In the dead of night, the distant howl of delighted yells and groans of despair echoed across the second floor of the Holmes Student Center. 

While one might believe the cause to be a wandering spirit of the night or maybe even a student reacting to their midterm grade, the point of origin was the students who participated in the Campus Activity Board’s Casino Night event. 

Held in the Duke Ellington Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center, members of CAB invited NIU students to enjoy casino-themed games with friends. 

Stephani Alvarez, a sophomore nursing major and member of CAB, feels that having unique events to attend can help students blow off some steam from the trials and tribulations of life. 

“It’s something broad and a little different,” Alvarez said. “We want students to play just for fun and hope that they meet new people in the process.” 

As soon as attendees entered the ballroom they could immediately see the early crowds of eager students voraciously encircling the 18 game tables in the middle of the ballroom. 

Each table specialized in one of three types of classic casino games: blackjack, craps and roulette. 

The main game tables looked like they were taken right from a casino, from the green felt with numbered red and black spaces to the brightly colored blue, yellow, green and red chips. 

Each table had a professionally trained dealer that looked and played their role extremely well.

The dealers at the event wore clothing akin to what a dealer would wear during a casino section of a spy movie: a white shirt, black vest and black pants. 

Some dealers also adorned a black bowtie and gold-plated name tag to further enhance the casino-like feel. 

Over the course of the event, each of the main tables was surrounded by around six to 12 students with all of their eyes glued to the game boards. 

Every once in a while, the games could get a little intense as a chorus of joyous screams and exasperated “aarghs” would flood the ballroom with some friendly banter in between. 

However, as popular and attractive as the Casino Night was, a few students were unable to participate due to the high number of attendees. 

Some students needed to watch and wait until the students playing finished their turn, which didn’t usually take long. 

Thankfully, there were other games available besides the ones in the center of the room to occupy visitors while they waited for a turn. 

Toward the main entrance, four tables were set up which each had three decks of cards, a small pamphlet containing games you could play and a scoresheet to keep track of each player’s points. 

These games included spades, cheat, spoons, hearts and rummy. 

Mark Sanchez, a sophomore computer science major, said he was very interested in seeing more events like this in the future. 

“I would really like to see these types of events,” Sanchez said. “It would be more interesting to have events like these happen more often.” 

CAB is well known for introducing fun, interesting events, and the casino night is no exception. 

From start to finish, CAB’s Casino Night attracted students who needed to have a good time and presented them with exactly that.