people who don’t have an interest in the subject.
“I work in the history department with a lot of other kids who are interested in that,” she said. “It would be cool to (interact with) history like that since we don’t get a chance to in class.”
She said this could be a chance to get people who don’t show an interest in history to see that it can be fun when taught properly.
“I think there’s always that idea: a lot of people are used to the boring part of history they learn in high school,” she said. “With a game like this, it would be a way to reintroduce (history) to people in a fun way.”
Jablonski hopes that, if successful, history game night could be a recurring event.
“If this is a success, I’m hoping that we can make it a monthly thing,” he said.
