On Tuesday, October 17, 2023, Stockton’s Esports program live-streamed their Minecraft Hunger Games tournament on the popular gaming platform, Twitch. Hosted by JustKindaJosh (Josh) and LiterallyMalee (Malik), Stockton Esports provided a night of in-game murderous entertainment.

Seven vigorous and intense battles took place in the meticulously-crafted arena. Creators of the expansive map took great care in giving the competitors unique, interesting challenges with hand-picked items that could “turn the tide of the game.” One of which was the water in surrounding areas slowing players down if they touched it, or enchantment tables to enhance a weapon’s damage. Where the participants were really challenged, though, was finding the one Golden Apple out of 185 available chests. The Golden Apple, when consumed, can completely heal a player and aid you in surviving longer.

The tournament kicked off with fights breaking out almost instantly as competitors fled from the Cornucopia, an area with an abundance of weaponry and useful resources. In the first round, we saw the start of a winning streak from the player jacosa in an epic final battle with ZeroWalnut69821. This was not the last win from jacosa, who by the end of the night racked up a total of five wins out of the seven rounds. Another star competitor was RitsuBestGirl who won two other rounds and often made it to the top finalists in each round.

The real theatrics and intensity of the games occurred during the fourth round in an intense battle between the star players, Ritsu and jacosa, where they duked it out. Despite having been the first to find the hidden Golden Apple, Ritsu was taken down by jacosa from behind. While all this took place, host-favorite and underdog The_Gourdfather, made it to the final three before an unfortunate take-down by jacosa, who then killed Starton02 with TNT. jacosa made a name for themselves with the most ever wins in the tournaments, even beating the host, LiterallyMalee, who joined with JustKindaJosh as a surprise for the final round.

It wasn’t just the finalists in each round that spectators were cheering on. In the Twitch chat, commenters expressed support for another strong challenger. User that0neguy101, excitedly wrote, “If PokemonMasterNick has a million fans, then I am one of them… If PokemonMasterNick has no fans, then that means I am no longer on earth. If the world is against PokemonMasterNick, then I am against the world.” Many were even urging new viewers to follow the program’s Twitch channel in support of the organization.

Some commenters even took note of the Esports organization’s rise in acknowledgment by the University itself. User mitornimo said, “There’s a Stockton ad being played before the stream…How far the esports program has gone!” These sentiments were not only felt by the spectators, but by the hosts as well, who during the fourth round, expressed their excitement at 155 concurrent views, a new record for the Esports Twitch streams.

Stockton Esports is hosting a few upcoming programs, such as their Monster event happening on October 31st and their Retro Night on November 21st. More information about these events and Stockton Esports can be found at https://sites.google.com/stockton.edu/stockton-esports/home and if you’d like to watch the Minecraft Hunger Games yourself, their video is available here https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1953624162.