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Campus Rec offers intramural e-sports on PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices

Weight room in Dillon Gym
Courtesy of Matthew M. Brzycki

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly every aspect of campus life has become digitized. While there are some extracurricular activities that simply cannot be held over Zoom, intramural sports refuse to be left behind.

Princeton University Campus Recreation recently released information regarding intramural e-sports, which offers students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to engage in friendly virtual competition in a variety of games on PS4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and even mobile devices.

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The competition will feature 1:1 battles beginning Friday, April 17, as well as playoff tournaments later in the semester for the following games: Pokémon Go Battles, Trivia Crack 2, Words with Friends, FIFA 19 & 20, Madden 19 & 20, NBA 2K 19 & 20, and Mario Kart Deluxe 8.

All virtual competitions will take place over IMLeagues, an online and interactive intramural league registration program that allows participants to register teams, see up-to-date schedules and standings, and interact with other players in an online community.

This isn’t the first time virtual gaming and online competition have made an appearance at the University: Princeton eSports is a club founded in 2009 by Mona Zhang ’12, who assembled a small group of gaming enthusiasts. The club is dedicated to playing weekly computer games such as League of Legends, Dota 2, Overwatch, and Smash, in both casual and competitive settings, including against other schools.

Himawan Winarto ’18, a former member of the club, previously told The Daily Princetonian that "the main benefit of eSports is giving a sense of community — it provides an easy-to-reach entertainment and social scene.”

For those interested, registration for intramural e-sports must be completed through imleagues.com/princeton by Wednesday, April 15. Participants will be required to attend a Zoom meeting on Thursday, April 16.

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