The Interscholastic Gaming League is a gaming club formed in 2003. The club meets after school on Fridays in the Student Activities Center. Science teacher Eric Ledgerwood has been the club’s advisor since 2004. “The Interscholastic Gaming League is a group of students that are dedicated to not only having a weekly time where they can get together and play games socially, but also to have competitions with people from Gunn and other schools as well,” Ledgerwood said.

The club welcomes students of all experiences to come play or watch games. “The club is open to everybody,” Ledgerwood said. “[It] is a great outlet for people to not only take their love of games, but to be in the same room with each other. Social gaming is so much more fun, where you can interact with people in person.” Students can also watch others play the games if they choose not to participate.

Ledgerwood is an avid gamer, which con- tributed to him becoming advisor of the club. “I was asked by students who knew I was into gaming,” he said. “At the time, I was playing ‘Halo’ a lot, and my students knew that, so they said, ‘Hey, we need a new advisor for the club.’ I thought, ‘That’s awesome. Let’s do it.’”

Junior Sydney Wong is secretary of the club and has been a member of the club since her freshman year. She enjoys the laid-back environment. “I decided to become part of the club because I’ve been going through a bunch of hard times and I found this club as a way to relax,” Wong said. “[We could come] if we just wanted to enjoy ourselves or have a couple of games.”

According to Wong, the club is important to those who might not have the opportunity to play games at home. “A lot of people often don’t find the time to have video/virtual lives because parents tell them to get off the computer and do their homework,” Wong said. “And Friday is when the week’s over, and we can just chill.”

Wong says the club atmosphere is gener- ally warm and supportive. “There’s some match rivalry, where people say they’re better than each other,” Wong said. “But overall, we’re all just good friends.”

Club co-president junior Alex Holsinger’s duties consist of supplying video games for play and hosting gaming tournaments. Last year, he hosted two “League of Legends” tournaments and plans to host more this year. “Tournaments are pretty chaotic,” Holsinger said. “It’s a bunch of people with laptops all sitting in various corners of the rooms with their team and yelling at each other. It’s fun, and it gets pretty loud.”

The tournaments usually last all day on a Friday, with food sold by the club. The com- petitors in a tournament are skilled players with knowledge of the game, but anybody is invited to watch. Players are usually Gunn or Paly students, but sometimes middle school students choose to participate as well.

In November, the Interscholastic Gaming League club is hosting a “League of Legends” tournament. Teams of five high school stu- dents will play against each other for the championship. Those who wish to play must have a preorganized ranked team at level 30.

Holsinger hopes that in the future, the Interscholastic Gaming League will become bigger and more well-known. He aspires to connect the club with its Paly equivalent.