Formerly known as CPP Esports, Bronco Esports is a student-run club that dedicates its time to online gaming, streaming and both on- and off-campus gaming tournaments.
The Bronco Esports club is widely known for the different gaming teams and hosting large tournaments like Frag Fest and smaller, more intimate Gaming Rumble tournaments for all members.
“The club started out as an unofficial StarCraft club in 2011 with a bunch of StarCraft players,” said Bronco Esports president and fifth-year applied mathematics student, William Wong.
“In 2012, the club was officially chartered as Cal Poly Pomona E-Sports.”
According to the group’s Facebook page, the goal of the club is “to promote esports, along with gaming, on and off campus by holding tournaments, reaching out to other schools’ esports organizations and encouraging our members to go to large-scale events.”
Frag Fest is the largest tournament the club hosts every semester.
Members bring their personal computers and games to participate in different tournaments and raffles by sponsors.
A big draw of Frag Fest is the swag and prizes that are given away by sponsors and local companies.
Thanks to this, each Frag Fest usually draws about 300 to 400 people.
Some of the sponsors include EVGA Corporation, HyperX and Micro Star International (MSI). Previous prizes have included mechanical keyboards, graphic cards, motherboards and other computer parts.
Gaming Rumble events are smaller and more frequent gaming tournaments.
These casual meet-ups are planned by team tournament organizers for all members within a gaming team.
The different gaming teams include Rocket League, Dota 2, Counter Strike Global Offensive (CSGO), Heroes of the Storm, Rainbow Six Siege, Overwatch, Hearthstone, League of Legends, Super Smash Brothers Melee and Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.
“All games are welcome so there’s no reason not to join if you like video games,” said Garrison Kanazawa, a fifth-year mechanical engineering student.
Kanazawa became interested in the Bronco Esports club his second year at Cal Poly Pomona after hearing about the CSGO team.
“I think it’s interesting how many people are into it,” Kanazawa said.
“Some people I’ve met from class I’ve seen around club events but you would never know otherwise that you have common interests. Most of us get used to playing online but getting together and playing in person is a whole different type of energy.”
The Bronco Esports club works with the Bronco Student Center (BSC) Games Room Etc. as well to host the smaller tournaments including Super Smash Bros. every few weeks.
Streaming on Twitch, the Bronco Esports group shares its gaming challenges and competitions online for all those interested.
The club also hosts livestreams to fundraise money by accepting and completing challenges.
The club’s biggest expense is actually pizza, since Frag Fest and Gaming Rumbles always provide pizza for everyone.
The last 24-hour fundraiser livestream was in January 2019 and raised about $200 for the club.
The Bronco Esports club also utilizes Discord, a gaming chat application for members to create channels within to invite other members and socialize.
The Discord server, which has only been around for a few years, has over 1,000 people.
You can find Bronco Esports on Discord at discord.gg/cppesports.
Joining the club is free and all majors are welcome. The club has no set meeting schedule. However, club meetings are typically only held the Thursday before Frag Fest or another major event.
The next Frag Fest will be held on April 26 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
For more information about the group, find Bronco Esports on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/CPPESPORTS/.
