Bursting into the mobile game scene, Clash Royale, developed by the company Supercell, quickly rose to be one of the most popular games when it was released in 2016. Currently, the game has 468 million downloads. The game recently hit its peak month with an estimated 50 million daily players in the month of September. Clash Royale has been popular since its release, but the recent spike in popularity has brought it to the Free State with the addition of Clash Club.
The club is sponsored by English teacher Kylee Johnston in room 306. Every Monday, members of the club get together to play the strategy card game and battle it out against each other.
One of the members who helped start the club is junior Will Walker. He said he started the club to be able to spend time with friends and teach others about the game.
“I love the game, and I felt that other people loved it too. I wanted to spend time with my friends playing Clash and meeting new people in the growing Clash community at Free State,” Walker said. “In Clash Club, we mostly just play Clash and compete. We also teach people how to improve at the game. It’s a very fun and welcoming environment.”
Having played the game for a long time, Senior Silas Frost has become a highly ranked player when it comes to Clash Royale, with a best finish of top 1,000 in the world. Frost said the game’s growth is obvious based on the number of people he sees playing in public.
“I have now played for five years, and the growth of the game became apparent by just the sheer amount of people that are playing in any public setting,” Frost said. “I’ve noticed more recently that in the school, or at any other public place, there is someone playing a game of Clash.”
The game involves two players going head-to-head with an eight-card deck, with each card having a unique feature. To keep the game growing, Frost would like to see new cards and new game modes.
“I feel like the game’s growth really falls on the company that owns the game, Supercell. If they continue to implement good updates and new content… I think that the game will continue to grow,” Frost said.
