Fragapalooza
 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
| Fragapalooza | |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Video Gaming |
| Venue | Leduc Recreation Centre |
| Location(s) | Leduc |
| Country | Canada |
| Inaugurated | 1997 |
| Filing status | Non-For-Profit |
| Website | http://www.fragapalooza.com/ |
Fragapalooza (also referred to as Frag or Fraga by participants) is an annual video game festival/LAN party that takes place in August currently in Leduc, Alberta, Canada. The name Fragapalooza was derived from the Military Slang "Frag" and "palooza" which is the suffix for any type of named festival or gathering, such as Lollapalooza. Traditionally held in the summer, Fragapalooza runs over a period of four days and lasting 24/7 for most of that time. In 2008, it was Canada's largest LAN party event, having reached approximately 900 attendees at its peak and is still one of the larger gatherings in western Canada..[1][2] It is also one of the longest running annual LAN parties in Canada.
History and background
[edit]Fragapalooza started in Edmonton, Alberta in 1997 by a group of computer game players playing the game Quake by ID Software. The first event consisted primarily of the first-person shooter game Quake and was held in an old airplane hangar at the Edmonton Municipal Airport. It has since evolved into a larger, annual gathering, drawing attendees mostly from across Canada but has included participants from as far as Asia, Europe, Australia and the United States.[3]
Fragapalooza is a nonprofit event, where proceeds from seat sales and sponsorship are rolled into the event itself to cover prizing, rentals, and various other event costs. The event is also volunteer-run that is drawn from many long time attendants.
This event currently requires participants to "Bring Your Own Computer/Console" (sometimes referred to as BYOC).
Milestones
[edit]- A proof-of-concept event called Quakefest was held at The Node Room in 1996. The event was organized by 2 gamers that wanted to meet and compete with fellow local gamers. It was considered a success by all who participated and was determined that a larger event was possible. This event gave birth to the idea of Fragapalooza leading to the first event in 1997.
- In November 2002, a one-time 'Fragapalooza East' event was held in Mississauga, Ontario.
- In July 2006, Fragapalooza held its 10 Years in the Making event, marking its 10th year in Edmonton.
- In February 2009, Fragapalooza held its first winter event in Grande Prairie, Alberta attended by approximately 100 people.
- In 2009 Fragapalooza started to expand its location selections to the Edmonton Proper Area, driven both by costs and availability of supporting infrastructure in venues.
- In 2010 Fragapalooza started to hold events in Leduc, Alberta, which is within the Edmonton Proper area, but about 20 minutes outside the city.
- In 2016 Fragapalooza held its "20 Years in the Making" event.
- In 2020 Fragapalooza went "Online Only" like so many things due to COVID19, hosting "The Digital Experience" on Twitch, bringing together several remote streaming participants and helping bridge communities.
- In 2024 Fragapalooza returned to a full-size, in-person event, while continuing to embrace the new Online world by hosting several notable Twitch Streamers.
Sponsors
[edit]Fragapalooza has had many notable sponsors including Intel, and NVIDIA who have both previously supported the gaming convention. In 2004, NVIDIA sponsored Fragapalooza offering 20 GeForce FX 5950 Ultra graphics cards to winners and runners-up of the official LAN game tournaments.[4] In late 2002, companies such as Sympatico, Intel, Cisco Systems, ATI, Microsoft, E-Compu-Vison, and Digital Extremes sponsored the 3 day gaming festival billed as Fragapalooza East.[5] In 2007, a professional gaming store, Razer, was invited to sponsor Fragapalooza with the company offering a product prize pool of approximately $600.[6]
Additionally sponsors have made presentations, setup booths and attended the event while being able to promote their new products or technologies directly to the gaming community that tends to support them.
Activities and competitions
[edit]Besides the opportunity to win prizes in the events official video game tournaments, gamers are given the chance to win "impromptu" competitions. In 2006, during Fragapalooza's 10th anniversary, a dodgeball tournament was arranged. The organizers attempted to break the record for the largest dodgeball game ever at a LAN party. The record, at the time, was held by an event that occurred in Portland that had 200 participants. Crucial technology, a sponsor of the 2006 Fragapalooza event, attempted to break the record with 300 gamers taking part. Bad weather, specifically rain, caused the withdrawal of most of the participants resulting in the record not being broken however the match went ahead with three winners each gaining 2GB of Crucial DDR2 RAM.[1]
Another non-video game competition organized at the Fragapalooza 2006 event was a "crab walk" race across the west side of the Mayfield convention centre. The participants were instructed to crab walk across the centre floor and all the way back again. The three selected winners of the race received free computer hardware from Cooler Master and Memory Express.[7]
 |
Other official "FUN" competitions included:
- The Wall Hang: This competition was held at the Mayfield Trade Center where an eight-foot wall stretched across the venue. Competitors would hang from the wall with the last person to fall being declared the winner.
- Keyboard Toss: Competitors are invited to throw their keyboards across the venue at a distant object. Competitors who hit the object or comes closest would win a new keyboard (thrown keyboards often broke).
- Binary Rock-Paper-Scissors: 256 attendees compete in a single-elimination tournament of Rock Paper Scissors.
- Chair Race: Contestants attempt to ride their chair across the floor, the winner being the person to get the farthest, or go the straightest.
- Dance-off: A crowd judged dance competition which included several dance moves and even included participants in costume.
- Paper Airplanes: Attendees are invited to create a paper airplane of their own design and fly them across the venue with the winner being declared based on either distance or accuracy.
- Garbage Architect: Teams of four compete to build impressive or humorous structures out of garbage found at the event. These usually consist of recyclable beverage containers and cardboard and\or pizza boxes.
- Photoshopper: a crowd judged Photoshop contest.
- Case Mod Competition: Last held in the 2004 event, attendees' modded computers were adjudicated based on various criterion.
- Scavenger Hunt: Groups of competitors compete to gather the most items from a list. In 2024 Fraga by night encouraged younger participants to engage in the hunt.
- Paper-shredded Puzzle: Attendees invited to put together a one-page puzzle after it has been shredded in a paper shredder.
Attendees and sponsors will occasionally organize their own unofficial competitions and tournaments. These have ranged from standard gaming tournaments to marathons where competitors are disqualified in the event if they leave their chair, fall asleep, disconnect from the game or otherwise stop playing. These competitions usually have smaller prizes funded by the organizer or a participant pool.
Staff will frequently issue challenges or tasks to all attendees over the intercom and prizes awarded to the first person to accomplish this task. The goals of these challenges can vary significantly, but they are almost always unique from year to year. Attendees have in the past been asked to blue-screen their computer, bring an attendant's pendant from a previous year, buy the staff dinner, find an item hidden inside the venue, and obtain a valid product code for an obscure out-of-print video game. These challenges are usually held at night when larger competitions and events cannot take place due to lighting and noise constraints.
Past events
[edit]All events within Edmonton, Alberta unless otherwise specified
| Year | Location | Approximate Attendance | Official Tournaments | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Hangar at the Municipal Airport | 70 | Quake | |
| July 16-19, 1998[8] | Hangar at the Municipal Airport | 150 | Quake | |
| 1999 | Hangar at the Municipal Airport | 300 | Quake 2 | |
| 2000 | Hangar at the Municipal Airport | 400 | Counter-Strike, Quake 3 | |
| 2001 | Mayfield Inn and Convention Centre | 700 | Counter-Strike, Quake 3 | |
| 2002 | Mayfield Inn and Convention Centre | 750 | Counter-Strike | |
| 2002 (East) | International Center, Mississauga, ON | 350 | Unreal Tournament 2004 | One time east event |
| 2003 | Mayfield Inn and Convention Centre | 800 | Counter-Strike | |
| 2004 | Mayfield Inn and Convention Centre | 800 | Counter-Strike 1.6, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, Unreal Tournament 2004 | |
| 2005 | Mayfield Inn and Convention Centre | 800 | Counter-Strike 1.6, Counter Strike: Source, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne | |
| 2006 | Mayfield Inn and Convention Centre | 800 | Counter-Strike 1.6, Counter Strike: Source, Warcraft III, Quake 4 | |
| 2007 | Mayfield Inn and Convention Centre | 800 | Counter Strike: Source, Halo 2, Supreme Commander, Unreal Tournament 2004 | |
| 2008 | Northlands Sportex | 500 | Call of Duty 4, Counter Strike: Source, Defense of the Ancients, Team Fortress 2, Unreal Tournament 2004 | |
| 2009 (Winter) | Holiday Inn, Grand Prairie, Alberta | 100 | Call of Duty 4 | Smaller regional LAN, format slightly different than main event. |
| 2009 (Summer) | DOW Centennial Center, Fort Saskatchewan | 450 | Counter-Strike 1.6, Call of Duty 4, Unreal Tournament 2004, StarCraft, Rock Band 2 | Fort Saskatchewan is a suburb of Edmonton. |
| 2010 | Leduc Recreation Center, Leduc, Alberta | 320 | Call of Duty 4, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Rock Band 2 | Leduc, Alberta is a suburb city in the Edmonton Proper |
| 2011 | Leduc Recreation Center, Leduc, Alberta | 270 | StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty | Leduc, Alberta is a suburb city in the Edmonton Proper |
| 2012 | Leduc Recreation Center, Leduc, Alberta | 300 | StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Team Fortress 2, League of Legends | Leduc, Alberta is a suburb city in the Edmonton Proper |
| 2013 | Leduc Recreation Center, Leduc, Alberta | 320 | Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Team Fortress 2, League of Legends, TrackMania | Leduc, Alberta is a suburb city in the Edmonton Proper |
| 2014 | Leduc Recreation Center, Leduc, Alberta | 325 | Call of Duty, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, League of Legends, TrackMania | Leduc, Alberta is a suburb city in the Edmonton Proper |
| 2015 | Leduc Recreation Center, Leduc, Alberta | 260 | Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Super Smash Bros., Battlefield 4, Left 4 Dead 2, StarCraft 2 | Leduc, Alberta is a suburb city in the Edmonton Proper |
| 2016 | Leduc Recreation Center, Leduc, Alberta | 345 | League of Legends, Super Smash Bros. | 20th Year Event |
| 2017 | Leduc Recreation Center, Leduc, Alberta | 326 | League of Legends, StarCraft 2 | Leduc, Alberta is a suburb city in the Edmonton Proper |
| 2018 | Leduc Recreation Center, Leduc, Alberta | 377 | Team Fortress 2, StarCraft 2 | Leduc, Alberta is a suburb city in the Edmonton Proper |
| 2019 | Leduc Recreation Center, Leduc, Alberta | 386 | Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, Super Smash Bros., and more | Leduc, Alberta is a suburb city in the Edmonton Proper |
| 2020 | Streamed Live on Twitch.tv/FPevents | Peak Viewership Online: 138 | Assetto Corsa, Super Smash Bros. | Virtual Only due to Covid |
| 2021 | Streamed Live on Twitch.tv/FPevents | Peak Viewership Online: 123 | Super Smash Bros. | Virtual Only due to Covid |
| 2022 | Fulton Place Community League
Streamed Live on Twitch.tv/FPevents |
In-person: 50
Peak Viewership Online: 130 |
Super Smash Bros. | Limited in-person due to Covid |
| 2024 | Leduc Recreation Center, Leduc, Alberta Also Online at twitch.tv/FPevents | In-person: ~400
Peak Viewership Online: 250 |
Counter-Strike 2, Overwatch 2 | Leduc, Alberta is a suburb city in the Edmonton Proper |
| 2025 | Leduc Recreation Center, Leduc, Alberta Also Online at twitch.tv/FPevents | In-Person: Are you coming? | What do you want? |
References
[edit]- ^ a b A Tech Zone article 1 retrieved 24 January 2008
- ^ nVidia article retrieved 12 February 2008
- ^ FutureLooks article retrieved 5 May 200
- ^ nZone Web site retrieved 24 January 2008
- ^ MTB online article Archived 11 September 2012 at archive.today retrieved 24 January
- ^ Razerzone Website Archived 21 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine retrieved 4 April 2008
- ^ A Tech Zone article 2 retrieved 24 January 2008
- ^ Jebens, Harley (13 May 1998). "Campers Coming to Play Quake". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 15 October 2000. Retrieved 14 November 2022.