Left Field

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magazine

Up-and-coming sports: Their struggle to fill the bleachers p. 4

Competitive climbing: From nothing to a worldwide sensation p. 10

Esports: Gaming at the next level p. 16

Old games made new: How the internet resurrected classic table games p. 22

spring 2019

Dear Readers,

Welcome to Left Field. Throughout time, the most popular competitive activities have fluctuated, changing constantly, and this transition is happening as we speak. The sports world is becoming a much broader spectrum of activities with many different skill sets. This magazine takes a closer look at these new rising pastimes. A group of four diverse, growing activities will be featured. These unorthodox sports have come from relative obscurity, which inspired our title. The articles will cover the growth of up-and-coming activities.

Enjoy!

Photo by Sam Fisher

Cover photo and Table of Contents by Jack Long

2

Meet the Editors

4

Searching for the Spotlight

8

Disc Play

10

Climbing to the Top

14

The Growth of Climbing Gyms

16

Esports on the Rise

20

The Kings of Tetris

22

A Magical Comeback

26

High Stakes Trading 1

LASA freshman AJ Leigh is a 15 year old who loves to climb, play ultimate frisbee, make music, and hang out with friends and family. He enjoys math and hopes to learn how to cook, and join a climbing team. He is open to any career opportunities in the future.

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LASA freshman West Plowman is a 14 year old who enjoys playing sports and video games. West’s favorite subject in school is math and his favorite sport to play is basketball. He is not sure what he wants to pursue as a career.

Graphics by Jack Long

LASA freshman Billy Flukinger is a 15 year old who enjoys the playing video games as well as watching esports in his free time, while playing water polo on the side. Billy also appreciates visual arts and hopes to one day be a video game artist.

LASA freshman Jack Long is a 15 year old who loves to play football, eat, and doodle as a LASA freshman.

He competes on the LBJ football team and is active on the track team. He enjoys math, and he hopes to become an aerospace engineer contracted by the military.

3

Searching

The Life of Sports that Aren’t so Well-Known

Spotlight for the

By Jack Long

spectator attendance. UIL sports consistently receive more spectator attendance though, which can present an obstacle for the coaches, teams, and schools striving to make sports like lacrosse, ultimate frisbee, and water polo more prominent in the Austin area.

Adding to the problem, not all schools have teams for each sport, which reduces their visibility to prospective audiences.

Mitchell Kim, coach of the Austin High School’s water polo team, has been playing the sport for seven years. Although he has been a swimmer for over a decade, Kim has only been coaching for Many water polo teams around Austin practice at the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swim two years. center. Photo courtesy of the University of Texas at Austin.

“They finally decided to get a n House Park Stadium, just but notice the difference between team together, the kids that go to south of downtown Austin, the two sports, which mainly lies in the school, and I was like ‘yeah, let’s put together a team,’” he said. flood lights wash over a their UIL sanctioning.

Even as a young team, though, high school football team The University Interscholastic on a scoring drive. Fans League (UIL) is the main governing Kim and the other Austin High roar with anticipation, shaking body for many organized school water polo coaches led the team to many successes. the metal bleachers with the sheer activities in Texas. While it “Last year, we didn’t have volume of their excitement, and covers a wide range of sports, quite enough to go to the players can’t help but get caught there are still some popular regional tournament, up in the atmosphere. Just a few activities that aren’t but we went to the days later though, sparse crowds sanctioned, called club consolidated region,” sit in a fraction of the same seats, sports. High schools he added. “Where focused on a game of high school around Austin play you get one or two lacrosse. Encouraging words yelled club sports with at the players on the field are few and far between, and one can’t help 4

large rosters, but not necessarily

players that might not necessarily go to your school, and they play for you.

Boys and girls both ended up getting 2nd in consolidated region.�

Even with such success for a relatively new team, not many people have caught the water polo wave in Austin. Perhaps because of this, schools in Austin haven’t been very competitive with those in other Texas cities like Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. The problem isn’t isolated to water polo, though. Shir Laves, fundraiser for Anderson High School lacrosse, also noticed a lack of spectators. “Well, mostly parents will come,�

Laves said. “Sometimes, with parents in a mother-father organic family, one will show up, but definitely the two parents will come at some point,� she said. “We also live stream the games, so if a family is not in town, can’t really attend, or weather is brutal, then they can watch through the live stream.�

With attendance declining and spectators other than family members hard to come by, it can be difficult to promote an activity and introduce it to new schools.

Anderson has fallen victim to this problem, and it has met obstacles in the recruitment of new players for the upcoming spring season. “Actually, this year I’ve seen the players decreasing,� Laves said. “Number-wise, we lost a lot of people that graduated last year, and we have not replenished them with enough talent. So [regarding] numbers, we could be doing better.�

Facilities for up-and-coming sports are often hard to find as well, adding difficulty to the growth the members of such sports want to have.

While established sports in Texas, like football, basketball, and baseball, often have ample equipment and fields provided by the school, sports that are either new to the area or don’t have as many players get Water polo players often lift their entire torso out of the water the short end of in order to take a shot. Photo courtesy of Chris Hunkeler. the stick. “I think that the deal of becoming lacrosse can cost hundreds of UIL will obviously fall on cost, and dollars, extra fees add a daunting also logistics,â€? Laves said. “Like barrier for prospective players, where you’re going to keep the according to Laves. “We also ask each family to gear. I mean, they’ll need to have a contribute a certain amount of facility like the football team has, with lockers and stuff like that‌ We what we call fair share to bridge the gap between how much it actually costs to run the program, and how much we actually are charging the family,â€? Laves said. “It’s misleading, because the dues are not fully covering the program. So each family needs to come up with at least 500 dollars on top of what they’re paying.â€?

Shir Laves For many families, paying the Anderson High Lacrosse fundraiser fee is simply not an option. As a club sport, lacrosse doesn’t get the get the field last after everybody else same help with transportation, networking, and logistics as a stops practicing.�

The cost that Laves referred to UIL sanctioned activity does. was not just that of equipment, but Additionally, it can’t hold of registering and playing lacrosse fundraisers associated with the in Austin. The Texas High School school, which can increase costs Lacrosse League collects fees from further. “The cost is, to some families, high school lacrosse teams all around the state, and the players often bear prohibitive,� said Laves. And the the brunt of much of the cost. While sport itself is very expensive, just the equipment needed to play so it’s not just the dues that are

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expensive, the gear is expensive, as public schools, because even if and everything is expensive. It’s just they’ll cover the cost, let’s say, to an expensive sport because it’s not run the program, all the equipment a UIL sport, it’s a club sport. It’s the will need to be purchased by the families that are carrying the load.� families. And that can cost a lot of Kate Yingling-Hector, UIL money.�

Ticket revenue adds yet another spokesperson, also recognizes the benefits of being a UIL-sanctioned hurdle for club sports in Austin. activity, as it’s much easier and UIL teams often play in one of the more cost-effective to put together many stadiums around Austin, like games, schedule transportation, House Park or Nelson Field. The teams share revenue from tickets and more. “When you’re a UIL sport, you between themselves to cover the can put the school’s name on the cost of transportation and stadium advertisements, and be able to use use, and it’s often more than enough. that to get sponsors and donations Club teams, however, don’t sell but they still from people who know the school’s tickets, name, or have kids there,� YinglingHector said. “The name recognition can really help from a money perspective.�

The high cost of these club sports is a key factor holding back their growth, in terms of a player base. This, among others, has been a major discussion Kate Yingling-Hector point in the actual sanctioning UIL spokesperson need a place of lacrosse as a UIL activity. to play games.

In order to sanction an activity, “Our budget is [an] operating proposals are submitted to the UIL for their consideration. Every six budget, so we don’t have any excess� months, the UIL board meets and Laves said. “We fundraise, and then discusses these proposals, talking whatever we have is just running about the player and spectator base, the program. So it’s basically coach’s sport popularity, and cost, while salary and rental fees for the field. surveying schools in different areas We play in Austin, and although it’s AISD, we have to pay to play in for these data points. “The problem, again, is cost. House Park. So there’s a lot of costs Most likely, I don’t see [lacrosse] that are involved with playing in becoming a UIL sport because it House Park field.�

Even if sports like lacrosse, water cannot include everybody� said polo, and ultimate frisbee were to Laves. “It’s not attractive as far

40

start collecting tickets, the expected boost in funding would not come immediately. This is far removed from the ticket-collecting legacy of popular UIL sports in Austin. “Your average [high school] football game, the tickets are $5, generally, and most people are OK with that because it’s football,�

Yingling-Hector said. “It’s an established sport in the area, tickets have been sold for years, and people accept that.� “With a sport that’s new to UIL sanctioning, say, if water polo actually became UIL sanctioned, the ticket prices could initially bring down spectators, and funding as a result. It’s difficult to become a large and established sport not just in Texas, but in any area.�

For water polo, an especially large obstacle in the way of UIL sanctioning is simply a pool to play in. Many schools in Austin, especially those lacking funding from the district for campus improvement, just don’t see a pool as high on the list for a new addition to school grounds. “Every sport has different needs, with the equipment, fields, all of that,� YinglingHector said. “Water polo, for example, obviously needs a pool to play.

Not every school has a pool, so it could become a

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6

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10 Graphics by Jack Long

“I’m pretty sure that that swimming has a lot of buses that help them out,” Kim said. “That would be nice, but again, we are not a big sport yet, so we can’t just say ‘We should have a bus.’ But the parent system has been working pretty well so far.

We’ve been doing as much as we can to make water polo bigger.”

Coaches, players, supporting volunteers, and staff have been striving, and still are, to bring their sports into the limelight.

Club sports are faced with barriers that don’t hinder the growth of those sanctioned by the UIL, and it will ultimately be difficult to achieve the growth towards equal recognition for both sports.

A lacrosse field at the University of Michigan. They share the size of football fields, so the sharing of fields is common among the two sports.

Photo courtesy of Michigan Athletics.

30

logistics problem when coordinating games and practices. Like having to talk to [the University of Texas] about using their pools, which a lot of teams do already.”

UT’s Lee and Joe Jamail swim center is the main facility where Austin water polo teams practice and play games. It’s also home to many swim teams in the area. Luckily for water polo teams, the scheduling is able to include everybody.

“What we basically do in Austin, here, is there’s one club team that encompasses all of Austin. All of the coaches coach for that club, and all the kids technically play for one club,” Kim said.

Still, Kim says, the benefits afforded to UIL water sports in the area are enviable, especially concerning transportation. Since their beginnings, the Austin High water polo team and others around the city have relied on carpools and supportive family to get players to practices and games.

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0

7

Disc

Lacrosse and water polo aren't the only club sports in Texas.

Ultimate is a popular and fast-growing non-UIL activity taking over in schools.

1947

Fred Morrison creates the first plastic disc. This flying disc was carved from a block of solid Tenite, a light plastic widely used for architectural purposes.

1951

The Pluto Platter becomes the first mass-produced disc. It took off as a toy in 1957, when Wham-o bought the rights to the Pluto Platter and began a massive marketing campaign.

1967

Joel Silver, along with other Columbia High school students, invent Ultimate Frisbee in Maplewood, New Jersey.

8

Source: World Flying Disc Federation

1959

The name “Frisbee� is officially registered by Wham-o. The Frisbie Pie Company closed in 1958, so this could have been done to avoid copyright issues.

1970

Three students, including Joel Silver, write a first and second edition of an Ultimate rulebook.

Columbia High beats Milburn High 43-10 in the first Ultimate game between schools.

Play

By Jack Long

1972

Rutgers beats Princeton, 29-27 in the first intercollegiate game of ultimate on November 6. It occurred 103 years after the first intercollegiate football game, in the same location.

1973-Present

Ultimate regulatory groups are founded around the world. As time passes, international Ultimate games are held all around Europe and Scandinavia, eventually spreading to other countries and increasing in popularity.

9

Climbing to the Top The Sport Grows and Will Appear in Future Olympics, yet Leaves Behind Rich History.

Photos by AJ Leigh

By AJ Leigh

hen climbing, one is what can feel like a mile from the ground.

After a look downwards, one’s palms are sweaty, adrenaline rushes throughout your body, and blood pumps through your forearms and fingers. With rich traditions both outdoors and indoors, climbing has grown to the point where thousands watch world championships, as some of the best climbers in the world compete against each other.

The development of climbing has prompted the sport’s inclusion in the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics, and climbing-specific companies have been created, along with professional athletes, and climbing gym workers having careers in the climbing industry.

Official competitions started in the 1980s and ‘90s, and have expanded into a large industry. Climbing has emerged upon the world scene, and there are fourteen world cups per year organized by the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) that allows the best climbers to perform at their best in front of hundreds of people. The 10

sport has grown to the point where deals between USA Climbing, and ESPN have been made, and there are streams on youtube with hundreds of thousands of people watching. Climbers must hold on to the wall climbers use holds that each have names describing each special feature. In climbing gyms, routesetters use the complex features to make climbs for people to complete.

Kyra Condie is a 22-year-old professional climber who competes at the world cup and national level. She has won a multitude of championships since she started climbing at 11 years old.

Graphic By AJ Leigh

She hopes to be one of the four women climbers competing in the 2020 Olympics.

“I think climbing is a really full body sport, something that is instinctual to being human” professional climber Kyra Condie said. “I’ve heard people say, you can run, you can swim, you can climb, those are the main things.”

Erica Wilson is the local co-owner of Austin Rock Gym. Austin Rock Gym was originally built by community climbers in 1998, when climbing wasn’t nearly as popular. Co-Owner of Austin Rock Gym Wilson later bought the gym with her husband, Troy. Wilson started her climbing journey when she was 12 and has travelled across the United States to many outdoor climbing locations.

Her dad participated in the early climbing scene, and Wilson ended up having a life full with climbing.

“Climbing emerged from people trying to climb rocks with whatever equipment they had,

Rock climber Caroline Randolph competing at the Jungle Bloc Bouldering finals. Here, athletes only have four minutes to figure out the climb. Photo By AJ Leigh

Kyra Condie Professional Climber

whether that was hiking shoes, or some random rope they had laying around,� Wilson said.

Wilson said her dad did climbing with his friends at Enchanted rock, and was one of the people climbing rocks with whatever.

Christine Deyo is the head routesetter for the gym Austin Bouldering Project. She is one of the few head woman setters in the climbing scene. “1986 was when the first climbing gym opened up in the U.S. it was called Vertical World, and it was in the Northwest, where you have no ability to climb outside at certain months in the year ‌ so it was just heinous tiny little holds cemented or glued onto the walls, it was just can you pull hard,â€? Christine Deyo said. “It’s interesting why people choose rock climbing over something else,â€? Wilson said. “Climbing is special because it’s not as easy to measure your ability, and you have a totally different mental game as far as having to overcome fears that you might not face in traditional sports. Like in track and

Different From the Herd field you might not have to worry about heights, in that sense there are physical challenges and mental challenges, it’s not a straightforward sport.�

The routesetters play a unique role, putting together a puzzle for the competitors to solve, and finding a way that works best for them, one which takes 5 minutes or below in bouldering. Especially in bouldering, where each attempt

counts towards each athlete’s points. Condie said that a diverse set of routes are needed to create a large separation between the competitors. She said the setters determine the difficulty of a round, which can be hard to measure since they have to know who they are catering to. “I think just unique movement is really important and stuff that gives good separation; the routesetters have a hard job,� Condie said.

Deyo said that during each climb she embraces the flow of the route, and dips into the hardest she can try. “I’m like a mental basket case,�

Deyo said. “It goes back to not thinking too much, I’m just trying

Professional c nlimber Kyra Condie training at Minneapolis Bouldering Project. Courtesy of Kyra Condie, Photo courtesy of Alexander Zoltai

11

to execute, I don’t have the climbing competitions. In some, fear issues, the worry is they even compete with the about focus,� she said. same routes. Compared to other Climbing routes are sports, the gender gap between meant to challenge male and female competitors is the climber’s much smaller. comfort, with “I actually believe that in high levels climbing, especially the pro of risk climbing aspect, it’s one of the sometimes most equal sports,� put on Condie said. “Females e v e r y and males get move in a equal air time route. One on livestreams far move and television, or jump, which can’t be called a said for a lot of dynamic move, sports. Pro climbers, or a fall due to a both men and women, small inaccuracy can get paid very determine if someone similarly, prize Graphic By Jack were to win or lose.

Long In competitions, both men and women compete at the same time during most A competitor reading a route at the Jungle Bloc. Climbers have a limited time to complete each route and must make a plan beforehand and make each attempt count.

Photo By AJ Leigh

money is the same at competitions.

Things like that, the traditional things that you see in sports between men and women, we don’t have those differences,� Condie said.

Recently, there have been men and women pushing the limits of the sport, creating harder outdoor climbs, and discovering new types of movement. “I would say that ladies can climb as hard, or harder than guys, and if you took the top ladies, and the top guys, they aren’t really separated by much,� Deyo said.

Rock climbing has provided a more accepting and diverse space for more and more people, and has given lessons for people to take away. “Climbing teaches you to deal with failure, and that you’re not

Christine Deyo

Head Routesetter at Austin Bouldering Project

12

always gonna be comfortable, and you’re not always going to feel like you’re going to succeed,� Deyo said.

Deyo said that when she was a climbing coach, she would find meaning in the kid’s struggles, how they can apply the technique they learned to their daily life. Wilson also used to coach kids and found lessons within the sport. “Perseverance and trying to troubleshoot with different lessons are things you can apply to life on a daily basis,� Wilson said. “If something is not working with you

one way it’s good to adapt and try to figure out a different way to go about doing it,� She said.

Rock climbing has given many a new challenge to accomplish. To push their own limit as to what they can do. “It’s hard for you to cheat, you have to get from the bottom to the top.� Wilson said.

As the sport progresses,

Looking Ahead Wilson said it will become more commercialized. She said that because of the possible profit from climbing, more people are jumping to own a gym as an investment, not as an appreciation of the sport. “We’ve been doing this for a long time, and the new gyms that are being built, in my opinion they’re kind of detracting from the sport, because they’re these large facilities where it’s hard to build a community there when you’re so spread out and you’re not able to interact with one another� Wilson said.

Climbers keep a tight-knit community as they rely on each other for safety, so everyone pushes each other to the next level. This community has grown to the point where competitive teams have formed. When teaching kids how to climb, comfort zones are especially pushed, coaches have to push the kid’s limits to develop new techniques and fundamentals.

However, the growing commercial aspect has led some gym owners to set rules that don’t force people into these awkward positions. “There are so many gyms that ban pockets because they don’t want to reflect outdoor climbing, they

Another competitor at the Jungle Bloc at Crux climbing Center. He tries to set a high point on the route as the roaring crowd cheers him on. Photo By AJ Leigh

want people to come in, have a nice comfortable experience, give them their money and leave. They know these people will never go outside, they’ll never know the difference,�

Deyo said.

Wilson also noticed the commercialization as climbing has been growing. “I think the part that we’re hanging on to is it’s a very pure sport, you can’t really cheat ‌ and that’s part of the traditional climbing aspect, you have to put the gear in, it’s hard for you to cheat,â€?

Wilson said.

Because climbing started outside with people looking at small edges, or huge rock features, many feel as if outdoor climbing is a must do.

However, more and more people are discovering climbing through the gyms in cities, and climbing has gained relevance all over the world, so different styles are appearing inside gyms.

“The sport of climbing has been changing a lot recently, with the inclusion of the Olympics you’re seeing a lot more countries getting a ton of funding,� Condie said.

Climbing has grown to be more than a sport, more of a meditation, and the large growth has allowed more and more people to experience the meditation. “Over the years of doing this, a lot of people who have struggled with addiction, find that climbing kind of helps them get through that, it End Signs isn’t an easy thing to do, and I don’t think that addiction is an easy thing to do either,� Wilson said.

FI Billy Colors Folios

Pull Quotes (with e

13

The Growth of Climbing Gyms in the U.S. The transition of outdoor climbing to gyms has always been hard for countries with rich histories of climbing outdoors, in places like Yosemite, or Smith Rock national park.

Gyms in U.S have been steadily growing bringing access to people in the city.

By AJ Leigh

The Projected U.S. Climbing Gym Revenue

2018 Revenue: About $650,000,000

2019 Revenue: About $800,000,000

2020 Revenue: About $875,000,000

2017 Revenue: About $600,000,000

2009 The U.S. only had ten gyms.

2017 The U.S. had forty gyms Source: 99Boulders and Climbing Wall Association

14

The Three Disciplines In competitive climbing there are three major disciplines, here are the three in the Olympic Format, and some of the basic rules:

Bouldering:

Is climbing without a rope yet one uses a mat underneath them. Often on shorter walls with a 4-5 minute limit. One must climb as many problems in as few attempts as possible.

Lead/Sport:

Often what people think of as climbing, with a rope, a harness, and a belayer.

Competitors only have 6 minutes to finish the at least 15m route.

Speed:

Is climbing up a 15 meter wall as fast as you can. The speed route never changes, with specific holds in specific places that people train on. The current record is around 5 seconds.

Photos by AJ Leigh

15

Esports on the Rise

Games Climb Towards Relevance, but What’s Behind the Growth?

By Billy Flukinger

became online competitions in which the players could prove their dominance over others in a competitive online gaming environment.

Johnathan Wendel, who goes by the nickname Fatal1ty in video games, was a gamer recently inducted to the Esports Hall of Fame as the first highly paid esports player. Wendel was at the forefront of the esports industry in the early 2000s, and was involved when the concept of esports wasn’t as defined as it is now.

“It was like the wild wild west, you could do whatever the hell you want. It was a blast,” Wendel said.

Fans of the Shanghai Dragons Overwatch League team cheer at the Blizzard Arena in LA on February 14, 2019. Photo courtesy of Robert Paul.

Over time, gamers like Wendel who were part of esports at the start wenty years ago, esports tournaments and competitions saw it change in many ways as was casually played by in order to prove their skills. it gained more traction niche communities of Since the late ‘90s, esports has leading up gamers in places like seen growth and evolution pizza parlors and hotel ballrooms internationally in a variety for bragging rights, but as this of ways as it becomes more decade comes to a close, it’s taking mainstream. the world by storm.

When it first started Since the conception of to gain traction in video games, dedicated players the ‘90s, esports was have always wondered how to mainly composed of transform the past times into single player games, intense competitive sports. The in which the player culmination of these hopes has would compete against the created an industry known as computer to get the best score, esports (electronic sports), video or the players would have to be Johnathan games with large enough followings physically together in order to Wendel to be turned into sports where play with each other, after the celebrating a win in 2005, Photo courtesy of highly skilled players compete in internet was introduced, esports Johnathan Wendel

16

to the industry it is today. “It was evolving very fast up to about 2000, and in 2000 you saw the tournaments get more professional as time went on, obviously to 2005 where we had over 90 countries tune in to watch my finale,� Wendel said.

Esports went from its early days of being held informally, to expansion to much wider audience as more people came to hear about it and get interested.

Esports quickly evolved as more of the esports community realized that it had the potential to reach the levels of popularity and recognition that more Members of the Paris Eternal Overwatch League team congratulate eachother in Blizzard Are conventional sports had. To na LA on Febraury 16, 2019. Photo courtesy of Robert Paul. esports events since he entered the movement or physical exertion like match other sports, esports had

to evolve onto a wider scale with scene, and works to promote them. other sports. However, Angers feels

“What a lot of people don’t that esports and traditional sports larger teams, to

correlate [with esports] is how are more similar than most people match a larger enthusiastic people can get about believe. sport.

“It’s people getting excited over “We were these games,� Angers said. “It’s dead

already getting quiet when stuff ’s not happening incredibly high level gameplay, and a lot of eyeballs and you can feel the anticipation that goes to everything, that goes to

from people in the room, and then something esports, that goes to football, and happens and what comes with that is emotions wanting to watch � Angers said. across the

and fandom, Getting esports to globe, as time went on,�

the scale of traditional Wendel said.

sports is more than having enough people “Esports was

who have heard about it, but changing a lot from

individual play to more

also attaining an audience

online and in the stadium, team play so today you

which is difficult since gamers can see a lot of teams and a lot play video games together from of esports organizations.�

everyone just across the world. This is a problem J o h n a t h o n screams.� that Angers and his stadium are Angers, an Esports is more than just a story trying to solve to solve. employee at

of success, it has had a few obstacles “Most [esports events have] low Esports Stadium Arlington, the in its growth towards becoming to medium sized crowds with super largest stadium that a widely accepted genre of big broadcast budgets is focused on esports competitive sport. Many opponents in North America, has of esports don’t consider video been an advocate for games the same as conventional increasing the scale of sports, as they don’t involve 17

noticed franchising,

s i m i l a r everything’s about

changes to the ones

because the reality is it’s a spectator event,� bigger bigger bigger events, and Angers said. a lot of that comes from the that Paul has seen along with the

Unfortunately for esports, it investment money that esports are growth of esports, different esports have grown into franchises of doesn’t make much money from getting now,� Paul said. sizes, with things like the people watching online, so rather

Many people in the esports varying Overwatch League, which plays the than focusing on audience, they community

game “Overwatch� in a structure have to entice sponsors with their h a v e

similar to the National Football large online viewer counts. Robert

Paul, an award winning esports

League with a regular season and a playoff.

The Overwatch League photographer, takes photos

seen as a milestone in the rise and has attended many

is

of esports because it changed events during his career. Paul

the format of esports tournaments experienced the adaptation

and leagues, proving that esports and growth of esports can achieve much more longevity firsthand. and profitability from sources such “Everything’s about leagues

as sponsorships. now, everything’s about v “Everyone has more A player yells at a camera in joy during the Gears Pro Circuit. The Gears Pro Circuit is a competition based around the game Gears of War. Photo courtesy of Robert Paul. resources to put on better events so now instead of your grand finals being on maybe the same stage as all your other games were played on you have them at Barclays,�

Paul said, referencing the Overwatch League grand finals in 2018.

Whether or not things like the Overwatch League are truly the future of esports, it isn’t up for debate that

18

the esports industry is seeing growth, which has taken many forms such as the creators of video games altering their approach to the industry. “Now you look at almost every game publisher and they want to own the rights to their game, and also it seems that they want to invest in their esports division of their game to create more longevity in their game,� Paul said. “Counter-strike� and “League of Legends� are two games that h a v e adapted to

esports competition in 1991, esports built its own story and following, growing from dedicated players looking to get some respect for their h obby, into a

Graphic by Jack Long

billion dollar industry

known far and wide.

The story of esports

has been one of success,

and it doesn’t look

like it’ll be stopping

“Esports is on the lips of everyone across the globe now, so now everyone knows it exists,� Wendel said, “and there is a career here, there is a job opportunity here, and you don’t have to be the best gamer in the world anymore.�

soon.

heightening expectations from

gaming events and maintained

relevance for years more than

most games. Because of these and other popular games, the esports

industry has been cracked open

and holds far more potential

than it used to.

“There’s so many different

avenues that you can move and

go along and create your own path [with in esports], that you should definitely get into it and

find your niche,� Wendel said.

Esports has certainly come a long way to hold so much An esports caster at Genesis 6 during 2019 in Oakland California. opportunity. Ever since the first Genesis 6 is an esports convention centered around Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros franchise. Photo courtesy of Robert Paul. official player-versus-player 19

The Kings High

By Billy

Did You Know?

The average score of tetris players on the NES is around 100,000 points.

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of Tetris

Did You Know?

Originally, when Tetris was first drafted and invented it was text-based, so rather than having boxes, it had patterns of brackets.

Scores

The shapes would look something like this:

Flukinger

[ ] [ ][ ][ ]

999,999 Matthew Buco

achieved the maximum score in tetris on the NES on January 2 2012 by reaching 999,999 at 207 lines.

715,162

This record was made

by Victor Lin on June 19 2012 in Tetris marathon, blowing the original record of 261,918 out of the water.

3 350,098 This high score was earned by Ben Mullen on November 22, 2012 with the next box disabled so that he could not tell which block would come next.

5

4 67,939

On February 4, 2008 Zach Hample achieved a high score of 25 lines of Tetris without clearing any other lines in the original game.

The original Tetris for the Game Boy was invented by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet Russian video game designer.

History

14,642

Bill Cassaday got this world record on tetris splash by completing a perfect game in only 40 lines and 50.78 seconds.

Graphic by Jack Long

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Magical Comeback

By West Plowman

Many Table Games Have Growing Competitive Audiences as a Result of Promotion on the Internet Which Has Reinvigorated Them. with certain statistics that displays their value. MTG has also been seen as the pioneer game for many newer games such as Pokemon and Hearthstone which have very similar rules. These cards are used to battle opponents’ cards. These games have recently been gaining an online following and have decided to put a A competitive Magic: The Gathering event where hundreds are playing against eachother. This photo shows greater focus on this how the sport has grown from a few people to tournements of hundreds. Courtesy of Wizards of The Coast. new crowd.

Stephen Campbell is an oard and card popular board game ever, with games were once millions having played it. It uses employee at Dragon’s Lair, which is simple pastimes, strategic planning to utilize certain a comic book store that also hosts a but these games pieces that each have different uses number of gaming events, including have developed into on the board. Scrabble is another MTG. He has been playing Magic high stakes competitions featuring top mental game with large crowds, since he was a boy and has played professional players. but has far fewer players than the game for years, watching the it There are millions watching these chess. A player attempts to create change over time. “[Wizards of The Coast] recently competitive events and many more new words using words that were are becoming fans. Magic: The previously played by other players started up Magic: Arena,” said Gathering, chess, and Scrabble are on the board and 7 given letters. Campbell, “They’re pushing that three of the top competitive board Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is a very heavily, with Twitch streaming and card games. card game created by Wizards of and live weekend tournaments Chess is arguably the most the Coast that uses fantasy cards that you can tune-in to on their 22

channel and other creator’s channels and that’s starting to gain some ground. It very clearly in response to popularity to things like Hearthstone, which is Blizzard’s competitive card game” .

These two games are representative of the growing market for mental sports. There are hundreds of thousands of people that have played either Magic: The Gathering, chess, or Scrabble and there is a huge audience for these

intellectual types of games. Over the past ten years, people have seen the possibilities of the amount of viewers these games could reach.

Gary Gaiffe, a former competitive chess player, was once nationally ranked among the best. Now he teaches chess to young adolescents in order to instill the mindset that chess teaches to you, one of patience.

He also helps to organize many Two players in the Austin Scrabble Club compete against each chess tournaments. other. This club has been gaining traction recently from all “I think they types of people who frequently play Scrabble. Photo by West Plowman. said that if you look at everybody United States and advertising is that watched over those 12 games traditionally always come from and the [world championship] television revenues” said Gaiffe. sudden death game it would have The way for the competitive scene amounted to… 800 million people. to grow is to increase promotion “ said Gaiffe.

Chess is one of the most popular games in the world, but physically driven games are favored as “sports”. Eight-hundred million people watching is the one of highest amount in all of sports and it was watched almost exclusively through the internet. As chess continues to grow, it will continue its path towards classification as a sport, but it still does not have a large enough audience or competitive scene.

“The way you get money is through advertising in the 22 23

by putting it on television and increasing prize money by gaining revenue from television advertisements. This would have a massive impact on the size of the audience, which would grow because of increased promotion, and the amount of players, which would grow because of increased prize money. But even without television, these games are able to grow on their own, gaining many new competitors annually.

Matt Canik, a professional Scrabble player, actively competes and is ranked number 38 in the United States. He is also the head of the Austin Scrabble Club.

“It’s like everyday I get another email. So maybe 70. The national championship usually goes between 400-500 people,” said Canik, “So that’s a pretty big deal. Some international tournaments get as many as 1,000 or 2,000, especially in southeast Asia. Scrabble is huge right now in Thailand, and in Pakistan there is a huge scene. They use it to learn English as well as to be good at a board game.”

Board and card games are played by millions because many find them simple, easy to play, and intellectually helpful. Because of this, there will always be the chance of large growth in the competitive scene. With the casual player number has been increasing, and so have the competitive numbers said Canik. This increase can 22 24

also be credited to the spreading of games on the internet.

“We’ve got programs that’ll analyze a board and tell you your highest scoring play and it can actually run thousands of simulations and tell you what it think will win games most often and with those two programs together

Professional Scrabble Player we’ve seen a lot more people get very, very good at the game. I don’t know if that’s a good thing for competitiveness… but people are getting better” said Canik.

The internet allowing all players of these games to improve their play with the help the computer analyzing all of a player’s moves.

People can discover when certain moves are most effective and which ones give the best odds of winning. The internet has given a higher standard of competitive play.

Improved play is beneficial for any growing sport because it will add to the competitiveness of competitions and that draws larger audiences.

But improved play is not the only way the internet has aided these games.

“With Twitch and an online presence we are starting to see our [competitive] numbers go back up.” said Canik.

These board and card games have seen spikes in popularity with the growth of the internet which has allowed viewership rise. It has also given the opportunity for online games to increase the amount of players interested in playing at a high level, and having the ability to play at a high level. The internet will be what allows these games to reach the next level of popularity. This will allow for the prize money to increase, which will grow interest of playing

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Graphic by West Plowman.

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the only way for them to grow the in these tournaments. the winner.

“Right now it is $10,000 for “You don’t see chess on television,” competitive scene is through the first place in the expert division Gaiffe said. “It’s always been on the internet.

The most popular way is [at the national using apps such as Twitch championship for which has been successful Scrabble].

The for many esports. These intermediate and games must rely the future advanced divisions of online streaming for typically have their competitive events to between $1,000 gain popularity that would to $3,000 for their allow for the creation of a first prize. The real sport. year I played it was Board and card about $4,000...” games have changed said competitive dramatically recently Scrabble player Former Chess Player and Teacher and they are looking to Matt Canik.

Most of these board and card internet and on the internet it’s a replicate these leaps in popularity games have competitive events matter of can you generate enough of the competitive scene with the with prize money, but there is an revenue. If you are covering a match continued use of the internet. extraordinary amount of time you have to cover the people who needed to become an expert at your employing to go out there, set these games. up the computers, somehow “To be an expert level player you’ve got to cover all of you have to memorize… tens of those costs. How do you thousands of words” said Canik. generate the revenue?”

The prize money does not None of these games compensate for the weeks of time are given the coverage as that is dedicated to the game. The sports and they will not be top prize for the Scrabble champion on television until they is $10 thousand but this is a game are able to prove that is world renowned and played their popularity in by millions of people. It is watched the country. by thousands, and the prize pool Until then, does not reflect the money that is involved with the game.

“The [chess] world championship match is usually between one and $4 million” said Gaiffe.

The chess prize is different because the audience is much larger, but there’s still a discrepancy between the prize and the amount of viewers. There are 800 million viewers, but an unproportional Graphic by West Plowman.

Graphic by Jack Long amount of a few million dollars for

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High Stakes

By West Plowman

Black Lotus $45,999.99

1 2 3 4 5

Mox Ruby $15,999.99

Mox Pearl $14,999.99

Time Walk $14,999.99

Why Are They So Expensive?

Just like every other card game, there are a handful of cards that are collectibles and have steep prices.

The reason for these prices are that the some cards are not being printed anymore and very few are in the world. They aren’t being printed because the creators of the game, Wizards of the Coast, decided to stop printiong certain cards to create a rarity and increase in price.

Volcanic Island $11,999.99 Using CardKingdom.com as the reference , which is an auction house for Magic: The Gathering cards.

As of April 12, 2019.

Images Courtesy of Wizards of the Coasts

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Trading 6 7 8 9 10

Mox Jet $10,399.99

Will They Continue to Increase in Price?

Time Twister $8,799.99

As the game continues to grow in popularity, the prices will only increase. There will be an uptake in the amount of rare cards as time goes on because more and more cards from the startof the game will be lost. It can be expected that if the game continues to grow at the same rate, the prices of cards will increase.

Ancestral Recall $8,399.99

Mox Sapphire $8,399.99

Mox Emerald $8,399.99

Where Do They Sell?

People are selling the cards over the internet at many websites. There have been high priced deals across Ebay, but that is just one of the locations. There is no designated domain for the buying and selling of the cards, but as the game grows the card prices will too. As a result, there will certainly be many websites created.

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Photo by Jack Long