A Grand Exchange Across Ages and Departments! The Board Game Club Holds Its Annual Grand Thanksgiving Festival! | Club Activity Report

Hello, everyone! I am Kawakami, the Vice President of the Board Game Club.

Right now, there is a quiet trend emerging at SUNNY SIDE UP GROUP… that’s right, “board games”! While they offer the simple joy of being easy for anyone to play and a casual way to interact with members from various departments, only those with both luck and skill can win! Their popularity is skyrocketing among those seeking such thrilling competition!!

The Board Game Club recently held its annual Grand Thanksgiving Festival! We heard that the first-place winner would receive a luxurious prize. Who exactly walked away with the crown…?

What are SUNNY SIDE UP GROUP’s “Club Activities”?

The “Club Activity Support” program is one of the unique employee benefits included in SUNNY SIDE UP GROUP’s “32 Benefits.” With the goal of promoting communication among members and enhancing group synergy, it supports the establishment and continuation of club activities that match members’ various hobbies and interests, regardless of whether they are outdoor or indoor activities.

However, as PR professionals, our mission extends to information dissemination. As demonstrated in this article, members of each club activity freely share their activities on SUNNY DAYS, our group’s owned media platform.

Main Activities of the Board Game Club

Once every two months, members gather after work over food and drinks to interact across generations and departments through various board games, such as the globally popular “Catan” and the quick-to-play “The Thief is Dancing.”

In the past, activities have been held in company meeting rooms and even at board game rental spaces for which SUNNY SIDE UP has handled PR and communications. Every day, heated games unfold with a variety of playstyles: those who fight with meticulous strategies, those who rely on momentum and luck, and those who skillfully deceive their opponents.

The Annual Grand Thanksgiving Festival

The event was greenlit following a call to action from SUNNY SIDE UP’s Iijima, the head of the Board Game Club, who said, “I want to interact more across departments! Let’s hold a Grand Thanksgiving Festival!” A total of 15 members gathered, ranging from junior employees and mid-career hires to veteran management-level members from across the group companies.

Once the sushi, Chinese food, and drinks were ready, the board games began with a toast!

A Continuous Stream of Intellectual Battles and Miraculous Luck Kept the Excitement High Throughout

The 15 players were divided into four teams to play four types of games carefully selected by the President that everyone could enjoy: “6 nimmt!”, “Halt mal kurz”, “Daruma Atsume,” and “Nana Toridori.” They aimed for the championship based on a point system.

With luxurious prizes for the winner on the line, the members were more motivated than ever.

The venue was filled with excitement, with a constant stream of cheers and screams from every table! One particularly memorable game was “Nana-Tori-Dori.” Despite the simple rule of “the first player to empty their hand wins,” its appeal lies in the mental warfare that goes beyond mere luck, involving strategic hand-building and bargaining with other players.

The most intense battle unfolded as the first-place winners from each table joined this game. Additionally, “Daruma Atsume” is a game that tests a player’s courage, much like a game of chicken. The excitement from a series of unexpected miracles was so great that players from other tables even paused their own games to come and watch.

Finally, the championship match featured the top five point-scorers! The chosen game was “6 nimmt!”, known for its engaging tactical play. This has been a staple game since the founding of the Board Game Club, and the seasoned elites were ready to show off their skills.

The winner is…

The one who emerged victorious after the fierce battle was… Yuka Yoshida, a fourth-year employee!

The winner, Mr. Yoshida, was presented with a pair of tickets to a certain theme park. With a beaming smile, he commented, “It was so much fun and I laughed so hard I thought I’d run out of oxygen (laughs). All my fatigue has vanished!” He plans to use the tickets with a colleague from his starting year.

Ms. Yoshida and her colleague enjoying the theme park

And for the runner-up, Daiki Hosoi, a seventh-year employee, a Mölkky set—currently a popular trend—was presented.

This prize reflected the President’s wish that “because this is an indoor club, we should play outside once in a while.”

The one who secured third place was… none other than myself, the Vice President!

I received high-quality spicy cod roe (mentaiko) that the President had purchased in Fukuoka while on a business trip that day. The moment I opened the box, I was surprised by its size and luster! It was a masterpiece that conveyed the President’s great affection for the club members.

Great Interaction Across Departmental Boundaries

This Grand Thanksgiving Festival brought together a diverse group of members, transcending years of service and company boundaries.

Comment from the President:
“I am very happy to see the club members enjoying themselves and interacting harmoniously through board games. It is regrettable that as President, I could not win and lead by example, but I will definitely train hard and seek my revenge next time!

I hope to further expand the circle of club activities where people can immerse themselves and forget about work!”

During the games, titles and career history don’t matter. The strange magic of board games is how serious competition reveals unexpected sides of people you don’t usually see at work, naturally closing the distance between them. Sharing drinks while laughing and saying things like, “You totally tricked me back then! (laughs),” created a space for communication that truly transcended departmental boundaries. The connections formed here are sure to lead to excellent teamwork and the seeds of new ideas in our work from tomorrow onward.

Look forward to our next activity! That concludes the report from the Board Game Club!