In mid-2017, video game developer Epic Games revolutionized video gaming with the simultaneous release of “Fortnite” on PC and gaming consoles. Less than six months later, in March 2018, Fortnite released a mobile version of the game. With Fortnite available on three separate platforms — PC, gaming consoles, and mobile devices — Epic had created a free gaming environment available to a market of 164 million people. By the time Principal Dan Frank spoke at Class Day 2018, there were more than 100 Million iOS downloads of the Fortnite app. By August of 2018, over 78.3 million people across the world were playing Fortnite on a daily basis.

Fortnite combines shooting and building into one experience, and it quickly dominated Parker students’ sleep schedules across grades and divisions. “I found myself staying up until one or two in the morning,” Parker freshman Evan Sato said. With the popularity of the game came not only players, but also YouTube videos made by various Fortnite content creators, Instagram accounts dedicated to Fortnite, and even books about the Fortnite universe. The love of Fornite permeated the Parker community by the end of the 2017-18 school and showed no signs of stopping. 

As the 2018-19 school year began, Fortnite remained a topic of regular discussion and amusement at Parker and across the globe. The game was not only played but enjoyed through videos of Fornite streamers for a combined 67.7 million hours on Twitch and 42.4 million hours on YouTube. While most students continued playing through the school year, some began to devote their time to other games or interests. By the time the 2019-20 school year approached, fewer students found themselves hurrying to their devices to play Fortnite with their friends. By the time Parker announced that learning would be through a distance learning approach due to the novel coronavirus, few students considered that they could fill their days with hours of Fortnite. “From time to time I would go on Fortnite, but I would never see any of my friends online,” Sato said. That’s when junior Elliot Landolt had an idea to engage students in a lost love and create connections through technology. Landolt was about to revive the love affair between many Parker students and Fortnite. 

With the sudden implementation of “safe at home” orders throughout the City of Chicago and State of Illinois due to COVID-19, Parker students found themselves confined to their homes with few options for activity or social engagement. For health concerns, Mayor Lightfoot shut down the Chicago parks and Lakefront just as Parker’s Spring Break began. Landolt saw the stay-at-home order from Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot as an opportunity to re-engage students in Fortnite. “I was thinking about doing the tournament for a while and given that everyone was home for spring break I felt it was the perfect time,” Landolt said. Nearly two days later, Landolt received over 100 emails from students who wanted to participate.

In an email to the Upper School, Landolt announced the format of the tournament. In solos and duos, Parker students would face head-to-head with an aspiration to advance to the next round. The Squads tournament would consist of a cumulative score of 9 over three days. While solos, duos, and squads each had a different bracket format, the point system was the same for all three divisions. One point was awarded for an elimination, one point for placing in the top 50, three points for placing within the top 25, five points for placing within the top 15, seven points for placing within the top two, and 10 points for a Victory Royale (first place). 

The tournament had not received a formal approval from the administration, but a second email less than 12 hours later indicated a formal stamp of approval. With this second email, Landolt announced that Fortnite tournament winners would receive a $20 gift card. “We were going to get funding from the Student Government for prizing, but then when the administration reached out to me regarding the prizes, I knew that they really ‘approved’ it,”  Landolt said. 

With the gift certificates on the line, Landolt needed a system that would prevent students from cheating. While Landolt would not share all his methods, he was willing to share two aspects of his oversights.  First, ten minutes before a round of the tournament began, Landolt would send an email with a different requirement for the players as an anti-cheat method. Second, following each game, a player was required to take a photo with a specific hand gesture in the frame with the game results. Landolt saw this as a way to prevent players from using prior games with a better outcome. 

After three days of competition, Landolt announced the following winners: 

Solos winner: Malachi Mitchell 

Duos winner: Ben Currie and Ryan Toulouse 

Squads winner: “The Little Gamers” (James Cuevas, Jake Forst, Rob Currie, Christian Michaels)

Reflecting on the tournament, Landolt shared that while there was some criticism from the players, overall “this was very successful and that there are more of these to come in the future.” Landolt has already reached out to Epic Games in hopes of planning future Fortnite events and is looking to branch out into other games. Interested students, or those with suggestions for other games or tournament ideas, are encouraged to reach out to Landolt via Instagram Direct Message (@ealandolt) or email ([email protected]).