Competitive gamers faced off on Tuesday as San José State Esports hosted its showcase event in the Student Union ballroom.

SJSU Esports is a collegiate level competitive institution that pays students to compete with other colleges in various video games.

Hayden Jones, a computer engineering fourth year student, was a moderator for the event.

“You can be any skill level and have fun,” Jones said. “We invite everyone to go ahead and sign up.”

At the event, students had the opportunity to sign up to play games such as Apex Legends, Rainbow Six Siege and Overwatch.

Jones explained that the main event, however, was Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where 64 people would compete to win a Meta Quest VR headset.

SJSU esports players had the opportunity to compete in the tournament if they wished, despite them being the most skilled.

“We’ve had some upsets, for sure,” Jones said. “We’ve had … times when (other players) have actually beaten a couple of our players in the program.”

Software engineering junior Alvin Lee was one of the players in the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament.
“I signed up for it because I’m in the Discord (server), and at the last minute I (figured) I might as well join it,” Lee said.

Hesaid that it had been a while since he had played Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and was surprised to see that he was doing so well.

SJSU alumnus Zaid Lakhani was at the event as a spectator.

“I’m not really good at Smash but I like playing it a lot and I really love watching it,” Lakhani said. “When I was attending SJSU, I would come here every year and join the bracket.”

Other fighting games, such as Street Fighter and Tekken were also available to be played on monitors at the event.

SJSU Esports’s plan for the upcoming semester is to prepare for their varsity season.

“It’s one of the first times where we are getting a lot of our teams involved at the varsity level,” Jones said. “We’ve had some collegiate events, but now we’re ramping up to a full on collaboration with the league that hosts a lot of NCAA Division I sports.

Jones said the games that SJSU plays include Rainbow Six Siege, Valorant, League of Legends and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. 

“From an administrative standpoint, (there’s) a lot of elbow grease going into making sure that all runs smoothly,” Jones said. “(We’re) just trying to get everybody into the competitive spirit and into a winning attitude.”