In a lead up to the ultimate football event of the year, CWU’s Recreation Center is hosting the 2018 Madden tournament.

James Segura-Mitchell, an intramural and special events graduate assistant at CWU’s Rec Center, said they’ve hosted a Madden tournament annually for the last three years.

Madden is a video game where players can play football with different NFL teams. Alex Lee, coordinator for recreation clubs and camps at the Rec Center said Madden NFL 18 is the latest in the franchise and will be played.

The event is provided to students by intramurals. Segura-Mitchell said 17 to 20 competitors has been the average turnout in the past.

Jordan Bishop, coordinator of intramural sports and special events at CWU’s Rec Center, said the contest will be held via Xbox. Bishop said they hope to have three consoles that people can play on at the event.

He said the tournament style will depend mainly on who participates. Bishop said the tournament will be round-robin if they have four players. A third and fourth place game and championship match would be likely under that setup. Bishop said they will need to a knockout-like bracket if they have 16 to 32 people. If that is chosen, it will likely be single or double elimination.

Bishop said they attempt to allow anyone into the tournament. There is not a threshold on the number of people who can take part.

The Madden competition will be awarding prizes. According to Bishop, CWU recreation strideline socks will be given to the third place winner. A championship intramural shirt will we given to the second place winner and the first place winner will receive both a pair of socks and a shirt. The first place winner will also have the opportunity to play against a skilled Madden NFL player here at CWU.

“[The player is] actually a graduate assistant here for our department [and he] has gone on and won $2,000 in some pretty high profile tournaments. And if they can beat him, then they win a CWU backpack,” Bishop said.

The lack of CWU events involving video games is what draws people to attend this tournament. Segura-Mitchell said nearly all intramural sports at CWU are classic ones and it’s been like that for several years.

“I really think that video games can be an outlet to those individuals who want to participate. They’re in the dorm all day, they go to class, they hang out with their friends but then they also play video games. We want to be able to offer them an outlet as well,” Segura-Mitchell said.

Intramurals is trying to expand with video games. Bishop mentioned a comment they received from a follower on their social media in which it was suggested that they host a NBA 2k competition as well.

Bishop said intramurals is looking to make the NBA 2k tournament happen in spring, along with a Fortnight tournament. Fortnite is a sandbox survival game that challenges players to stay alive. Bishop said that electronic gaming competitions are part of the a plan that intramurals is propelling forward.

“As far as Madden, specifically, it works out really well with the hype around the Super Bowl. The tournament is the day before the Super Bowl. That’s kind of the reason we chose Madden,” Bishop said.

Bishop wishes for the Madden event to grow. The SURC Pit has been the location for the tournament before, but this is the first time it will take place in the SURC Theatre. Bishop said that while the open layout of the SURC Pit has its benefits, they will be able to use the large screen in the theatre to play games.

The large screen “is a huge aspect of the event,” Bishop said. “How often do you get to play video games in a legitimate theatre with 7.1 surround sound?”