With the growing interest in esports, St. Bonaventure has created its own gaming room for students to play in and compete. Game consoles and TVs are now set up in Reilly Center 215 for anyone to use.
The game room is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Students can filter in and out, playing between classes or when their days are done. They use the game room as a place to hang out, relax and do something they enjoy.
“I come here between my classes,” said co-president and marketing major Sean Sosa. “I can hang out here instead of having to go back home.”
Before there was a game room, several students would find different places in Swan and Plassmann to game and compete against each other, but it was always a challenge finding space. Robert DeFazio, director of the Center for Activities, Recreation and Leadership, saw this as an opportunity.
“Gaming is huge, and it’s going to get bigger,” said DeFazio. “When space became available, I started contacting some people from the eSports Club to see what we could do.”
Over the summer of 2018, DeFazio and the co-presidents of eSports Club, seniors Brandon Chin, a biology major, and Sosa worked together to create the new game room.
“We made a list of what we would need, and came up with an estimated price for it all,” said Sosa.
The game room was funded by Student Affairs and the eSports Club.
“Almost everything is new, but we refurbished the table and some of the chairs. They came from places on campus,” said Defazio.
The room has six TVs along with two sets of Xbox Ones, PS4s, Nintendo Switches and PC monitors. Students are also free to bring their own consoles and games.
“We started out just playing [Super Smash Bros], but we started including other esports games as well,” said Chin.
DeFazio makes daily visits to the game room to check on how everything is going.
“There will usually be three or four people here at a time,” said senior computer science major Tony Collins, a daily participant in the game room.
Students can be found playing against each other in competitive and multiplayer games. Every few weeks, the eSports Club hosts tournaments in which gamers will join a bracket and compete against one another.
“We had a big turnout last time, and it’s been growing,” said Chin. “Our next goal for the tournaments is to have a prize for the winner. We’ve been reaching out to CAB to do something with them.”
What started as a few students playing Super Smash Bros has now expanded into something bigger.
“We are always looking for new ideas and ways to grow the gaming room,” said Sosa.
College students have begun been gaming more than ever. Many colleges are making teams and programs for competitive gaming, and now St. Bonaventure is getting its start in the gaming world.
By Rachel Kimmel, Contributing Writer
kimmelrp18@bonaventure.edu
