You walk past the boatroom in the Thornley Middle School building. It’s Friday, so you’re making the regular checks before you go home for the weekend. There’s noise, whispers of, “It’s not me, I promise it’s not me!” and, “You believed me last round, what makes you think I’m the demon now?” But who is it? All the students have left or are in the cafeteria, you’re sure of it. Who could possibly be in the boatroom on a Friday after school? So you open the doors and turn on the lights, because how can you catch these after-school trespassers? But to your surprise, it’s not students, but teachers. What you’ve just walked in on was an intense round of Blood on the Clocktower, being played by the “Middle School MiSCHief” group.
At a board game convention in spring of 2022, Middle school Teacher Mr. Dawe discovered Blood on the Clocktower, a social murder mystery deduction game that was “Unlike anything [he] had ever seen before.” Wanting to bring some new and exciting action to a friend group of faculty who had been previously meeting to play other deduction games, he introduced the game and it has become a hit! In the game, each player receives a token dictating whether they are on the “good” or the “evil” team. The people on the evil team, the demon and their minions, have to blend in and convince the others that they are not a vicious murderer, in game of course. If the demon is one of the final two players, the evil team wins. One person (Mr. Dawe in this case) plays the role of a storyteller, who has already been killed and controls the flow of the game as well as a giant book called The Grimoire which is hollow and contains all the player tokens and other necessary pieces for the game. The game can be played with up to 15 people.
Seventh grade science and CEL teacher, Mrs. Larkin, who considers herself to be an incredible player of the game due to her undefeated record while playing for the evil team, says the gatherings and games, “are really fun.” she understands the value of the bonds and connections and friendships between teachers that it creates.
Head of Middle school, Mrs. Pepino, has witnessed the game being played, but has not participated. “[In the bathroom], Mr. Dawe was walking around without his shoes on, wearing some kinds of sash. Once they started trying to figure out who the bad guys were, it got very serious very quickly,” she says. Mrs. Pepino believes that these games are an incredible and a great way to raise faculty morale and connection in the community. She said, “anytime that teachers feel a sense of belonging, it makes everything better in the classroom, and it ultimately benefits students.” She believes that these games have become an integral part of the middle school faculty community, and encourages even more teachers to try fun things like this with friends.
With an grant he won from an innovation program, Mr. Dawe plans to start a board game design elective for upper school students next year. He hopes that this will allow more “game-oriented” students to tap into their creative side and is excited to see what ideas are presented.
