If you ever thought to yourself that your video game skills stand unmatched, Downing Student Union is cooking up a way for you to test that theory.

Lance Dozier is in charge of recreation at DSU, and when he took the job just a few months ago in June, he immediately began thinking of ways he could get students out of their dorm rooms but still keep them in their comfort zone. His idea: a Madden 2016 tournament on the Xbox One and PS4.

“It was my idea to do it.  I have experience hosting Madden tournaments since high school in Minnesota,” Dozier said. “I probably do them once a ‘season’ I guess you could say—one in the fall and one in the spring. They’re always a lot of fun and they are easy to market.”

Though, Dozier said he has never tried to take on a tournament this size and that hosting one university-wide will take a lot more planning than past tournaments, where invitations spread via text messaging was enough to get the word out.

“I moved in June 8^th and was told I was going to be in charge of rec. as a G.A. and right then and there I thought it would be pretty cool to hold some tournaments,” Dozier said. “I noticed (WKU) has two Xbox Ones and two PS4s and they have just been kind of sitting there without any games.”

A new hurdle Dozier had to overcome was contracting and licensing to use the games.

“There has been some contracting stuff; licensing with video games which made my bosses a little bit hesitant,” Dozier said. “But I got the video game licensing ready with a company called iGames based out in California. I got that done, so now it is all about getting the games.  Madden comes out August 25^th.”

The tournament’s opening rounds will take place in the recreation area in DSU while the final four and championship games will be played in Nite Class, the multipurpose performing arts venue on the first floor of DSU.

The entry fee is five dollars, which will get you into the tournament as well as food—most likely pizza or wings.  Registration will be open via Facebook in the near future, and that is when Dozier will know how big this tournament will really be.

“I’ve had a little bit of trouble with my anticipation. I’m not really sure what to expect,” Dozier said. “At first I was hoping to get maybe 30 kids to show up and start the tournament off with pool play.  The great thing about pool play is everyone gets more than one game, but now I would say 64 is the target I want to hit.”

Assuming that 64 students do compete in the tournament, Dozier hopes the food will keep the 32 students that will be eliminated after their first game hanging around to keep the atmosphere competitive.

If the tournament proves to be a success, Dozier certainly doesn’t plan to wait for Madden 2017 to come out before the next tournament. 

“I’ve done Madden tournaments and NCAA tournaments, I’ve never done anything like 2K (NBA 2K),” Dozier said. “I think if this goes smooth, we will have FIFA which comes out in late September, and the first week of October would be a 2K tournament.  So that is kind of my proposal. Hopefully we will have a tournament roughly once a month.”

Madden 2016 comes out August 25. Keep your eyes open on campus and social media for flyers and more event info to come.