In the wake of the news that the school would not be putting on the bachelor auction this year, the school knew they had to something new that would be just as good, if not better, than the auction. Eventually as the idea came in and out SBO advisor, Erik Gunn, decided to hold multiple video game tournament including the likes of Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros., and Fortnite. I recently interviewed him to discuss the tournaments.

Why did you decide to hold these tournaments?

“We knew going into the school year that we were not going to be doing the bachelor auction for a number of different reasons. We just kind of decided ‘Ok if we’re going to lose that activity that everyone loved then we have to try and replace it with something.’ And the idea was that there’s no one activity that can simply replace the bachelor auction, so we decided that there needed to be more activities to replace the bachelor auction. What we decided to do is try and reach as many people with different types of activities; so, we went athletics, and with the ugly sweater it’s more of a creative aspect, and with video games we were reaching into another aspect. It’s just about trying to reach as many people with as many activities as possible.”

What kind of tournaments are there?

“So, we played Mario Kart on Tuesday which was awesome. Coming up we have the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and the Fortnite duos tournaments.”

What are the prizes?

“We made custom made trophies. Mr. Leifson laser cut some trophies out of acrylic and engraved them. Along with the trophies were giving every winner a $10 gift card.”

How do you sign up for one of the tournaments?

“There are sign up forms outside of room 1802 in the commons. After you fill out the form you just need to pay the entry fee and bring the both the form and receipt to me, Mr. Gunn, in room 1802.”

How many people have signed up?

“I don’t have a firm count yet. We had about 20 in the Mario Kart tournament and 16 in the spike ball tournament. We don’t have the final numbers yet for any of the other tournaments, but I know we printed 50 forms for both the Smash Bros and the Fortnite tournaments and I’ve had to reprint forms for both. So over 50 forms have been taken but I don’t know how many have actually signed up.

If you get the chance would you want to hold more of these tournaments in the future?

“I think so. We’ve had good success and positive feedback from the people who have participated so far. So, I definitely think it’s something we’re going to pursue and have maybe a few times a year in the future. Our goal as a student body officer group is to try and create activities for as many people as we can. Some people don’t like sports, some people don’t like theatre, some people don’t like music, so what we’re trying to do is provide activities that reach a broad amount of people that have different interests.”

The tournaments have already raised a lot of interest and has already seen a good amount of success. The tournaments are to help raise money for the Sub for Santa fundraiser. If you have any interest in participating and potentially winning a beautifully crafted trophy and $10 you can pick up an entry form outside of room 1802 in the commons.