Mahmoud Belhamdi

Freshman Michael Zhou and senior Justin Liu play Brawl Stars at lunch. “Over the past four years at [Jefferson], I [haven’t] really played [Brawl Stars], I’ve only recently redownloaded the game for the homecoming tournament,” Yu said.

This week, Jefferson gamers turned up the heat at the token homecoming Video Game Tournament, bringing showdowns in “Minecraft Bedwars,” “Valorant,” “Clash Royale,” and “Brawl Stars,” between all classes. The annual tradition marks Jefferson students’ interest in video games, and their homecoming spirit. 

“The tournament shows that [Jefferson] isn’t [just] a school just dedicated to science and technologies, but also a school with a really [diverse] community, [full] of anybody from tech kids to gamers,” freshman Adam Wu said.

This year, the Student Government Association (SGA) redid the bracket system that’s used for all video game competitions this homecoming season. For every game, the class of 2029 would face the class of 2027, and the class of 2028 would go against the class of 2026. Each class and team used a variety of strategies and tactics to win.

“[We] drafted [our team] based on what the other team picked as brawlers,” senior Justin Yu said. “We were all on voice chat, so we [could] communicate our strategies.”

SGA also redid the rules and stated the game modes used for each game. All of the game competitions, including “Bedwars,” “Valorant,” “and “Brawl Stars” had format changes prior to the competition. These shifts in rules included what would happen if there was a draw, how matches would be structured and more.

“[‘Minecraft Bedwars’ was played] in a type of game mode that [was] more competitive,” freshman Jerry Zhang said. “[That’s why] we went into the first round [and] split into three sections.”

In the end, the juniors were victorious in both “Bedwars” and “Valorant,” while sophomores secured first place for “Clash Royale” and the seniors defeated the freshmen in “Brawl Stars.” With homecoming season finally dawning on Jefferson, students found it both enjoyable and fun to play with students from other grade levels.

“I think [the video game tournament was] fun and a great way for the classes to compete,” Yu said.