PTS, Ottawa’s Queer Community Centre, held its first annual Vintage Video Game Tournament on Oct. 12, which raised $2,000 dollars to be put towards the centre’s operating costs.
The idea came up during a brainstorming session, with the PTS staff trying to find something that no one else was doing and that lots of people like. They decided on Mario Kart, the iconic racing video game from the late 1990s.
“The executive director and myself are — actually the entire staff — are all kind of gamers and we all love Mario Kart,” says event coordinator Veronica Michelle. They then went out and bought an N64 system and the game to have at the centre, and for use for the tournament as the idea for the fundraiser developed.
Having a vintage video game tournament may be unique, but there should be no surprise that people were excited to play one of the games they were raised on. Using gaming as a way to help the queer community runs deeper than just the PTS staff members enjoying their video games. “You’re able to go online and play these games like World of Warcraft and just be your character with nobody judging you or bashing you for your sexuality or anything like that. It’s a really accepting community,” explains Michelle.
PTS, which is located at 331 Cooper St., provides counseling, support services and discussion groups to help all members of the rainbow spectrum, and strives to be a cultural hub for the queer community
The tournament was held at the Montgomery Legion on Kent Street, and PTS officials say it was a successful fundraiser and only see the new annual event getting bigger and bigger. Not only did it help raise money for PTS, it also helped spread awareness of PTS services.
Claudia Van den Huevel, executive director of PTS, says the tournament attracted lots of new faces she didn’t recognize from the community before, as well as people who have been involved in the past. “It was a very good cross-section of queer people and gamers,” says Van den Huevel. “Not everyone that was there even identified with the queer community, but they were there to support what we do.”
Two N64 systems, hooked up to two projectors, allowed for some big-screen gaming that everyone could see. Van den Huevel said organizers are already making plans for next year’s tournament. Participants will be hoping to de-throne Van den Huevel herself, who defeated the 30 other participants to win this year’s tournament, despite not playing for years before PTS purchased its N64s.
Seventy-five people were involved in the event as members of fundraising teams.
“It was the console I played in high school and college,” says Van den Huevel. “It was like bringing back my experiences from high school, which is always fun!”
Van den Huevel was also the top fundraiser at the event, bringing in $325.
PTS sees potential for the event to expand and to help spread acceptance in the community for years to come. To attract more participants next year, the tournament won’t be held over the Thanksgiving weekend, as it was this year.