Many passionate fans of the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) franchise attended the Student Union Board of Governor’s (SUBOG) GTA IV Trivia Wednesday night, ready to gun for the prize: a brand-new PlayStation 5.
Event organizer and seventh-semester finance major, Joseph Garcia, talked about how the event came about.
“I think GTA 6 has been the biggest video game release in, I don’t know, the past 10 years.”
He added, “I thought this would be one of the biggest events at UConn.”
The prizes for winners included the aforementioned PlayStation 5 for first place, second place got the base game of GTA IV plus a $20 gift card to upgrade to the ultimate edition of the game and third place got the base game.
First-semester mechanical engineering major, Maen Al Zouabi, spoke about his interest in GTA before the competition began. He said he hadn’t been a fan of the game franchise.
“I wasn’t, but now I am.” he said.
Al Zouabi also mentioned, “I saw the post on Instagram for the trivia, and they said there was going to be a PS5.”
Clearly, the grand prize was a big draw for those in attendance.
Fifth-semester mechanical engineering major Edward Underwood, who works at SUBOG as its digital entertainment and films chair, said the event was meant to bring students together.
“We thought it’d be a good way to have students come together with something they enjoy, and being able to give someone a PS5 is a great idea, a fun memory.”
Garcia added that SUBOG was able to donate a PlayStation through its budget.
“We get funded by the students themselves,” he added. “We thought it’d be nice to give back to them. Not everyone has a PS5.”
The main event began: 40-questions of trivia played on Kahoot.
At first, there was a rule established to use phones only, to prevent cheating on the computer, but that was not enforced. The game was on, Underwood was chirping with friends in the crowd, and it was getting loud and intense. The atmosphere was that of a UConn Final Four basketball game.
Competitor Charley Ma, a seventh-semester management and engineering for manufacturing major, faced cheating allegations for his performance in the first half of the game. Garcia came down and watched him for a few rounds, and Ma beat those allegations.
By question 17, everyone was so dialed in; you could hear a pin drop in the auditorium. The trivia was based on each game in the series, not just V or VI. There were lots of questions related to GTA Chinatown Wars. This was no easy contest — only a true GTA superfan was leaving with a new PlayStation.
With 10 questions to go, the game got close; a player who went by Andrew R. gained on Ma, taking the lead after question 32. Ma was right back in it, and the competition got real. Only 300 points separated the top 3: Ma, Andrew and out of nowhere, a player named Nathaniel.
Ma got back on top with two questions remaining, with just three points separating the two. Andrew was getting chants from the crowd. The final question came and went. Third place went to Nathaniel, second place was Ma and the Grand Theft Auto trivia champion was Andrew R.
Ma ended up getting the last question wrong, allowing Andrew R. to leapfrog into pole position. With the podium filled out, it was time for rewards; the three were called up on stage to receive their prizes.
The champ humbly chose not to comment on his victory. Ma, however, gave some insight into his experience.
“I got the last question wrong, so it got me second. It’s okay, I still go home with GTA 6 Ultimate Edition.”
He added more about SUBOG.
“I’m just really stoked to have a copy of the game, through playing such an awesome event hosted by SUBOG.”
Garcia commented on the fast-paced nature of the competition.
“I thought the results were really exciting— down to the wire.”