The dawn of the third day of Skynet rose beneath brilliant blue skies over the Canal Basin. As the first brave souls walked through the doors, the morning silence was shattered by the unmistakable sound of a WWI bugle, calling the troops to consciousness and signalling the beginning of another day of tournaments.
Slowly, painfully, and fuelled by questionable amounts of caffeine, the sleep-deprived began stumbling back towards their computers. And with that, Day 3 was officially underway — starting with Rocket League!
🚗 Rocket League
With plenty of skill, a little bit of cheeky behaviour and an impressive number of goals, the afternoon disappeared in a blur of flying cars and questionable defensive decisions.
After some hard-fought matches, we discovered our hottest goal scorers and most determined defenders, with the surviving champions securing their places in tomorrow's Rocket League final.
But there was no time to rest...
🏎️ SuperTuxKart
After a short break to allow essential sustenance to be consumed — and, for some players, their first possible exposure to daylight — we moved into the finals of our mystery game: SuperTuxKart!
The racing was fast, furious and occasionally questionable.
After some extremely risky overtaking, Strike slid into third place, narrowly beaten by Haseeb in second, while Oraanthur powered across the finish line to claim the top spot!
🏆 1st — Oraanthur
🥈 2nd — Haseeb
🥉 3rd — Strike
🎟️ Raffles, Relaxation & Unreal Tournament
With the racing finished, it was time for some much-needed downtime. Raffle tickets were flying off the tables for the chance to win a Steam Deck, kindly provided by our sponsor Calibre Connection this year.
The venue settled into a slightly more relaxed atmosphere, with games and music filling the LAN as everyone prepared for the next big battle...
The Unreal Tournament finals.
The captains were called. The maps were selected. The players were released.
And then the shooting began.
After a suitably bloodthirsty battle filled with shouting, screaming and probably several accusations of cheating, the final standings were revealed.
🏆 1st — Team Degenerative Den Upper Management
🥈 2nd — Team Fairy Tail
🥉 3rd — Team Laser Explosion
Congratulations to all three teams!
🔫 The Admins Enter the Arena — Quake
As everyone took another much-needed breather, we all know what was really happening.
The players were secretly honing their skills for the Quake tournament.
Because, let's be honest, it's one of the few games VPope is actually good at.
After a few technical difficulties — because apparently even the Quake server needed a little encouragement — the tournament finally got underway.
With frantic dodging, questionable movement and some seriously lucky shots, we were able to crown our champion.
🏆 1st — Damage
🥈 2nd — ChurchBiscuit
🥉 3rd — Turtle
Unfortunately, VPope had to bow out this year, choosing instead to dedicate his time to the noble task of keeping the Quake server alive and stable.
A true sacrifice.
Probably.
🪱 The Night Winds Down
After an action-packed day of tournaments, the LAN finally began to chill out.
Games continued, music filled the venue and an impromptu Worms massacre provided one final burst of completely unnecessary violence.
As the night faded away, the Skynet movie selection turned to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, providing the perfect soundtrack to the gradual collapse of the remaining players.
Processors began to wind down.
Heads began falling onto pillows.
And, in some cases, directly onto keyboards.
And so, Skynet Day 3 came to an end.
But there is still one final battle to come.
Tomorrow, we return for the Rocket League final, where our surviving champions will battle it out for glory, prizes and the right to say they were victorious at Skynet.
And, of course, we have the raffle and Steam Deck prize waiting to be won.
So get some sleep.
You are going to need it.
See you all for the final day of Skynet! 🎮
