Gamers Competing at Milad Tower

The third Iran Game League (IGL), the country’s biggest video games tournament, is underway at Tehran’s Milad Tower where gamers are competing in three fields of video game consoles, smart phone and computer games.

For the event which started September 4, an estimated 7000 gamers have congregated at tower. Women participants comprise 10% of the total competitors.

According to the website of the tournament cgame.ir, the contestants are from across the country. Besides Tehran residents, players from Khuzestan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Gilan, Yazd, Azarbaijan and Kerman provinces among others have come to the capital to test their luck individually or in groups.

This year’s tournament has the highest number of contenders compared to the previous rounds and the attendance of women is conspicuous.

Gamers are in five categories including PES 2017 and FIFA 2017 for video game consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox 360, Clash Royale and Quiz of Kings for Smartphones and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for computer. Over $25,000 cash and non-cash prizes will be awarded to the winners.

Questions

Quiz of Kings is the only Iranian game included in the competition. It is an online social game in which two players face each other and are asked questions in different categories (logo, capitals, sports, arts, etc.)

Each quiz consists of six rounds and each round is made of three funny questions whoever answers more questions is the winner.

It is the most popular and competitive category at this year’s IGL with 2405 players including 1777 men and 628 women participants.

  Multiplayer Shooter Game

Counter-Strike is a multiplayer first-person shooter video game. The game pits two teams against each other: the terrorists and the counter-terrorists. Both sides should eliminate the other while also completing separate tasks, the terrorists must either plant the bomb or defend the hostages, while the counterterrorists need to  either prevent the bomb from being planted or rescue the hostages. In this category, 115 players are in 23 groups of five.

  Online Battle

Clash Royale is a freemium mobile tower rush video game. The game combines elements from collectible card games, tower defense, and multiplayer online battle arena.

A player wins a battle by destroying more towers than the opponent or by destroying the opponent’s King Tower. Some 483 contestants are playing in this category at the IGL 2017.

  Football Fans

FIFA 17 and Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) 2017 are sports video games in which the players select their favorite teams, club or national, and control them during matches to win the leagues, cups or championships.

A total of 2098 players have registered in the FIFA category and the PES category has 1804 gamers.

Cube, an e-sports company, as the Iranian agent of the ESWC, an international professional gaming championship, is responsible for executing the IGL 2017 similar to the previous editions.

Every year, winners of national qualifier events around the world earn the right to represent their country in the ESWC finals in Paris.

Iran’s National Foundation for Computer Games as the custodian and policymaker of the gaming industry in Iran is the main organizer of the event.

The goal of the competition is to help fill the summer leisure time of adolescents and young people in a healthy environment and with proper games and support the private sector and domestic game makers.

Enthusiasts can visit the competition venue at Milad Tower in Tehran until September 14 every day from 10am-10pm.