Anyone who is anyone has at least heard of Fortnite, the cartoon game that has stormed the gaming community. The free game has risen to the top of charts in PC, Xbox, Playstation, and mobile gaming. It is a simple concept, where 100 people drop from a flying “Battle Bus” onto island and the last person, or team alive wins. The options are to play by yourself, with one other person, or in a squad up to four people. The strategies of the game include landing in a safe spot, finding weapons and medical supplies, gathering materials, and eliminating other players. A key component of Fornite is the ability to build, which enables player to summit mountains, cross rivers and lakes, make fortresses, and protect themselves from enemies. Senior Landon Wilbanks says, “Of all the strategies possible, I tend to think hiding in bushes and trees to be the most successful in placing top ten.” To keep the game progressing, the island consists of a storm that slowly circles in on a randomly generated final circle, where the most intense of fights take place. Players caught in the storm face losses in health and even death. When it is all said and done, the game simply concludes with pop-up of the desired slogan, “#1 Victory Royale.”

Although the game is free, there are plenty of opportunities to spend money, while they only provide an visual effect rather than gameplay advantages. One can buy costumes, dances, gliders, pickaxes, and emoticons for their player. As the game has risen in popularity, the most elaborate of costumes cost one approximately twenty dollars, which feels expensive for some something that is only used as a visual. Senior Spivey Gault says, “Sure it is expensive, but when another team sees my player dressed as John Wick they will think twice before engaging.” Another way to accumulate costumes and such is through unlocking them by doing challenges. These challenges are a rather new additions to the game that give the player a goal to work towards and it keep things interesting.

In the Prep student community, Fortnite has been a huge hit, for players of all ages are combining and collaborating to play together. Seniors are playing with seventh graders, Freshman are playing with Juniors, and even JA and MRA students are joining up with Prep students in the chase of victory. Some of the biggest side effects with this connection include a lack of motivation to do school work, insomnia, and frustration. Senior Ryan Myers said, “Last week I stayed up well past midnight every night because my squad kept getting back-to-back dubs. The next morning was always pretty bad though.” It is always exciting when new features come out, but recently there has been many problems. Fortnite is evolving too fast, and many times this makes its serves crash, leaving eager players unable to log on. Also, many times when these players are able to log on, they face lagging issues. Because the game is free, there is no harm in at least trying it to see what all the rage is amount.