The university’s first Rock Paper Scissors tournament was held over Feb. 24 and 25 and aimed to promote a message of anti-bullying.

SFU’s Alpha Kappa Psi, aided by Tau Kappa Epsilon and the Latin American Student’s Association, hosted the event in conjunction with anti-bullying week, with funds going to the Red Cross.

Players could enter the competition by donation and then had the chance to play for a cash prize of $50. The tournament was broken down into multiple rounds and players were placed into a bracket, battling it out until a winner emerged.

According to organizers, one of the goals of the event was to bring out the “inner child” and break down the sort of negative thinking that breeds harmful stereotypes — to make the point that it isn’t “uncool” to play games and have fun. The tournament was meant to be a fun and unique way to send an important message.

Alpha Kappa Psi president Kayode Fatoba explained, “It’s easier to have a pub event, to party and get a lot of people to come out that way,” but the club wanted to try something different.

Fatoba spoke to how it is easy for people to be negative about an event such as this: “We had individuals who initially would come and be like, ‘This is so stupid.’ Well, that’s really what we’re trying to change, and then they’d be like ‘Oh, makes sense! This is pretty awesome.’”

The Peak caught up with the tournament’s champion, Amrit Jawanda, who said, “It was nice to do something a bit out of the ordinary. [. . .] I didn’t know something as simple as [rock paper scissors] could actually get people together and [be] so much fun.”

The tournament was meant to be a fun and unique way to send an important message.

 

He also shared his personal strategy that won him the game: “Get in people’s heads. Mess them up.”

As part of the awareness component of the tournament, organizers from Alpha Kappa Psi wore pink ribbons and white shirts on which people could write their own comments about bullying.

Pia Fresnido, the club’s service chair, said that people “could write anything, from insults that have been thrown at them, to positive things like how they can overcome the bullying.”

Organizers were surprised and pleased with the turnout of between 20 and 30 students. They were able to raise $25 in donations. Fatoba said, “While that isn’t much, we figured we’d have to match it. Our hope was just that people would come out and have fun.”

He continued, “It’s about promoting a culture whereby any aspect of student life -— whether it be video game tournaments or card game tournaments — should be seen as exciting [. . .] [and about] reaching out to all sorts of people at SFU.”