NIU Esports invited students for a night of retro gaming this homecoming week at the “Huskie Rumble” event where gamers could try a variety of old school games.
The event ran from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday in Altgeld Hall. Gamers could try out old school games and participate in a “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” and “EA College Football 25” tournament beginning at 6 p.m.
The event included three different zones. One zone was for retro gaming that included consoles such as the PlayStation and Xbox along with a Nintendo Entertainment System.
Meanwhile, there was a separate zone for the “EA College Football 25” and “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” tournaments with the latter run by members of the NIU Smash community.
The Huskie Gaming Club helped host the event, and in the Esports arena, there were large flags with different video games displayed across the room. There were also neon signs and posters celebrating NIU’s Homecoming.
Eli Curry, NIU Esports Community ambassador, tied the event to this year’s homecoming week.
“Our plan for this year was to represent some of the different areas of gaming that have gone through in the past 30 or so years,” said Curry. “Homecoming is about bringing alumni as well as current students together to celebrate the culture of campus, and so what we’ve done tonight is try to set up some things that are new with some things that are old or retro.”
The event was a gathering among gamers or people simply interested in gaming.
“I just played ‘Dragon Ball’ on the PS2,” said Kyndel McKnight, a senior corporate communications major. “I didn’t think I was gonna be playing that today, but it was pretty fun.”
Students were able to have a competitive edge outside of the tournaments as well.
“Right now, we evenly matched our teams,” said Ja’kobe Jones, a junior finance major. “I don’t know who’s going to win.”
Amid the competition, attendees were encouraged to visit the Esports arena in the future. The arena is open from noon to 10 p.m. daily in Altgeld Hall.
“We look forward to seeing more and more students over the course of the semester,” Curry said.
