Gamers from the University of Idaho flocked to the fourth floor of the Idaho Commons building for a night of all-night gaming.
Ian Bartlett | Rawr
Strategy and Games, a local game store in Moscow, brought board and card games, such as Magic: the Gathering, Cards Against Humanity, and Smallworld, for students to try at Vandal Game Overnight.
The ASUI sponsored event was competitive and featured prizes including an Xbox One. The whole event occurred throughout the night, starting at 6 p.m. and going all the way until the wee morning hour of 4 a.m. Many gamers stuck around all the way until the end, which resulted in a large turnout.
Attendees had access to consoles and the ability to bring their own devices as well for the Oct. 3 event.
The entire event was partitioned into different spaces, with rooms dedicated to the first-person shooter Halo 4, online role-playing game “League of Legends” and more. The brand new Nintendo 3DS/Wii U continuation of the game “Super Smash Bros” was a big hit, with plenty of people bringing their devices to engage in multiplayer battles.
Featured titles extended outside of video games into the realm of popular card and board games like “Magic, the Gathering” and “Settlers of Catan” as well. On top of games, the event featured live DJ’s and free pizza to go around. Three rooms were filled with different gaming equipment. One had tables for the League of Legends tournament, another had massive TVs all linked together for multiplayer Halo, and another had older TVs hooked up to Nintendo Gamecubes for players to indulge in Super Smash Bros: Melee.
“Vandal Overnight Games was awesome,” said Michael Lowe, a UI sophomore. “There was tons of people, pizza, games, and friends there. Definitely one of the best events I have ever been to on campus.”
With an attitude like that, attendees can hope ASUI will throw another similar event in the future, but nothing has been confirmed since the dust is still settling.
“There were three massive rooms that were all open and connected,” Lowe said. “It was very social and happy. Being nerdy felt like something to be proud of, I met tons of new friends and enjoyed it a lot.”
Masen Matthews can be reached at [email protected]