Gaucho Gaming hosts annual Game-A-Thon

UC Santa Barbara’s Gaucho Gaming hosted its annual “Game-A-Thon” on Oct. 25 at the Corwin Pavilion, with over 230 people in attendance. This Halloween-themed event featured tournaments, giveaways, free play, board games, card games and club collaborations.

The Game-A-Thon ran from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and since it was less than a week away from Halloween, attendees were encouraged to wear costumes. The event consisted of a variety of activities such as gaming tournaments, live<a href="https://comicvibe.com/bake-off-to-air-on-disney-as-channel-4-strikes-streaming-deal/” title=”Bake Off to air on Disney+ as Channel 4 strikes streaming deal”>streaming, board games and card games. 

The live tournaments received the greatest amount of focus, with a League of Legends tournament live-streamed on the Gaucho Gaming Twitch. Gaming clubs like Smash Club and Marginalized Genders in Gaming at UCSB also hosted their own individual live gaming tournaments. 

There were also video game booths featuring Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart, as well as card games like Magic: The Gathering and Here to Slay. 

Clubs that tabled during the event included Gaucho Graphics, PR-LO Animations and Hyde Hermit Studio. According to Gaucho Gaming Co-President and fourth-year statistics and data science major Sophie Tang, artists who tabled were not charged any fees in order to highlight smaller artists. Free Woodstock’s Pizza was distributed to attendees throughout the event. 

The event aimed to bring together members of the gaming community with their tournaments, giveaways and livestreams. Equipment such as monitors and PCs were donated not only by Gaucho Gaming staff, but also by anyone interested in donating through their Google form. Associated Students Finance Committee also funded the reservation and food for the Game-A-Thon.

Many gaming equipment items, such as power supply units, mouse pads, gaming mice, headsets, microphones and Amazon gift cards, were given away through both raffles and tournament prizes.

Gaucho Gaming Visual Media Officer and second-year art major Joseph Lopez was in charge of creating graphics and flyers for the event and carrying equipment into the Corwin Pavilion. 

Lopez enjoyed the safe space Gaucho Gaming has created for people with an interest in video games.

“The nature of our club is to kind of bring people together who have a passion for video games. And I guess the culmination is this event. It’s a hub where we can have people who share similar interests talk to each other and share their passion,” Lopez said.

Tang enjoyed the exposure the event brought to smaller artists that tabled during the event as well as the community-building aspect that came with it.

“I think it’s a good way to highlight smaller clubs and smaller artists in our community. And it’s a nice way to bring everyone together to have fun without having an entry fee of any sort,” Tang said.

Fourth-year communication major Collin McCoy’s favorite part of the Game-A-Thon was how it can provide a relaxing, entertaining environment during stressful times.

“You don’t have to worry about studying and stuff; you can just focus on playing games,” McCoy said.

 A version of this article appeared on p.5 of the Oct. 29 print edition of the Daily Nexus.