The Grid, Baruch College’s very own gaming club, hosted its annual “Rock-Paper-Scissors Tournament” on Dec. 3.
“The Grid is a table-top gaming, card gaming club, so anything from Uno, regular playing cards, ‘Settlers of Catan’, to Monopoly, Jenga any kind of board or table-top game you can think of that’s our department,” said Kevin Milbouer, president of The Grid.
The RPS Tournament falls within this department as a hand game usually played between two people.
Attendees were able to either participate in the tournaments as contestants or enjoy the refreshments as audience members.There was a total of five tournaments, four of which were standard and with the last one being blind rock-paper-scissors as students played facing opposite directions and were only told if they won or not. Prizes consisted of $30 gift cards for every first-place winner of each tournament and $15 for second place winners.
Winners included Silvia Guzman, Jobe Graham, Genesis Calle, Geovanny Michaca and Benjamin Ma. The runner-ups included Cassandra Trivino, Kevin Seise, Kyle Richards and Elizabeth James.
Students signed up for each tournament and once it began they were called up in pairs by name to compete with one another until two finalists were left competing and a winner was declared. Despite the event being annual, club members said they try to change it up every year.
“One of the main things we do to try to change up the event to keep it fresh is we try to change the bracketing style of the tournaments. We try to change how many tournaments were running, we try to throw in something weird like the blind rock-paper-scissors round,” said Milbouer.
The energy level of students as they tried to win themselves and rooted for one another was contagious.
“I just enjoy watching everyone else have fun,” said attendee Fernando Martinez.
“My favorite was when I saw couples go up there, or even friends who had gone together in groups and ended up going against each other when their whole idea was like maybe if they all participate they have a larger chance of getting something,” said Baruch College’s Undergraduate Student Government Secretary Nicole Pung.
Another distinct feature of the event was the high level of competition among students as they dueled.
“It’s taking such a simple activity and making it so competitive, it’s a different feel for what you see in Baruch students when they’re getting competitive over a child sport, I find it to be very fun,” said Pung. Despite the competition among students there was also a sense of camaraderie and support, as well.
“My friends really wanted to compete so I went to support them,” said Anisa Chowdhoury. “It was nice to see everyone cheering them on, it felt like we were united.”
For students who may be more interested in the regular activities of the club, they can attend their “Table-Top Tuesday” and “Game Genre” events.
