Students get their game on at e-sports event
The Algonquin College Students’ Association partnered with We Got Game to host two e-sports tournaments, FC 24 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, in the Student Commons on March 20.
The SA has worked with the e-sports organization We Got Game for over 10 years. They collaborate each semester to hold free e-sports events at the college open to all students.
Dave Miller, owner of We Got Game, wants to bring more awareness to these events each semester so people can compete against each other, but have fun too.
“We want to bring the best of both worlds and make sure it’s inclusive for everybody to come play and enjoy,” Miller said.
Fourteen schools across Ontario are participating in this event, and the top four winners from each school — two for each tournament — will compete for a prize in an online tournament on the first weekend of May.
According to Miller, We Got Game chose Super Smash Bros. because many people have played it since they were kids, and FC 24 was chosen to attract international students.
Josh Nguyen, a first-year biotechnology student, grew up playing Super Smash Bros. since the original for Nintendo 64. He finished the tournament with two wins and two losses but didn’t advance to the second round.
“Next time I should actually play the game ’cause I haven’t touched the game for almost two years,” Nguyen said.
Ahmed Barry, a first-year construction engineering technician student, won the FC 24 tournament. He came from behind after being down 3-1 in the championship game.
There were a variety of other games for students to drop in and play casually, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, NHL 24, Street Fighter 6 Mortal Combat, and an area with Just Dance where students got together to dance off.
Shantal Gonzalez, a fourth-year bachelor of hospitality and tourism management, walked by the Student Commons and noticed the TV so she started dancing.
“It feels free because no one cares that you can’t dance well,” Gonzalez said. “I think it’s good because everyone is together, and people are watching and it makes them happy.”
Canadian Blood Services had a table set up near the Just Dance area for people to sign up to support their blood drive. They joined the dance as an opportunity to promote themselves.
“We had an idea that if we just participate, we’ll get people to know more about us and they can come to our tables, and it supports them too. t’s really a fun time,” said Monica Lefebvre, a second-year event and conference management student helping CBS.
The winners of the tournaments received $50 gift cards from the SA. For the online tournaments in May, the winner of the FC 24 tournament will get a $2,000 prize pool, while the winner of the Super Smash Bros. tournament will receive $1,000.
“We’re wishing the best to all teams and all players who qualified today, and we’ll see what happens in May,” Miller said.
