2024 GigaZone Gaming Championship & TechXpo Announces Main Stage Tournament: Rocket League

(Bemidji, MN) (February 5, 2024) – The 2024 GigaZone Gaming Championship and TechXpo will be Saturday, April 20 at the Sanford Center in Bemidji. The event features free gaming on various console and arcade games, numerous tournaments, door prizes, and more. All the fun is free.

For the first time, this year's main stage tournament will feature Rocket League on the esports stadium style stage in the GigaZone Championship Arena. It will be a 3-person team competition with 32 team maximum. Rocket League is a video game that combines arcade-style soccer and driving games. Players control rocket-powered vehicles to score goals with a giant soccer ball. Gameplay can be chaotic as vehicles can flip and fly in all directions.

"The past few years Rocket League has been a staple of eSports gaming and we're excited to see it hit the main stage this year. The close calls and crazy goals make it a great game to watch for fans and the uninitiated alike, and it's a game that our community has always wanted to see get it's chance in the spotlight," said Leo Anderson, Paul Bunyan Communications Chief Technical Officer.

New this year, all those who want to enter a tournament will need to create a GigaZone Gaming Player Profile prior to registration at the event. This can be done online at http://www.gigazonegaming.com This will expedite the onsite registration process to allow the tournaments to start earlier.

"Last year was a big first for us in taking over the entire Sanford Center as well as joining the TechXpo to our gaming tournaments. While it certainly came together well, we're always looking for ways to improve the event, especially when it comes to making things easier for our guests and players. Keeping the registration line moving forward and getting people playing faster is always top of mind for us, so this year we're going to be trying a new system to hopefully speed things along. We'll be hosting a player registry online which players can visit to create their Gigazone Gaming Player Profile. This can be set up well ahead of time so that when folks show up the registration process will be as simple as heading to the game you want to compete in and tapping your name to check in. This should go a long way towards cutting down on not just the registration time, but line time altogether, and get the games rolling as fast as we can," said Josh Almendinger, Paul Bunyan Communications Data Representative.

Registration for all tournaments including Rocket League will start at the Sanford Center April 20 at 10 a.m. and go until full. Several more tournaments will be announced. Special Guest Danielle Feinberg from Pixar Animation Studios will be on the main stage at 2 p.m.

The GigaZone TechXpo will expose a growing regional audience to technology innovation and help them turn their technical skills and enthusiasm into successful careers right here northern Minnesota. Start-ups and companies creatively leveraging technology will be able to demonstrate their innovation to a large group of tech-savvy potential employees. Educators and educational institutions can have their tech-oriented students show off projects and promote the technology training programs they have to offer. There is no cost to be an exhibitor but space is limited and the exhibit must creatively display the use of technology. Applications must be submitted by March 1, 2024 at http://www.gigazonetechxpo.com

This Paul Bunyan Communications event includes the talents of many local partners including NLFX, Accidentally Cool Games, Northern Amusement, the Sanford Center, as well as support from several regional and national partners.

Paul Bunyan Communications has the region's largest and fastest all fiber optic network with over 6,000 square miles throughout most of Beltrami County and portions of Aitkin, Cass, Hubbard, Itasca, Koochiching, and St. Louis Counties. The Cooperative provides Broadband High Speed Internet Services including the GigaZone with speeds up to 10 Gig, digital and high definition television services, digital voice services, Residential and Business IT services, and is also northern Minnesota's certified Apple Service Center.