Gamers from all over the Bay Area can finally meet in one place — East Bay Game Con.

The two-day convention will take place on Oct. 28 from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. in the Old Union, and Oct. 29 from noon to 2 a.m. The Old Union and New Union will offer a variety of games, such as Dance Dance Revolution, Pac Man, Poker and console games.

Game Con is a collaboration by East Bay’s University Union, Associated Students Incorporated and GameZone, a multi-platform gaming venue on campus, as an effort to reach out to the Bay Area gaming community and unite them in one place through a video game event, according to GameZone agent, Edgard Martinez.  

“We wanted to cater to a different demographics, the gaming community is one that we haven’t reached out to,” said Hendrix Erhahon, president of ASI, CSUEB’s student government.

To provide students with taste of Game Con, there will be a launch day on Oct. 27 on the Hayward campus’ Agora Stage. Students will be able to play a variety of games and consoles on a mobile gaming truck, while guest DJ Shorty plays in the background, according to CSUEB Administrative Services Assistant, Jennifer Cueva.

Day one will be geared toward multiplayer games and include free-play games, as well as cosplay contests, according to an Oct. 11 email from ASI to the campus community. Day two will consist of tournaments with “massive prizes,” as stated by the email.

According to Jeremy Wong, assistant coordinator of GameZone, the tournaments will be run double-elimination style with specific rulesets. Players can sign up for tournaments the day of. There are approximately 21 main prizes, which include brand new consoles like the PS4, Xbox 1 and Wii U. A professional gaming service will provide the gaming set-ups and facilitate the tournament in collaboration with GameZone agents.

The event originally asked for two separate admission fees, one being $7 for early admission and $17 for general admission, but on Oct. 7 students received a campus-wide email from the University Union announcing that the event is now free. Attendees must be over 18 years old to enter.

“The committee decided to eliminate the price in order to make marketing more attractive and to cater to students on a budget,” said Wong. “We are also acknowledging that since this is a first-time event, many people have mixed expectations, so by making it free gives more incentive to just check it out risk-free.”

GameZone already hosts a gaming event called Game Jam in the Multi Purpose Room in the University Union, but is only open to CSUEB students.

“The difference between Game Jam and Game Con is that Game Con is meant to bring the community of Bay Area gamers together in one place,” explained Martinez. Game Con will not replace Game Jam, but Wong anticipates having representatives from Game Jam showcase at Game Con.