The Esports Club will host its annual Nittany Invitational from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 24, at the Bryce Jordan Center.

The event will consist of qualifying players competing in two video games: Rocket League and Overwatch 2. There will be a prize pool of $10,000 split between both of the games to the winning collegiate team.

This year, 33 colleges competed in the online, playoff bracket style to qualify for a spot in the in-person events, leaving eight teams playing Rocket League and four teams playing Overwatch at the event. Each Rocket League team will consist of three players and two subs, while each Overwatch team will consist of five players.

The Esports club, led by president and junior Christian Wasta, functions as both competitive and casual playing. Wasta helped organize one of the largest events in collegiate esports and secured its spot in the Bryce Jordan Center.

“The way that this event will be set up is that there is a stage that the Bryce Jordan Center makes,” Wasta said. “The stage has a huge video wall behind it to display the primary game that’s being played. Overwatch will go first, playing all of their games on stage and in the player pit… So say while the Overwatch finals are happening, there will be Rocket League players playing in the player pit as well.”

Every semester, the club holds tryouts for gamers to play video games competitively for multiple titles at the collegiate level in tournaments, like the “Nittany Invitational,” across the country. Some of these games include Rocket League, Overwatch, Valorant, and NBA 2K, to name a few.

The other half of the club has more of a casual vibe, where members, whether they have experience or not, play pickup games for fun in the Esports Center in the White Building.

The event will be sponsored by EsportsU with other sponsors giving away raffle prizes to spectators. The event is free to spectators and available to stream on the club’s Twitch.