Even though I’m currently a junior, this year’s Campus-Wide Games was my first chance to actually play in the week-long series of competitions. For both years prior, I was a referee with the Student Activities Board. Reffing was a great experience, but when I got the chance to play as part of a team this year, I was so excited to participate that I immediately went to Walmart for supplies in my team’s color (orange).
Each team member could earn points by showing up and wearing orange (plus the assigned team bandana), so my Walmart haul consisted of orange lipstick, nail polish and duct tape to add orange to my outfit each day of the week. Because I’m extra, I added lipstick stripes under my eyes to finish the look and scare the competition.
Each team had the name of a video game (mine was Metroid). I took off work to make it to each game, so I got to experience each day fully.
Day 1: Monday (Scavenger Hunt)
The first night involved solving clues as a team to find “Pokemon” (referees) hidden around campus. We came in fifth place out of six, but our team spirit was still high. That was partially because we had fun in the game, and partially because our captain had written “Metroid” in orange nail polish and sharpie across his face, and it’s hard to have low morale when that happens.
Day 2: Tuesday (Video Game Tournament)
As members of our team filed in and remarked how they’d grown up without video games, we realized we had a slight issue with being a competitive presence in Tuesday’s game (note for next time: join a team, and have video-game-playing friends join with you). Needless to say, we didn’t fare very well that night. Nevertheless, I got to play Mario Cart for the first time in my life after the tournament was over, so it was a winning night for me (yeah, I was one of those people who grew up without video games).
Day 3: Wednesday (Trading Game)
This was the most strategy-based game of the week. It’s too complicated to explain fully in this article, but essentially, teams have to trade resources to build settlements that count for the most points at the end of the game. We thought we did very well that night, until the scores were read from lowest to highest…and Metroid was read out first. Even though we lost that game, it was a great team building exercise, and one of our teammates showed up wearing a costume made out of aluminum foil, a cardboard box, and pie tins to look like the main character from Metroid.
Day 4: Thursday (Skyrim House War)
This game involved wearing cardboard armor and hitting people with pool noodles dipped in paint. It was a great concept, but when our entire team had work or class at that time on Thursday except for the two captains and myself, we quickly realized that we would be out pretty quickly. We gave it our best effort, and despite being completely outnumbered on the field, we managed to come in fifth out of six places.
Day 5: Friday (Hyrule Quest of Champions)
The last day of the games involved trivia questions that we had to guess right or complete physical challenges (push-ups, lunges, etc.). After the trivia, there was an obstacle course, an archery challenge, riddles, and a chance to throw water balloons at the Student Activities Board’s president. Again, we finished in fifth out of sixth place, but an impromptu water balloon fight at the end made up for our placing.
Day 6: Saturday (The Closing Ceremony)
After sleeping for 10 hours Friday night (seriously, participating in the games is worth it, but also exhausting), I went to the Ordinary for free pizza and a mini celebration of the winning team (I even got an award for “most dedicated Metroid-er” because I took off work to compete). Overall, even though our team was last in the game, we had a great time, forged new friendships, and strengthened the friendships we already had, and I’ll definitely be competing again next year.