On Saturday, Nov. 12, the Office of Communiversity hosted its semi-annual video game tournament, bringing both competitive and casual gamers together over games like “Star Wars Battlefront,” “Super Smash Bros” and “Mario Kart.”

Bryant Hernandez, senior finance major, organized the video game event with the hope of bringing different students together in a fun and competitive environment where winners received Amazon gift cards.

“Some of the games [were] classics like “Mario Kart” so [it’s] fun for everyone,” Hernandez said.

The first competition of the day centered around “Star Wars Battlefront,” a first person shooter game that takes place in the Star Wars galaxy. Beside playing as a clone trooper, the game also provides a hero mode where you can also play as your favorite Jedi or Sith Lord. “Battlefront” is a newer game compared to the Wii games, so its dynamics are fairly similar to popular shooter games.

“I play a lot of first person shooter games like “Halo” and “Call of Duty,” so I came thinking I had a good chance at winning the Star Wars tournament”, freshman biology major Seth Zomermaand said.

Zomermaand shooting skills were not what led him to victory. He ended up taking 1st in the “Star Wars Battlefront” tournament with a heated lightsaber battle as Luke Skywalker.

Next up in the tournament was “Super Smash Bros Melee.” Since coming out over a decade ago, “Super Smash Bros” is played by many gamers at APU in their halls or apartments on campus.

Sophomore psychology major Isaiah Airt was unfamiliar with the game until he came to APU and started playing with his RA and hall mates.

“I knew I had to practice and do my research if I wanted to get really good, so eventually I ended up being one of the best players in my hall and I also started playing in tournaments,” Airth said.

Airth said he competed in the game against Cal Baptist in the Smith vs. Smith tournament.

“Every year we have Smith vs. Smith, where both halls compete against each other in about 6 events; “Super Smash Bros” is the game I play in, they’ll also do things like dodgeball, ping pong, ultimate frisbee and a game called buck buck.”

Besides showing his competitive side, Airth said seeing new people play the game and coming together was enjoyable.

“I think it’s really just a fun time and environment. It reaches out to a new group of guys and girls that don’t always get reached out to, so I loved it,” Airth said.

Freshman computer science major and first place winner of the “Super Smash Bros Melee” tournament, Jaylen Quizon, came into the tournament on a mission to win.

“My friend Seth told me about today’s tournament and said there was going to be “Super Smash Bros,” so I knew I had to come out and see what competition APU had to offer,” Quizon said.

He said his long-standing interest in gaming and the notoriety of “Smash Bros” are what led him to take part in the event.

“I’ve always been a big gamer since high school, mostly playing PC games like Counter-Strike and League Of Legends, but this game called “Super Smash Bros” will always hold a place in my heart.”

Next semester, Communiversity will be putting together another video game tournament while also setting up a Spikeball tournament, a bubble soccer tournament and a sock wars tournament.