On Saturday, March 24, Panther eSports and Panther Tabletop Gaming will host the second annual Panther Gaming Convention (Pan-Con). This event will be held from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. at the West Gym. It is free and open to the public.

“This event showcases the growing trend in the 2010’s to video games becoming the dominant recreational activity on college campuses,” said Seàn Dugan, president of Panther eSports and a senior business management major.

Pan-Con will have a variety of games, including Fortnite, Smash/Melee, League of Legends, Overwatch and Magic the Gathering. According to Dugan, the number of games is too large to list them all, but they are trying to incorporate as many consoles and genres as possible.

There will also be many different tournaments going on at Pan-Con, according to Dugan. These tournaments will include a free and open-to-all League of Legends tournament, three free Magic the Gathering tournaments, one paid DraftMagic tournament, paid Smash and paid Melee tournaments and a Risk (the board game) tournament.

Along with the tournaments come prizes, according to Dungan. The size of the prizes are dependent on the number of people that sign up for the tournaments. The Smash/Melee tournaments have a $5 entry fee and the Magic the Gathering draft tournament has a $15 entry fee. The winners will receive gift cards.

Along with Pan-Con, Dugan wanted to say that Panther eSports and Panther Tabletop Gaming have both been created in the last two years. He wants to show how new organizations can grow quickly when they take initiative.

“Here at UNI we have a huge gaming community that is quickly becoming one of the top gaming communities in Iowa because of our conventions that bring in tons of people from around Iowa,” Dugan said.