‘Shrooms. Speed. Pills. A venue more night club than assembly hall… * You may be expecting that this is an article about the Skrillex concert. It’s not. Those very elements were present at the first 2upGamers of 2013… There were also some spectacular prizes, people, entertainment and even some wub-wub too.
As the attendees (some more than fashionably late) filtered into the venue, we were greeted by the ever positive Glenn Alexander. Beaming from ear to ear (as he should have considered the coup that was the new venue Trinity), he welcomed all and ran through the familiar formalities. With a number of new faces among the regulars, it was clear that 2upGamers was expanding, and it was fantastic to see a larger number of partners and couples attending the event – pushing the idea that 2upGamers is as much a social night out as a night about gaming.
As is standard practice at 2upGamers, speeches were first up. Thankfully, the new venue afforded the event the one item that has always been a little hit and miss previously. A microphone. With working speakers. And spotlights. We could genuinely have been at a Microsoft or Sony keynote address – if everyone had dressed up, of course.
First up was Shameegh from FIFACHAMPS, who will be hosting their one year anniversary event at Canal Walk on Saturday 9 March. Games On’s Richard followed and introduced some pretty impressed gamers to his gaming lounge in Rondebosch. Des from MWEB Gamezone teased attendees for a few minutes before giving in and revealing the mystery prize as an Arcade Machine with around 270 games pre-loaded. We’re pretty sure there wasn’t anyone who wasn’t willing to kill for the prize. It was about the only way yours truly was going to walk home with it, considering the prize was only going to go to the winner of the Need for Speed Most Wanted time trial tournament. A tournament I was due to admin… And no, no amount of ‘free’ drinks will get me to doctor the times. I have more integrity than that. But if you’d offered some braaaaaaiiiiiinnnsss we could’ve sorted something out…
Firstly, there was the small matter of giving away a Nintendo Wii U with two games – another prize that many would’ve wanted to kill for. Sponsored by Core, the winner was entrant number 69 (really) Alex, who just happened to be attending his first 2upGamers. This trend of first timers winning continued when one lucky lady walked off with two prizes – one in the Dance Central ‘dance off’ (R300) and the other a Liquid Blast prize (R150 plus a case of the energy drink) for doing some social media related stuff. Her name is ‘lucky lady’ because this zombie was both deaf and slow on the night… In fact, she may actually have won a third prize. I need another me…
While winners, were winning, others were socialising, gorging themselves on pizza and drink and enjoying the Wii U’s available for testing, as well as Rocksmith (yes, the game with a real guitar) and Guitar Hero (yes, the game with a plastic guitar).
Over at the Need for Speed Most Wanted tournament, 51 competitors were valiantly attempting to avoid oncoming traffic and set a time that would see them in to the top 16. No-one had said winning a R6800 arcade machine was going to be simple, so the top 16 had to do it all over again. And then again in the top eight. And then – yes you guessed it – again in the top four. While all the previous rounds allowed for two attempts to set a personal best, the four man final was all about the winner taking all, and was a single “all or nothing” lap. In what must have felt like the longest minute or so of their lives, it was Zane Isaacs who raced to the line with the best time – much to the excitement of his supporters.
While the night was winding towards its conclusion, it was down to the finals in the FIFA tournament. Under the (we won’t say ‘ever’…) watchful eye of the eGamer team, the best of three final and the R500 winner’s cheque sponsored by Liquid Blast was taken by recent Ultimate Gamer winner Mubeen.
As the house lights went on, and we were left to survey the aftermath, the ever beaming Glenn was still smiling. We think he was pretty happy with it all. A rather good start to 2upGamers 2013 – imagine how awesome it will be in the coming months. In fact, you might want to cancel any tickets to any concerts coming up on the first Friday of every month from now until the Apocalypse comes…
The numbers:
1.02.66 – The time set by Zane in Need for Speed Most Wanted to grab the Arcade Machine sponsored by Mweb Gamezone and supplied by Arcade Blaster.
50 – Number of people slower than that time.
20 – Number of giant sized pizzas supplied by Panarotti’s.
1 – Number of pizzas left.
80 – Number of attendees excluding press and ‘VIPs’.
15 000 – Approximate value (in Rands) of prizes given away.
12 – Number of TVs and consoles available for attendees to enjoy.
880 – The number of games revealed to have been played in the recent MWEB Gamezone Black Ops 2 Ladders Beta.
* Before the moral majority assumes the wrong thing:
- The ‘shrooms were present in Mario on the Wii U.
- The speed was present in Need for Speed Most Wanted. Duh.
- The pills were present in the Mweb Gamezone sponsored prize. Pacman loves popping pills.
- The venue – Trinity – was a night club before, and is now a rather stonking events venue.
To see more photos from the event, check out our Facebook Album.
**UPDATE**
The ‘lucky lady’ has been named! Congratulations to Daniéla Dique who won the ‘Dance Off’ and best pic in the Liquid Blast competition.
