All the classrooms are empty. The first couple of boys arrive at school at 7:45 a.m. and sit on a bench in the ninth grade hallway, looking at their screens and furiously moving their fingers. As classes get closer, more boys join the group and pull out their phones. Lively laughter and shouts can be heard down the hallway as boys duel each other, defeating or losing to others.
These ninth grade boys aren’t the only ones participating in this viral video game. Brawl Stars has earned the attention of many people, earning high quality reviews on the Apple Store about how fun it is to play. The game itself creates a friendly yet competitive environment between ninth grade boys and allows them to easily play together before, during and after school.
The game is a classic three-person shooting game, where you use your fingers to manipulate virtual joysticks. You play as your chosen brawler and compete in a variety of events. In these events you face off against other brawlers in order to complete a special objective that is unique to the mode.
Alex Reyes has gained a sense of community with many other ninth grade boys by playing this game.
“It’s a brotherhood, it’s a lifestyle,” Alex said.
Alex feels like the game has allowed him to have a tighter bond with his friends because it allows him to hang out with them virtually and in other places than school.
The game allows for boys to play together whenever they want. The game is a common activity between boys and is a regular occurrence in their lives, which results in a close community being formed.
As Brawl Stars has gotten more popular, more boys start to play to spend time with their friends, creating a bigger majority of players.
“It was just something fun to do with my friends,” Xavier Fisher said.
Another reason for its popularity is its convenience.
“It’s a special bond. My friends can easily download it, and since it’s free everyone can just play,” Elijah Williams said, emphasizing its convenience.
Elijah spends many hours playing this game, even calling himself addicted, due to gaining more characters and playing different modes, which incentivizes constant playing.
“One day over the summer in Michigan, I stayed up from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. nonstop grinding trophies on Brawl Stars,” Elijah said.
The game consists of five different modes that allows the boys to pick and choose what to play. Some of the modes can be played with friends, and others can be played separately. Along with the modes are different characters, brawlers, that can be unlocked through winning trophies and gaining gems.
Brawlers all have different super abilities that are unique to the character and give the character a special feature that can help win the game. Some abilities include health rate, damage to an opponent, movement speed and attack range.
“Shelly is the starting brawler that is unlocked upon beginning the game,”Elijah said. “She has moderate health, damage output, and a fast movement speed. Her attack is a burst of shotgun shells that deal high damage up close.”
As the clock hits 8:25 a.m. the boys slowly but surely start to disperse to their classes but will return again the next morning to continue playing.
