Central Wyoming College will host Rocket League and Call of Duty E-Sports tournaments on May 7, with a registration deadline of May 1.
Rocket League will be a 2 versus 2 format with best of three matches in the preliminary rounds. The championship round will be best of five.
The Rocket League tournament will be held cross platform. The winning team takes 20 percent of the pot, second place takes 10 percent and third place takes five.
Registration is $40 per team. The event is open to all ages.
The Call of Duty tournament entry fee is $20.
This first annual statewide Call of Duty tournament will be played on vanguard. Points will be given to the top five finishers on each map with first place getting five points, second receiving four, third three points, fourth two points and fifth a single point.
The player with the most points at the end of the tournament wins. There will be five matches, all on different maps. The five maps that will be played include: Eagles Nest, Hotel Royale, Castle, Berlin and Numa Numa.
The first place winner will receive 20 percent of the pot. Second place wins 10 percent and third five percent of the pot.
All ages can register for Call of Duty, however this game is rated M for mature so parental discretion is advised.
Central Wyoming College competes in the NJCAA like every other Rustler sport except rodeo.
“We compete throughout the country,” organizer Adam Simon said. “This is just trying to get kids and adults in the community to compete in E-Sports .”
Beginning this fall semester E-Sports scholarships will be offered for the first time. Combined with CWC’s generous academic scholarships this can be a lucrative attraction for incoming students who are gamers.
“The program is so new for us right now, we’re trying to fill different teams Generation E-Sports and NJCAA send out a recruiting form, it give us a good starting point for recruiting,” Simon said. “You can have more than one Call of Duty team. You can have as many teams as you want. Rocket League is three-on-three, Call of Duty two-on-two up to four-on-four and Super Smash is one-on-one.
Unlike traditional sports where a basketball, volleyball or rodeo team can have a single head coach, E-Sports with its wide variety of games doesn’t necessitate a traditional head coach.
“With so many games there isn’t a coach that can get players better at every game,” Simon said. “They set up scrimmages, analyze play and define weaknesses.”
E-Sports don’t lend themselves to live spectators, but the games are streamed by the NJCAA.