What Happened to the Video Game Tournaments?
For those who don’t know or have forgotten, in the school year 2021-2022, Eisenhower hosted a video game tournament in partnership with Davis HS. They advertised a Mario Kart 8 tournament for late that school year, and students from both schools got together in the Ike commons and raced in single-elimination rounds for two hours until an Ike student won us the first video game tournament Trophy.
The following school year, the schools again partnered up for another tournament, which was hosted at Davis. The game of choice that year was Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (SSBU). So far, we’ve had a video game tournament two years in a row, and the few who were aware of this trend eagerly awaited any news on a new tournament for 2023-2024. To our disappointment, time had passed, and the year ended with not even a whisper about a potential tournament. What happened? Did the schools just forget? Did the schools feel the tournaments weren’t performing as well as hoped? Or were the tournaments collateral damage from all the financial problems last year?
For the two tournaments that happened, the Eisenhower Infantry Club and the Davis HS C.C.A.N. communicated to plan the events. It is probable that the students who were aware of the tournaments either left the clubs or graduated, and none of the new members recognized the trend.
It could be that the tournaments didn’t attract enough of a crowd. I participated in the first tournament, the Mario Kart tournament— and from what I can recall, there were at least 20 participants. It is a fairly sizable crowd for such an event. I barely see over ten people play in local events of Trading Card Games such as Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh. The SSBU tournament Davis held had an average attendance of 30 participants, an increase in attendance from the Mario Kart tournament of the previous year. Attendance would be the least probable cause for the absence of a tournament.
Another likely cause could be the budgeting fiasco that laid off staff last year. For context, on March 25 of the previous school year— it was disclosed that 124 YSD staff members would be laid off. This was because the district’s general fund would be depleted by the end of the 2023-2024 school year.
Though we may not know the whole story, video game tournaments are something we should remember. If we can’t hold these events alongside Davis HS, we should keep them on our own, for our school, and for our students. Games have brought people together, and these tournaments will do the same for the students at Ike.
