T he U of M Esports Club (UME) is a student-led and run club for playing competitive video games. They organize gaming tournaments and casual meetups, which are open to students and the public.

The main weekly event, Back to the Lab Again, is a Super Smash Bros. tournament with side brackets for other games and the option to play casually. The event takes place on Friday evenings in 219 Animal Sciences.

Anthony Campbell, UME president, explained the club’s focus. “We try to accommodate both the casual gamers of campus — people who play games for comfort — as well as people who see it as an opportunity and take games to be more competitive,” he said. “Some of our events try to stem from different types of casual game nights, just in the community, maybe people who [like] a specific game and play it for fun.”

Campbell clarified that the events are open to everyone. “We see it as making sure that everybody can be represented in our events, whether you’re a university student going here or [you go to the University of Winnipeg or Red River College], or even if you’re not going to school, because at the end of the day we want this club to be an inclusive community that allows everybody to feel welcome and allows people to display their passions as a part of our club.”

Jared Vergara, UME director of community affairs, said players should come prepared with their own equipment, depending on the event. For the weekly Super Smash Bros. tournament, he recommended players bring their own controllers that can connect to a Nintendo Switch, though the club does have extras available. He specified that for online tournaments, participants are expected to have their own PC or console at home.

The club is open to expanding into games like League of Legends and Valorant, but would require additional resources “and a bit more support from the university and UMSU.”

The club’s biggest priority is recruiting team captains and building team structures to enter collegiate competitions. Securing a physical space on campus is another major goal. “We know that for student clubs, it’s been a bit difficult since COVID and everything with different university spaces being used for different things,” said Vergara. “Our hope is that eventually we can get our own space so that it helps grow the club — there’s a stable presence for the club on campus, people could come hang out and that’ll help the club grow more.”

Vergara said the club also has several events planned before the end of the semester, including a larger Back to the Lab semester finale that will be free to attend and feature additional side brackets and games.

“We’re in talks to maybe bring in some potential sponsors,” Vergara said. “There is quite a bit of outside support for our club that are interested in working with us, but we haven’t quite had the chance to set that up.”

He added that the club is also involved in planning a larger esports event scheduled for the summer at the RBC Convention Centre that will bring together several gaming communities from across Winnipeg.

To learn more and keep up with UME events, follow the club on Instagram @esportsum.