Operation: Topeka pitted five teams of gamers against each other in a LAN Battlefield 2 tournament. Instead of competing at the local convention center or gaming location, gamers piled into a van in Topeka, Kansas, on October 7, 2006, without a clue where they would end up.
As the day turned into night, they drove on single lane roads, deeper and deeper into the barren Kansas landscape until they reached “Subterra” – a missile silo truly in the middle of nowhere. After touring the facilities, the teams set up their PCs among various military paraphernalia underground in the missile bay and settled in for the long night ahead.
The competition was a single elimination bracket format allowing 20 minutes for each match. In their off time, teams got to watch their opponents from the spectator lounge. It wasn’t until 2 a.m. that 20ID beat BadBoyz in the final bracket and was crowned champion
The five teams were chosen through a qualifier tournament on September 2nd in Kansas City. Almost 200 gamers competed in the state’s largest ever LAN competition, and after 12 grueling hours, five teams stood triumphant to advance to Operation: Topeka.
Operation Topeka
