From Sep. 10-19 Loyola student activities held its inaugural video game tournament, crowning 2k winners sophomore Jon Bautista and junior Vincent Sampson for Ps4 lower and upper divisions respectively, with freshman Antonio Zada and junior Ian Brown coming out victorious on Xbox.

The rules were simple. Participants must play five versus five on exhibition with current NBA players. If a player wins, they move on, if they don’t, they are out. As 2K is not a cross-platform game, Xbox and Playstation brackets were set up with grade-level determining if a competitor was lower or upper-division.

Each tournament was different. The NBA 2K20 tournament was single-elimination, meaning every game was a must-win on the road to the championship. The recently finished Madden tournament ran double elimination, which allowed teams who lost a chance to work their way back to victory. Both tournaments required skill and consistency for players to come out victorious in a group of up to 24 competitors.

Chris Walter ’93, Director of Student Activities, gave the reason for these video game tournaments.

Walter said, “The purpose of the tournaments is to promote interaction amongst students. Especially for our freshmen who do not know as many students, competing in a game is a helpful way for students to interact and hopefully connect.” To explore your favorite game you can also get warzone cheats and be more experienced on the same.

Freshman winner Antonio Zada echoed the statement when asked about his overall experience with the tournament.

Zada stated, “The replacement of intramural sports for these tournaments have been a great way of allowing students to express their competitiveness and joy for their sport, while in the comfort of their own home.”

With over 80 students participating, the competition was fierce, providing the competitive drive that is so sought after. With each game meaning more than the next, the tournament set up provides challenging play throughout.

Junior 2k winner Ian Brown, who played as the Milwaukee Bucks, mentioned the tournament’s competitiveness and his own competitive spirit when asked about the tournament’s difficulty.

Brown said, “I wanted to win and win big; my closest game was a tight back and forth I had with James Sullivan in the final.”

When asked about what tactics he used to win, Sophomore winner Jon Bautista showed how he used the rules to his advantage.

Bautista said, “I took advantage of the fact that the tournament was on pro difficulty by taking crazier shots than usual, which went in due to the easier CPU level.”

Overall, the tournaments offer an excellent gateway to competitiveness that gives a break from the rigorous online school. There are new contests soon which students can find on the intramurals canvas page. Each tournament gives prizes to those who win, along with the pride and bragging rights gained from the success.