Event season kicks off with EPIC38!
Over the weekend, gamers and PC enthusiasts gathered at Kettering Conference Centre to partake in EPIC38. While the EPIC.LAN team had the worst lead up to the event, the weekend was a roaring success. From Powered by Intel Tournaments to fundraising for GameBlast23, there was something for everyone.
Action-Packed Weekend
From Thursday to Sunday afternoon, this past weekend has been jam-packed with fun events. Saturday night saw the Community Party back in full swing. Guests were invited to attend the party wearing either red or blue, to represent in the age-old gaming question: Team Red or Team Blue?
Naturally, there were gaming tournaments – with epic prizes to be won! – as well as more social gaming events, featuring Jackbox Party and other fitting games. Throughout the weekend, a Minecraft Creative server was open with the challenge to build a landmark. Winners from this competition and other select gaming events earned points for the Intel Community Championship. (Read on for this year’s winner!)
EPIC38 wasn’t all about PCs and tournaments. The ever-popular Pub Quiz returned on Friday night, with The Bin Men taking first place. The Sponsors, which included the OcUK and noblechairs lads, came in a close second, missing out on first place by one point!
Plus, they held dedicated table times for board games too! From the co-operative Mysterium to the new party staple Herd Mentality, and a whole lot more. The EPIC.LAN TableTop Library was open to all!
Powered by Intel Tournaments
The Intel Community Championship is a staple at EPIC.LAN. Each event holds the championship, with a view to find the best player across a range of games. This year’s games were Valorant, CS:GO, Starcraft 2, Mario Kart, and more. Entering these tournaments automatically earned you five points, but placing first, second, or third would really bring in the big numbers. Points could be earned outside of the tournaments – even during the pub quiz!
As I’m sure you know, points mean prizes. Having the most points earned you the championship belt, but each point serves as an entry into the Intel Community Prize Bundle draw. This year’s prizes to choose from were:
- Intel NUC 12 Extreme with Memory, SSD & Intel ARC A750 GPU
- 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900k Component Bundle
- Dell Alienware X17-12th Gen Notebook
Gribley was named the lucky winner of the community prize bundle, whilst DeeEmmSee held onto their championship title for a second year!
OcUK at EPIC38
This is Overclockers UK’s fourth year as an EPIC.LAN partner. Every event, as well as sending members of the team to throw Haribo at you, we have a physical stall where you can check out some juicy tech. You can even buy some! We provide a delivery to desk service, plus have EPIC.LAN exclusive discounts and giveaways. Here’s what our very own Andy Welsh has to say about working with EPIC.LAN:
“We’re delighted to continue working with EPIC.LAN throughout 2023, allowing us to engage with the heart of the gaming community. We’re excited to build on what we’ve already done, and look to offer even more support for gamers with our expert advice, an on-site store, show deliveries, EPIC.LAN only discounts and plenty of giveaways.”
Andy Welsh
Partnerships & Relationships Manager
Highlights from the Team
We had three Overclockers UK and noblechairs staff members representing at EPIC38, Andy Welsh, Vinno Squires, and Steven Levitt. As well as presenting from the main stage and running the stall, they managed to join in with the epic shenanigans. Vinno set the first community gauntlet and even raised a tidy bundle for GameBlast23!
Steven participated in the Staff vs Community event, where they played Overwatch 2. It was the staff’s first-ever victory, too.
At the OcUK stall, we hosted a PC Builder Simulator 2 competition. Guests were invited to try and build their own PCs.
Pics coming soon!
Epic Times!
Did you head to EPIC38? Be sure to drop your highlights in the comments below and let us know if you’ll be heading to EPIC39 in July! We’ll leave you with this lovely video the team at EPIC.LAN put together.
- 4 min read
Emily Haylock
Author
Emily is a board and cosy gamer, keyboard obsessive, and content copywriter for Overclockers UK. She has been with Overclockers UK for two years, writing about everything from noblechairs to 8Pack PCs. She writes from within her desk nest with a foster pup at her feet. (What, a desk duvet is a totally normal thing!) In her downtime, she likes to play board games, farming sims, and old-school Final Fantasy. IX to be specific. It is the best, and that is a hill she will die on.
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