The Campus Activities Board (CAB) is hosting esports tournaments every Friday and Saturday during the month of October. 

The activities board on campus has been doing their best with coming up with activities to make life during these times a little less rough for students. COVID-19 has put a pause on a lot of activities on campus, from having bingo once a month to having different artists perform on campus.  

Mackenzie Ritscher, the CAB president, with executives of the club, brainstormed the idea of a video game competition during their meeting on Sept. 14.

“They [CAB members] all thought it would be a good idea to try it out,” said Ritscher.

CAB then posted a Google forum on all of their social media platforms to get feedback from students to decide which games were to be played in a tournament fashion. The top four gaming options were narrowed down to Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Fortnite and Super Smash Bros. 

While following COVID-19 protocols and procedures, gaming events are being hosted completely online.

“We hired a company to run the competition for us, so they establish the rules for each game,” said Ritscher when asked about the structure of each competition.

The company hired to structure the events is Bravo Esports, a Midwest Esports Organization located out of Sioux Falls, SD, who host gaming events nationwide.

Since the competition is technically organized by CAB, only Simpson students are allowed to participate. Registration must occur an hour before the event and there is no limit to how many students are allowed to join. 

If the thrill of competition is not enough for you, CAB is providing a $100 cash prize for the winner of each competition. Winners must be verified through Bravo Esports to make certain participants win the event fairly and after that, Rich Ramos, the CAB advisor, will contact the winners. 

“Prizes will be awarded by a college check and will be processed as soon as we have verification from the company running the tournament,” stated Ramos.

Of course, with this being an online competition, the equipment necessary to be able to participate in these events varies for each event. 

“The company gives us the information, and we promote it. Students can find out what equipment they need when the sign-ups go out for the tournament,” said Ritscher. 

For students that do not have the equipment to participate, CAB has thoughts of purchasing equipment for students to rent out, but that is still in the works, according to Ritscher. 

This past weekend on Oct. 10, the first competition of Mario Kart took place via Twitch streaming service hosted by Bravo Esports.

No need to worry, though: there are still three more events to come within the month of October. The next gaming event is Oct. 16 – Animal Crossing, followed by Oct. 23 – Fortnite, and the last event on Oct. 30 – Smash Bros. 

For more information on sign-ups and rules, all events for the month of October are on the SGA website.