There was an abundance of giggles and fist shaking at the rock, paper, scissors contest held in the Student Union lobby on Thursday.
The contest, brought to UB by the College Store and Pi Sigma Epsilon, could serve as two UB students' entryway into the National Collegiate Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament to be held in South Beach, Fla. from April 14 to April 17.
"Some people are like 'yeah,'" said Holly Papia with a carefree toss of her head that demonstrated most participants' casual approach to the contest. "Others were really serious about it, like some guys in the beginning that were really into it with bent knees and all," she added as she imitated their competitive stance with knees bent and eyes narrowed in concentration.
Papia, a member of Pi Sigma Epsilon, a co-ed fraternity in marketing and sales management, and Christine Babin, also of Pi Sigma Epsilon, manned the contest tables. Piled on the table were free T-shirts, College Store flyers and a box to hold entries for a sweepstakes prize - a copy of the official guide to the game of rock, paper, scissors.
According to information provided by Tom Jacobs, manager of the College Store on Maple Road, the tournament is sponsored by GotUsed, a national network of college bookstores, and sanctioned by the World Rock Paper Scissors Society.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., students made their way to the contest tables in the Union. Of the over 100 UB students who participated, 75 signed up for the grand prize of the competition, a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to South Beach, Fla.
The two winners, whose names get picked at random, will be allowed to take a guest and a trainer to Florida. They will receive airfare, hotel accommodation, $300, an opportunity to win $5,000 and a chance to compete in the 2005 World Rock, Paper, Scissors Championship.
Emily Babiarz, a sophomore physical therapy major, won her round of rock, paper, scissors and hopes that she will be headed to South Beach in the spring.
"I thought it would be nice to get a fine trip down to South Beach," she said. "I don't have any money to go on spring break this year, so this would compensate for it."
Not everyone who participated was interested in the grand reward.
"We pulled people in by talking about the trip and they're like 'yeah we want to play' and then they'd play and walk away without signing up," said Babin. "Maybe (they wanted) the free stuff. Kids always want free stuff."
Sophomore political science major Jessi Valdes and junior political science major Pete Doggett were happy to walk away with their free T-shirts. Doggett said the allure of the T-shirts drew him to the contest.
"A couple of my friends came into Campus Caf?(c) with T-shirts and I was jealous that I didn't have one," said Doggett.
Regardless of their reasons for playing, most had a good time going up against their friends in fist-shaking fury.
According to Babin, the contest was a success.
"It went better than expected," said Babin. "It was a lot of fun. You get to sit and play rock, paper, scissors all day long. What better way to spend the day."
While most UB students happened upon the table and the game in the spirit of fun, Douglas and Graham Walker, leaders of the World Rock Paper Scissors Society, had some words of advice for the frivolous competitors.
"Some of them will come into this tournament unprepared, thinking RPS is a mere child's game where everyone has an equal shot at winning," the avid rock, paper, scissors competitors stated in a press release. "Those individuals might as well just go sit on the beach and feed the seagulls when they get to South Beach. They won't stand a chance against the students that are serious about RPS."
According to Jacobs, those who missed the contest in the Student Union can fill out registration forms at the College Store at 3908 Maple Road or online at GotUsed.com until the end of January.
