By Robert Klimper |Staff Writer|

Pool players gathered in the Santos Manuel Student Union (SMSU) to compete for a chance to claim victory and a $25 gift card on Feb. 1.

Every other Wednesday, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. this quarter, student gamers compete in the 9-ball tournament held in Gamers Lounge.

The tournament sets up its participants in a simple tournament style, where the winner of a best two out of three match moves up.

Eventually two are left, and battle to see who is the champion for the week.

Each quarter, the type of tournament is swapped. However, for this quarter it will be a 9-ball tournament every other Wednesday, with the last quarter being an 8-ball tournament.

The tournament itself follows simple 9-ball rules, sink each ball in numerical order and sink the number nine ball last to win.

“This is a method of giving back to the students who come and use our facilities, we set up tournaments like this,” said Adonis Galarza, a volunteer from the student center who helped officiate the tournament.

The winner of the tournament for this week was awarded a $25 Amazon gift card, and for any person who is interested, they must be a CSUSB student in order to receive the prize for each tournament.

“I’ve come to participate and have fun, I like to test my skills and see how I do against other people,” said student Alan Ortega, who participated in the previous tournament two weeks ago.

The atmosphere at the tournament is a relaxing and calm, no stress. 

Players simply their skills against each other, which is a comfortable atmosphere for any player with any level of experience.

Anyone worried about having to bring a pool cue for the tournament has nothing to worry, as the SMSU offers pool cues to player of the tournament.

“I just like playing pool, [I’ve] got Wednesdays open so [I] come here and sign up for the tournament,” said student Jesse Pangelinan.

Pangelinan has participated in the different billiard tournaments at the Gamers Lounge since he started coming to CSUSB when he had the free time.

He also stated that he has played pool, but really honed his skills when he came to CSUSB and started spending time at the Gamers Lounge.

He was the winner of the previous tournament two weeks ago.

“In my country I played a lot of pool and was really happy when I came here and saw that it was also popular,” said Hoang Nguyen.

Nguyen is an international student from Vietnam with previous experience in the 8-ball tournament held last quarter.

Nguyen learned how to play pool from his father at the age of seven.

He had won three different times in the previous 8-ball tournament last quarter and was the victor of the tournament this week.

To any players interested in testing their skills against other pool players, come to the Game Lounge two weeks from now to participate in a chance to win the prize or hone their skills for another chance down the line.