Billed as the Glastonbury of the gaming world, the Insomnia LAN has a long track record in competitive gaming, with the first show held back in 1999.
So, what can a visitor, guest or esports fan expect from this next convention, taking place from August 24th to 27th at the Birmingham NEC? George Moncaster lists some notable activities at Insomnia63.
TOURNAMENTS TO LOOK FOR
Esports will of course feature heavily again at i63, with the long-running UK Masters taking point on the big stage alongside a plethora of other tournaments. The largest one is the i63 CSGO Open with a £30,000 prize pool.
Additionally, there will be an Overwatch Open to complement this, with a prize pool of £7,500 up for grabs.
Rocket League will also feature at this event, both with a £4,000 Open and an additional tournament. The latter is sponsored by Mountain Dew and it will take place in Big Betty – a truck that doubles up as a mobile esports arena. The winning prize is a multi-day training boot-camp with Team Dignitas at their headquarters at the Philadelphia 76ers basketball training facility in the US.
We are so hyped to be working with @MountaindewUK on bringing Big Betty and Rocket League to #i63! Come and see @Splyce on this huge esports truck at the event and watch as teams compete for a @TeamDignitas boot camp experience! Full info here ? https://t.co/t5QQ8a7OKI pic.twitter.com/0YzTKABQqO
— Insomnia Gaming Fest (@IGFestUK) August 7, 2018
The Team Fortress 2 Open will feature a £7,500 prize pool, open to attendants with a valid team signed up and a BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) ticket.
Of course a staple of esports, League of Legends will also have a Open tournament with £5,000 on the line for competitors. Hearthstone will have a £1,500 prize pot.
Outside of esports, there’s also a Flightball Open Championship, combining drones and high speed racing.
Alongside the Open tournaments, BYOC tickets holders can take part in a whole host of private games and community tournaments, including PUBG, Fortnite and other popular titles.
The in-house ‘Community Games’ are also open to BYOC guests, and involve three hour sessions of fan favourites for those wanting to get involved. They offer no prize pools and are not hosted on the main stage, but promise an extra option for attendees.
Further details about the Insomnia tournaments can be found on the official site.
OTHER THINGS TO SEE AND DO
The expo area will return, presenting a variety of vendors and other booths where guests can buy goods and take part in competitions and other activities.
One of the highlights of the expo zone is the stand from exceL Esports and Barrage Esports. This is the first of its kind from UK esports organisations.
The focus for both is to push esports as a whole and increase awareness of it. Both orgs are open to industry discussions at the show, with exceL also releasing a new range of merchandise that will be promoted at the event.
We are pleased to announce that Barrage will have a booth at @IGFestUK 63! Come see us, some of our players and staff plus some extra guests! We will be talking all things esports to anyone who will listen! #Battalion pic.twitter.com/9pGfxAFpd6
— Barrage™ (@Barrage) August 10, 2018
Good time to announce that we actually have secured a booth at #i63! We will be promoting UK esports alongside @Barrage. Pleasure to be working with them, our good friends and even better competitors! ??
— Kieran Holmes-Darby (@xL_Kieran) August 19, 2018
As is the tradition with Insomnia, visitors can also stay overnight and get involved with the evening entertainment. There’s the traditional pub quiz, The Dark Room show and wrestling, courtesy of NXT UK. And don’t forget the casino!
A night at the casino: When League of Legends goes Ocean Eleven
A range of content creators and special guests will also be around for meet and greets, including Will “WillNE” Lenney or Lewis Brindley of the Yogscast.
A gaming zone will also be available over the four days, allowing visitors to play some of the latest titles such as Fortnite, Beat Saber and Super Smash Bros Ultimate.
Guiness World Records will be there too, encouraging guests to try and break some gaming world records.
Be in with a chance of playing your fave games against your fave YouTube gamers by visiting the GWRLive! stand at @IGFestUK next weekend (24th-27th August). We’re running challenges for @FortniteGame, TrackTurboMania, @RocketLeague and Gang Beasts ? #i63 https://t.co/RQKoy8CMX8
— GuinnessWorldRecords (@GWR) August 20, 2018
If you’re a newcomer to Insomnia, read our beginners guide to Insomnia here.
Check back on Esports News UK throughout Insomnia63 for more coverage. Follow our reporters George Moncaster and Michael Todner on Twitter here.
George has been writing general content for about two years now, and is now branching out into gaming and esports. He also runs a Twitch and YouTube channel and is currently at university.
"My first pieces were published on my stream network site TheBNN who have a small blog that's quite general," George said. "It was initially Overwatch mechanics and updates, but has begun to spread into other areas and other games.
"I also used to do a little remote casting for amateur CSGO teams, which I still do on rare occasion for a few orgs through Broadcast.gg. I'd really like to get some on camera experience with esports, and hope to cover content at LAN events or even end up hosting desks."
