Chicago Park District Launches New Esports Program With Teen Tournament

Chicago IL

16 December, 2020

1:18 PM

Description

Press release from the Chicago Park District: Registration is open for the first-ever Chicago Park District Esports tournament The Chicago Park District and I Play Games LLC (IPG) is teaming up to bring Esports programming to Chicago area teens and launching the first-ever Esports tournament on December 22. With limited in-person opportunities, the free, online-based tournament aims to connect youth, ages 13 to 17 years old, on a virtual platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program will incorporate IPG's virtual workshops that focus on finding careers in esports and learning more about college scholarships in the field, competitive gaming, and how-to successfully host a tournament. Teens from neighborhoods across the city will compete in a single elimination, 32 player bracket for the coveted first place spot of the multiplayer video game, "NBA 2K 2021." There will be slots available for 64 participants. Players must connect to the tournament with their own Xbox One and/or PlayStation 4 or 5 consoles on Tues., Dec. 22 at 12 p.m. The virtual tournament is free and open to Chicago area residents. Registration for the inaugural event is available on the Chicago Park District website at https://bit.ly/ChicagoParksESports and below: • Registration link for PS4: https://iplaygames.challonge.com/2K21PS4 • Registration link for Xbox: https://iplaygames.challonge.com/2k21XB1 Participants must meet the following requirements: • Be a Chicago resident, • Have access to an Xbox or Playstation console, • Have a copy of NBA 2K 2021 on preferred console, • Have a stable Internet connection, • Have access to the Zoom platform. Eligible gamers will receive further instructions on how-to connect to the tournament platform via Zoom upon registering. The public can view the tournament live through www.twitch.tv/ipg_esports. Winter registration for in-person and virtual teen programming is available at https://bit.ly/Winter2021TeenPrograms. Most programs start the week of January 4 and run through the week of March 15. This press release was produced by the Chicago Park District. The views expressed here are the author's own.