A real-life enactment of the popular online survival game, “Granny IRL”, hosted in the Milner basement, was a hit, organized by a group of residential advisors with a determination to bring campus back to life. With a lack of reenactment games on campus, this Granny simulation was a memorable event for both participants and creators.
The concept came from RA Isis Aranda, who saw a TikTok and thought Guilford students would enjoy it. She pitched it to fellow RAs and gathered a team to help plan the event.
After the event, Aranda said preparing for Granny IRL was relatively easy. The simulation required a few supplies—mainly RA volunteers. She recruited about seven.
Aranda also gave insight into new RA committees that have the goal of organizing new events and programs. She hopes this new model will allow RAs to better support what students want to see more of around campus.
“We can actually keep count of how many people show up, what we’re doing, and what’s like calling people’s attention,” said Aranda. “I hope we get to have another [interactive game] too.”
The game was played in the Milner residence hall, with participants meeting in the piano room. The simulation was spread throughout the building, ranging from the basement to the first and second floors of Milner.
According to Aranda, the event was held in Milner due to the building’s layout and easier accessibility to first-year students. Students were greeted by RAs, signed waivers, grabbed snacks, and learned the rules.
In the original game, players run around buildings trying to discover a way out while also trying to avoid Granny, who is chasing players. Once Granny catches players, they are out.
In the first round of this new rendition of the game, RAs were the “Granny.” They were blindfolded and given pool noodles to chase students around the residential hall.
Olivia Folsom, a Milner RA, shared her insight into the event.
“My favorite part about the event was figuring out how we were going to play and set up the rules,” said Folsom.
Folsom also elaborated on the function of the game. In the original Granny game, there are “tasks” the player must complete to escape. In the RA’s reinvented game, the players’ tasks were to collect tickets numbered one through five.
“We hid them all over the building, and they had to match the ink on the tickets,” Folsom said. “Some of them were written in silver ink and some in black ink. You had to find all the silver tickets or all the black tickets.”
Once collected, players had to run back to the piano, and that marked them “escaping.”
Similar to the online game, in each round of Granny, players were given a one-minute head start to spread out and complete tasks. Once the minute was up, the “grannies” set out with their pool noodles to find players.
Both Aranda and Folsom shared their astonishment at the number of participants, whether they came to play or simply observe. More than 60 students came out to the piano room for Granny IRL.
Nadira King, a junior at Guilford, was one student who attended the event. She expressed her interest in there being more events like this around campus.
“It was pretty fun, [there were] lots of people, and everyone was interacting with each other,” said King.
In the second round of Granny IRL, the RA grannies were switched out, allowing the players to take on the role. When elaborating on why games like Granny are important, Folsom focused on the impact these games have on students.
“I think interactive games like that are really fun, engage a lot of people, and get a lot of people to come,” Folsom said.
She discussed how proud she is of the event and the opportunity it has introduced for more games like this to be held on campus.
“I feel like it was a really good event for bringing freshmen out, but I think we should be hosting other kinds of events, not just games to be played.”
Granny IRL has introduced a new idea of interactive gaming to Guilford students. RAs and other students alike hope for more events like it in the future.
