What is sometimes rage-inducing and takes approximately three minutes? No, it’s not the football team’s opening drive. It’s Clash Royale.
Hailed as one of the best mobile games of all time, Supercell’s Clash Royale has taken the world by storm. First released in 2016, the Apple App Store’s No. 1 strategy game has evolved through an almost decade-long revolving door of fresh seasons, updates, tweaks and in-game additions.
But in Clemson — and across college campuses nationwide — it feels as if every classroom, bus ride and dining hall is interconnected by Clash Royale’s digital network of goblins and barbarians.
“When I wake up, the bus ride, sometimes in class, sometimes on the bus home, probably when I get home and if we are sitting on the couch in the evening, I like to Clash,” said Ryan Murray, a junior biological sciences major.
In the life of a busy college student, Clash Royale is a coffee break. It’s a three-minute — or sometimes three-hour — recess from daily responsibilities.
“Clash can sometimes affect my studying and distract me from paying attention, but I don’t consider it a major issue,” James Korman, a sophomore finance major, noted. “I usually treat it as a quick break between study sessions rather than a full distraction.”
Yet it’s so much more than a smoke break. It requires focus, strategy and the careful construction of an eight-card army. The game consists of 121 total cards categorized into troops, spells and buildings. Clash Royale players carefully select eight cards to fill their deck.
“You have to know your own deck and kind of master it yourself,” Dan Chaput, a senior management major, said. “Knowing how to defend everything, knowing when to push, count elixir, making elixir trades and that kind of thing is what really separates lower-tier players and high-tier players.”
Elixir is the fuel of Clash Royale. This constantly refilling resource limits how quickly cards can be used, forcing players to balance patience and pressure. It turns Clash Royale into a chess match.
The game follows a ladder format, where wins move players up in the ranks and losses bring players down. The player’s goal is to earn as many trophies as possible and climb their way through the various arenas.
“I had to get to 10,000 max trophies,” Chaput said. “Then, the more I played, the more everyone else played, and it just became kind of addictive to reach the next goal.”
If you have played or seen someone play, the tension and anxiety are palpable.
“Back in middle school, I broke my phone screen, somehow, playing Clash Royale. It has got to be one of the most agonizing things ever,” Chaput said.
“Emotions are flying. It gets intense. Both players leave it all on the line every single time,” Murray said. “There’s not many greater feelings in the world than clutching a hard-fought Clash Royale match.”
But beyond triumphs or defeats, the mobile game beautifully brings people together with its clan feature, multiplayer capabilities and overall gaming community.
“When I see someone on campus playing Clash Royale, it feels good to know I’m not the only one who enjoys the game,” Korman said.
Even against a Mega Knight deck, the game perfectly combines competition with fun.
For the chaos, the comebacks and the thrill of victory, players open the app again and again. That is why we clash.
Brett Porter, Asst. Sports Editor, and Jack Wilbur, Contributor, contributed to the interview gathering and development of this story.
