Students hang out at a recent watch party of the Overwatch League Grand Finals 2022.Students walking to the Commons dining hall have probably noticed Beloit’s Gaming and Esports Club’s new gaming space in Whitney Hall. The student-run club has existed unofficially for a while now, but this semester they’ve had a fresh start with a popular new gaming space of their own.

“Everybody involved is super excited,” says Peyton Scarpaci’23, one of the club’s co-presidents, about the group’s evolution.

According to the club’s page on the Beloit website, the group’s purpose is to create a social community and space for casual gamers, and to create a medium and support system for gamers interested in competitive gaming. Club members will have a chance to meet other gamers and develop their skills for casual or competitive gaming.

Among the several hundred members in the club’s Discord chat server, some of the most popular games are Fifa, Valorant, Overwatch, League of Legends, and Destiny, but there is room for plenty of others, and some club members play Genshin Impact or Mario Kart Wii.

Gamers try out the college's e-gaming space in Whitney Hall during the Student Involvement Fair.

The club has big plans for the future, most importantly their intention to participate in gaming competitions in eSports leagues. According to club secretary Nathan Wilder’25, “the end goal would be that it’ll be a couple of teams in whatever people are interested in playing to compete in events…and we’ll be providing space and support to have them be competent and capable at those sports.”

The Office of Residential Life used the space before it was converted into the gaming space this year.

The club holds weekly events, such as Overwatch II, a popular cooperative first-person point-of-view shooter game. Over Halloween weekend, they also held two events for Phasmophobia, a first-person horror survival game. The gaming space amenities consist of many gaming PCs, an Xbox 360, and PS2 Series X, PS4, PS5, Switch, and six Gaming Tower PCs. In addition, there are several consoles that stay in the room but are not technically owned by the club, like Wii and GameCube.

When asked what the Gaming and eSports Club does, Scarpaci said, “We’re just trying to create a safe space for people of all backgrounds to come together, meet each other, play games, hang out, and have fun.”

The gaming space is open from 4 p.m. to midnight on weekdays, and 10 a.m. to midnight on weekends.