On April 3rd, Jackson Prep held a Fortnite tournament as one of the school’s many attempts to give isolated Prep students some interaction. Over 100 students participated in the tournament organized by senior Andrew Purvis. 

Fortnite is a “battle royale” game that can be played in solos, duos, or squads. This tournament was in squads. Battle royale games consist of participants landing on the map and searching for guns and items. The “safe zone” will shrink meaning the storm takes over certain parts of the map being covered by the “storm.” If you are in the storm you take damage. The further in the game the storm gives out more damage. The points system gave out 1 point per kill and then placement points deeper into the game. The tournament was very fun and included Prep students in every grade and even some Prep graduates. 

The games were very competitive early, but three teams proved to be the best. One of these teams consisted of juniors: Will Evans, Mills Murphy, Jack Baker, and Will Davis. This team won many games early on and played very smart. Another team had seniors Andrew Purvis and Alexander Payne and Prep graduates Bryce Hall and Reece Davis. This team was very strong as they won a lot of games with smart decisions. The team that placed first though, was clearly the best. This team consisted of three seventh graders and one senior. Seventh graders Stader Powers, Chadwick Mask, and Thomas Coco dominated. Along with the keen insight of their fourth teammate senior Sam Buchanan, they dominated the tournament. 

The team finished with a total of 145 points. The second place team was team Purvis with 129. The third place team was Mills Murphy’s team. 

When asked why he organized this, Andrew Purvis said, “Well, since basketball ended, I needed something to fill my time. Also I thought this would be a good way for us to connect virtually during the Covid-19 pandemic.” Andrew has also floated the idea of an all-MAIS duos tournament in the future.