Well it’s been a week since Fragapalooza closed its doors, and I’ve finally managed to recover from it all. Now some of you may be unfamiliar with the name Fragapalooza, so I’m here to educate you. Fragpalooza is the largest gaming event in Canada. In four days this huge event crams in a convention centre sized BYOC area, gaming tournaments, random draws and prizes, and more caffeine then is healthy for human consumption. I’ve been a regular attendee since 2003 and the last time Futurelooks attended was at Fragapalooza 2005. I thought that it was time that I brought the event back to the Futurelooks audience.
This year’s event was held from August 7th to August 10th at the Northlands Sportex in Edmonton. Over 1,000 gamers and spectators from across Canada and the USA came to enjoy the four days of gaming goodness. In addition to the main BYOC event, there was a whole host of side events and contests, as well as tournaments. Thanks to generous sponsors like Intel, NVIDIA, HP, and Razer, there were over $65,000 worth or prizes to be given away for tournaments, contests, and random draws, making this one of the must go to events. Futurelooks even managed to bring with us a few prizes from sponsors like NZXT, GIGABYTE, and ZeroSurge.
Every year Fragaplooza hosts a wide array of official tournaments, which run the gamut from games used in professional competition to the latest popular releases. The games selected this year are Counter Strike: Source, Team Fortress 2, Call of Duty 4, Unreal Tournament 2004, and Warcraft III: Defence of the Ancients. These are all selected by a vote from all registered participants, and are run during the duration of the event on machines donated from the sponsors.
Fragapalooza 2008 is even more special this year because it takes place on the same weekend as The Weekend to End Breast Cancer, and the venue is right across from where the Edmonton walk starts and ends. In honour of this event, the Fragapalooza staff all dyed their hair pink in the week leading up to the event, and shaved their heads (and faces in some cases)bald. There will of course be an associated fund raiser, with all proceeds going to the Alberta Cancer Foundation.
And if all that wasn’t enough, there’s plenty of things happening on the side lines. There’s unofficial tournaments, random contests, and whatever can be drummed up from the minds of the sleep deprived staffers and participants. So without further adieu, it’s time to dive inside the event that is Fragapalooza.
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Day One – Setup and Opening Ceremonies
Day One starts bright and early at 9AM on Thursday with everyone arriving for registration and setup. This year Edmonton experienced a small heat wave during the weekend of the event with temperatures outside quickly hit 32°C so things started a little brighter then everyone was expecting. Luckily a pre-registration was held the night before, and the morning registration was handled extremely well. This allowed people to quickly escape the heat of the main foyer and retreat to the air conditioned interior of the Northlands Sportex.
Now at 9AM there still isn’t that much gaming action going on. Only about half of participants have arrived, and only a few servers have been setup for a few games. This gives one a perfect attempt to take a walk around, meet up with old friends, and check out some of the modded rigs that have been setup. Fragapalooza hasn’t hosted a mod competition in a couple years, so you don’t see things as crazy as the Keg O’ Chaos or the Tire Computer anymore. Still there are some wild looking over the top computers to be checked out but it is possible that Futurelooks may help bring that back for next year.
Around 7:30PM, once a decent number of people have arrived and settled in, the opening ceremonies start. This is where the staff of course welcome everyone, setup what’s happening with this year’s event, and let a few of the sponsors share some words with the crowd. I was finagled into getting up on stage, and was able to eek out a quickly improvised welcome message out before handing things back over to the experts.
During the opening ceremonies, staff and presenters (myself included) were throwing coveted Intel pillows into the crowd. However, after the speeches, it was time to give away some real swag. Every year, Fragapalooza awards their early registrants with some sort of prize. This year the first 200 people to register were eligible to win an NVIDIA based video card, and the first 400 were eligible to win an Intel processor. After it was all over and the free stuff awarded, it was time for everyone to get their game on.
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The Main Event
With the completion of the opening ceremonies, it was time for everyone to return to their chairs and start some gaming. By this time, servers could be found for most every major game noted on the roster. The internal IRC server was also in full swing allowing participants to arrange friendly matches for whatever game they wished. All they needed to do was find someone else who wanted to play.
After a couple hours the crowd burst into a loud cheer as the lights in the Sportex were shut down almost entirely. Only a thin strip over the tournament area was left on, so the tourney participants could see what they were doing. But once the first rounds of tournament play were completed, even those lights would be turned off and we would be all left in complete blackness, only lit by the ambient illumination of our case mods and LCD screens. Even in the darkness, you could see the mainstream and obscure being played. Some brought televisions and consoles, and played Rock Band into the night. Some got a little more intimate, huddling around a single computer to play the venerable classic Scorched Earth.
For those that need it, there are always dedicated sleeping areas setup. This year’s forced venue change saw the return of a great Fragapalooza tradition: Tent City. The years spent at the Mayfield Convention Centre prevented participants from taking advantage of this, as the convention centre was attached to the Mayfield Inn and Suites, and Mayfield wanted to soak us for every dollar. Sportex is exclusively a convention centre, and a part of the huge Northlands complex, so they had little problem with us setting up camp. So if you needed some rest, you could easily retreat to the moderate privacy of your tent. Still, little sleep is had on the night of Day One.
Day Two – Pink Hair And Bald Geeks
This was easily the most interesting event I’ve seen at Fragapalooza. As I had mentioned earlier, our little LAN party fell on the same weekend as The Weekend to End Breast Cancer. Now since gamers aren’t the virtually trained killing machines mass media links to portray us as, we decided it was only fitting to jump in and help out the cause. That means that the staff volunteered to have their hair dyed pink, and then raise donations towards having their head shaved at the event. They brought on the Est-elle Academy of Hair Design as sponsors, so the hair colouring and shaving was at least done by professionals.
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Becoming Internet Famous For a Good Cause
The senior staff members were the first to go under the clippers. They were sat in their chairs, adorned with the anti-hair poncho, and asked what they were looking to have done today. This was probably the easiest answer, as everyone was getting shaved down right to the scalp.
The first to finish was Michael “Sphincter” Hollands, and he was more then happy to pose for a quick picture. Each staff member moved through the makeshift salon, and after having their picture taken, stepped off to the side to make way for the next victi…I mean volunteer. We thought they had run out of staff members, but everyone noticed that one person was still attached to their pink locks.
Gil “StraT” Amores, President and Head Organizer of Fragapalooza, very nearly escaped his date with a set of hair trimmers. He was hovering in the background on stage, hoping to avoid notice. Luckily Sphincter caught him, and then took the oppotunity to auction off his hair (or at least the removal of it) to the highest bidder, with the full bid going to charity. Someone put forth $160, and StraT went under the razor.
Though he was a feeling a little trepidation about losing his locks, StraT was greeted with a huge amount of cheers once finished. I think he also realized how much colder the air conditioning felt with the aide of hair on his head.
Once StraT was done, it was time to turn everything over to the Fragapalooza participants. NVIDIA was going to donate $1000 per participant, up to $10,000, for having their heads shaved. In the end, 38 people including staff, volunteers, and participants were deprived of their hair. The grand total collected for all this hair removal was a wonderful $18,795.36 CDN. In addition to all the money being donated to reasearch to fight breast cancer, some of the longer haired participants who went under the razor donated their hair to make wigs for those who have undergone cancer treatment and lost their hair. I would say this event was a great success, and has once again proven that gamers care.
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The Tournaments Are Now In Full Swing
Though Fragapalooza is primarily a LAN party, some people like the rush of competition and the thrill of victory. Since Fragapalooza tries to represent gaming in all its aspects, the staff hold a few official tournaments every year. This year’s selection of games were voted on and picked by registered vendors, and included the titles Counter Strike: Source, Team Fortress 2, Call of Duty 4, Unreal Tournament 2004, and Warcraft III: Defence of the Ancients.
As for sponsors, Razer helped out a lot with a couple of tournaments. Also our friends over at ZeroSurge provided the power filtering equipment for all the tournament machines. Their surge suppression and power filtering devices are very industrial in design, and really second to none. Though the power provided by the venue was fairly stable, the added protection of the ZeroSurge power filters made for an extremely trouble-free gaming experience.
By the time Friday night rolled around, the tournaments were indeed in full swing. The CoD4 tournament had completed its qualifiers the night before, and TF2 and the other tournaments were being played out both before and after the head shave. This year the Fragapalooza staff introduced something new to the tournament setup; legalized gambling using virtual dollars. On the Fragapalooza home page participants could use a currency called Fragbux to vote on brackets and teams in each tournament. The winners with the most Fragbux could then use them for…stuff. It was the first year this was being done, and there were some errors, so it wasn’t as big as it could be. However next year the bugs should be ironed out, and the many underage participants of Fraga can get their first of lady luck and misfortune before they turn 18.
The Random Contests Continue Into Days Three And Four
The tournaments weren’t the only events in full swing following the head shave. Not shortly after the participant’s heads were made much balder (though not much in some cases), it was time to start the series of random contests and giveaways that would pop up through out the later part of Day 2, and follow into Day 3 and Day 4.
The first random draw to rear it’s head was a new play on an old favourite. At our previous venue, there was an 8 foot high cinder block wall that provided a barrier between the main convention centre and the side halls. It also provided for a great place to hang off of, and thus the Wall Hang endurance test was born. Since no such wall existed at the Northlands Sportex, the staffs had to get creative, and the Wall Sit was the decided progeny of the Wall Hang.
Several hundred participants flooded the main foyer of the Sportex, and placed themselves up against the wall in the fashion illustrated above. After a few minutes, only the two in the picture were left. It was a race between a kid who was barely 10 or 12, and some older kid. The youngin’ showed a lot of heart and dogged determination, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough and he lost. The winner won an NVIDIA video card.
Much later in the night, an epic Fragapalooza tradition took place in the same foyer. The staff paged every willing participant to join in on the huge Rock-Paper-Scissors competition. I unfortunately didn’t get any pictures as I was in the middle of an epic charge on a TF2 server. There were also some “race here and get this” type events posted on the home page. But none of these events could prepare us for the possible carnage seen on Day 3.
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Let The Carnage Begin!
That’s right! On the afternoon of Day 3 we figured it was time for some good ol’ fashioned chair racing. No one was compiling code at the time, but we needed no such excuse. It’s a gaming event, and that includes games that could endanger your safety IRL (In Real Life). Our previous venue had neither the smooth floors nor the long distances required for such an event, but the Northlands Sportex didn’t fail to provide this amenity. So as we charged across the venue with reckless abandon and were left asking on simple question: What’s the worst the could happen?
Well as the video will show, there weren’t any major wipe outs or spillage. Apparently all the practice on the virtual battlefield has really helped with real-life timing and spatial orientation. As far as I know, there weren’t any serious injuries reported from the racing. I did manage to miss a few minor dives, one of which contributed to the only damage that seemed to result from this event. However I did catch a photo of the aftermath.
That’s essentially it. One chair with an arm snapped clear off. Luckily he was in the forums shortly thereafter, asking for advice on where to buy a new chair. I would suggest Costco for an economical office chair with smooth gliding bearing. After this event, things managed to tone down in terms of danger.
That being said, I think the sleep deprivation was getting to the organizers and the participants. I say this because the next few contests multiplied the scary factor by 0.36, and then upped the social awkwardness meter a couple notches.
It was time to challenge the participants of Fragapalooza to something they might not all be good at; dancing in a fashion that doesn’t resemble a side to side shuffle. It was OK though, as another Intel CPU and motherboard combo was up for grabs. The video is just the first round, and a lot of people were quickly eliminated from consideration. A few decent dancers made it to the final round, and kept dancing until a winner was chosen based on the volume of the gathered crowd.
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The REAL Beauty and the Geek
And now we turn to the socially awkward portion of this year’s events. In a devilishly evil team-up between Intel’s gamer representative Stuart “EG|Django” Ewen and Fragapalooza’s apprehensive baldy, Gil “StraT” Amores, it was decided to hold a dating game where participants would win a date of something with one of the Foosh Mint babes on site.
StraT managed to convince to lovely looking girl on the left to go through with this whole show. Unfortunately it didn’t end very well, as the guy she wanted had a girlfriend already, who called him from Vancouver right at the end. She didn’t know this, and the second place guy on stage wasn’t who she was looking for, so it ended in a double disappointment.
But all was not lost. There was a few more contests that played out through the night. Intel held a trivia contest and gave away some high end gear. Some of our Futurelooks’ sponsors even managed to giveaway some prizes. The morning of Day 4, I woke up to find that someone had won a ZeroSurge Surge Protector and Line Filter in a Rubik’s Cube speed contest. There was also giveaways from NZXT and GIGABYTE on site, but those were saved for the closing ceremonies on the final day.
The Final Day
As the final contests conclude, the tournaments come to a climax and dénouement, and the network is inevitably shut down, it becomes painfully obvious that we’ve reached the final day of Fragapalooza. As always it’s been a hell of a ride, but it’s still not completely over yet. There’s the closing ceremonies, the annoying need to pack everything up (or find everything to pack up), and of course the giving away of much free stuff.
And I wasn’t kidding. In the midst of tearing down the event, the crowd gathers for one final time. So free swag is tossed into the audience, and the ensuing struggle means someone goes home happy or injured (thought none were reported to my recollection).
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Speeches are given from the myriad of Fragapalooza staff, volunteers, and sponsors. Everyone cheers on, as we all greatly appreciated what these dedicated people, who have taken time out of their own lives, do for us as a community of gamers. The Fragapalooza staff always manage to put on a good show, and they and the sponsors pay us back in kind for our gratitude…
…with a decent pile of phat lewt. The random name generator is spun up, and whoever is lucky enough to have his number called will win a nice package of gear. If you aren’t around for the closing ceremonies and didn’t earn your prize in some fashion like in a tournament, too bad; your prizes are given to the next lucky participant. The gentleman above won in a random draw an NZXT Rogue Case, ZeroSurge Power Conditioner, and an Intel motherboard. Some GIGABYTE motherboards and NZXT power supplies were also given away, as well as prizes from Thermaltake, Razer, Corsair, and a few of the other Fragapalooza sponsors.
The stage is now empty, and the curtain is drawn. We now have to file out the door, balancing our many thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment on our office chairs as we try to get it out to our cars in one piece. Still, on the way out we manage to give one more thank you to the staff and volunteers who make this all possible.
I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks to StraT and Sphincter for giving me access to the event in full, Cova for having a wicked file server with all the latest…game patches…and demos, Nato and Django for putting together some interesting contests. Finally, to Commo for all his hard work on the tournaments.
I invite everyone to check out my blog, as I’ve posted coverage for each day of the event. You can see what to bring to a LAN, check out the marriage proposal that happened at the closing ceremonies, and everything inbetween. There’s huge image galleries as well. As for me, I’ll see everyone at Fragapalooza 2009.
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