The 2020 eSports Games, alternatively the 2020 MOF Games, 2020 Micronational Olympic Games or Gymnasium State 2020, were the third edition of the annual online tournament organised under the Micronational Olympic Federation from 14 February to 28 March 2020. In total, 52 athletes from 19 micronations competed in 11 events.[1] The host nation, Gymnasium State,[2][3] won the event with 7 medals in total, followed by Millania with five and Ladonia with four.[4] The 2020 eSports saw the last appearance of several micronations, including the B3 nations Posaf, the founding state of the MOF, Millania and Iustus. On the other hand, the games saw the debut of several nations which later participated in MOF events, such as Ponderosa Hills, the Rednecks Republic and Wegmat. The 2020 games were the first edition to officially use the name eSports Games to differentiate them from the macronational Olympic games.
The bid submission period for the 2020 MOF Games was open from 20 January to 24 July 2018. In total, six nations submitted a bid: Alperia (later Insuelia), Gymnasium State, Iustus, Kaion (later Slavistonia), Natia (later Arbreland) and Tupos (later Treeland). Voting on the bids started on 26 July 2018, with Iustus firmly ahead of other applicants in the first two rounds. With only two votes in the first round, the Gymnasium State was nearly eliminated, only beating Alperia because it received fewer first preference votes. On 31 July, Micronational Olympic Federation (MOF) president Nicholas Randouler announced the results of the third round: with nine votes, the Gymnasium State was announced as the host of the 2020 MOF Games, defeating Iustus by two votes. It is speculated that a dispute between Ashley Jaax of Iustus and Pablo Macias of Andany regarding the legitimity of the 2018 Micronational Games and the absence of several representatives during the later rounds of voting, including Gymnasium State's Tomáš Falešník who since stated that he would have voted for Iustus in the final round, have contributed to the Gymnasium State's selection. Iustus was later selected as the host for the 2020 Micronational Olympic Games,[5] which were ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In total, 52 athletes from 19 micronations registered for the 2020 eSports Games, the most of any eSports Games to date.[1][2] Of the 19 nations, 8 were returning from the 2019 MOF Games and 11 participated for the first time.[2] However, only five nations would return in 2021. Among the nations which participated for the last time were the B3 nations of Posaf, the founder of the MOF (although Posaf was formally still listed as the host of the 2021 eSports), Millania, the host of the 2019 edition, and Iustus,[1]Phyrria, winning nation of the first ever edition of the games, Quietrock and Arbreland. Aenopia, Ponderosa Hills, the Rednecks Republic and Wegmat debuted in the 2020 eSports and returned in the later installments, with Wegmat eventually hosting the 2022 eSports Games. Other nations such as Aenderia also made an appearance in other MOF sanctioned events such as the cancelled 2020 Rock Paper Scissors Tournament, but did not take part in the later eSports games. Gymnasium State and Ladonia were the only nations to participate in both the previous and next games. Some prominent micronations, which only participated in 2020, included Abelden, Nova-Occitania or New Eiffel, which all went into inactivity or outright dissolved later during the year.
The largest team was fielded by the Gymnasium State with 13 athletes, beating its own record of 12 from the previous year.[1][2] Most of the medalists from the 2019 MOF Games made a return, with the exceptions of Gymnasium State's Michal Kulhánek (Agar.io gold), as well as Isaac Elsner of Slavistonia (checkers and chess bronze) and Jay Ruz of Wenonah (Agar.io silver), both of whose nations did not participate in the games.[2] Members of Gymnasium State's winning Fortnite Teams team did not sign up for any other events after Fortnite was omitted from the planned events. Debutting athletes included later medailists Jakub Svatek (Gymnasium State), Osvaldo Budet (Ladonia), Jan Šťastný (Rednecks Republic, later Krlesia) and Matthew Hubbard (Matthewopia, later Vishwamitra).[6]
The Gymnasium State set up an committee led by the Minister of Sport Adam Pivetz to select and prepare venues for the 2020 eSports Games. Agar.io, Billiards, Checkers, Chess, Reversi and Tic Tac Toe were all events from the 2019 MOF Games that returned for 2020, with only Fortnite being excluded for logisitcal complications in the 2019 tournament.[2] In addition, Battleships, Five-in-a-row (Gomuku), Poker, Rock Paper Scissors and Tetris were introduced, either being suggested by the committee or the MOF commissioners.[2] In total, 11 events were included, more than in either of the previous games. National Titles were also announced as part of the closing ceremony,[8] the last time they were awarded at any MOF event.
Schedule
An improvised Olympic torch used in the opening ceremony
The 2020 eSports Games were intended to be held from 14 February to 1 March 2020, a similar timeframe to the previous two games.[2] On 14 February, an opening ceremony prepared by František Prášek and Tomáš Falešník was released on YouTube. The ceremony opened with a footage of various places throughout Sušice, ending with the Sušice gymnasium, claimed by the Gymnasium State as its territory. The "parade of nations" followed, starting with Posaf, founder of the MOF Games, and ending with the Gymnasium State as the host. The Gymnasian anthemGaudeamus igitur was then played over a flying flag. The ceremony ended with a footage of an improvised Olympic torch, assembled from SOLO matches, formerly produced in the town.[6] Remains of the torch, the first physical olympic torch ever used by the MOF, were listed by the Grand Unified Micronational Heritage Council as a cultural work.
Six-day segments were initially planned for every event (except Agar.io and Tetris, which were planned to last for two days a round), with a three-day period before the closing ceremony for any delayed matches. However, as delays became more common the games were extended multiple times, ultimately ending with the last match on 13 March 2020. An official closing ceremony was released on 28 March 2020, officially concluding the games.[8] The closing ceremony first listed all medalists, then participating nations by their medal count and finally the results of the National Titles.[4]
Tic Tac Toe was one of the two events opened on 14 February 2020, immediately after the opening ceremony. Following the tradition set by the previous two MOF Games the event was held via a shared Google Drawings file. It was one of the longer events due to issues with scheduling individual matches, with the final match taking place on 10 March. Returning champion Nicolás Millán (MIL) defeated Babou Chkaya (OCC) in the round of 16, but lost to Osvaldo Budet (LAD) in the quarterfinals. Osvaldo Budet went on winning the gold medal in the event, defeating Jan Šťastný (RER) in the final. Bronze medal was won by Nathan Smith (ARB).[9]
Five in a Row was a new event included in the MOF Games for the first time. A shared Google Sheets file was used as the venue, mimicking the venues for Tic Tac Toe and Checkers. The Five in a Row tournament started on 14 February 2020 after the opening ceremony, alongside the Tic Tac Toe tournament. Five in a Row took the longest to finish, with the final 3rd place match only being decided on 13 March 2020. The tournament was won by Jakub Svatek (SGY), facing Nathan Smith (ARB) in the final. Bronze medal was won by Zoey Liu (MIL).[10]
Checkers were the second event to begin, starting on 15 February 2020. In keeping with the MOF tradition, the games were held on a 6×6 board on a shared Google Drawings file created for the occasion. Although Checkers was the first event to finish semifinals, scheduling issues led to the final match taking nearly two weeks before eventually happening on 10 March. The two time champion Abigail Batalia (PHY) was widely expected to win her third gold medal in the event, but unexpectedly lost to Nathan Smith (ARB) in the semifinals. Smith went on to place second in the tournament, losing to 2019 silver medalist Nicholas Randouler (PSF) in the final. Batalia was nonetheless able to secure a medal in the games, defeating Tomáš Falešník (SGY) in the 3rd place match.[11]
Chess was the third event of the 2020 eSports Games to begin, starting on 16 February 2020. The event was held using the chess.com website. Due to scheduling issues of the individual matches and lack of participation of some contestants, including the semifinalist Thomas Bainbridge (ABE) in his later matches, resulted in the tournament only concluding on 10 March with the final match. Returning champion Matthew Salzer (LAD) lost his first match in the round of 16 to Connor Stumperth (ATO),[12] who went on to make his way into the final match, ultimately getting silver after losing to Jakub Svatek (SGY). Zoey Liu (MIL) was awarded bronze after Bainbrigde was ultimately disqualified for inactivity.[13]
Reversi was the fourth event to start, officially commencing on 17 February. The games were held through the playok.com website. Due to being one of the less popular events with only 8 registered contestants, Reversi was one of the quicker events, finishing on 1st March; third event to conclude overall after Tetris and Agar.io. Returning champion Nicolás Millán (MIL) lost to Grant Simmons (LAD) in the semifinals after defeating Babou Chkaya (OCC) in the quarterfinals. The silver medalist of 2019 Ondřej Chalupka (SGY) and the bronze medalist Ashley Jaax (IUS) faced each other in the other semifinal, with Chalupka moving to the final against Simmons and ultimately winning gold. Ultimately, Millán still received a medal in reversi, placing third.[14]
Poker was a new addition to the MOF Games, added on the suggestion of Ladonian representative to the MOF Matthew Salzer. It was the only event where the venue was not selected beforehand by the organisers but rather left for the contestants to decide on. The poker tournament started on 18 February 2020, but due to lack of participation from many registered contestants the event took until 13 March to finish, its final match being the very last game of the 2020 eSports Games played. Jakub Kolbek (SGY) won the tournament after defeating Zoey Liu (MIL) in the final, while Charlotte Baird (WEG) was awarded bronze.[15]
Billiards tournament was officially commenced on 19 February 2020. It was the least popular event of the 2020 eSports Games, with only seven registered contestants, and a lack of participation from some contestants as well forfeits from some of them due to the inaccessibilty of the Facebook minigame used as a venue resulted in only three contestants remaining in the tournament, the 2019 champion Matthew Salzer (LAD), Babou Chkaya (OCC) and Pavel Aušprunk (SGY). However, Aušprunk later also made the decision to forfeit due to inability to find a time for a match against Chkaya in a reasonable timeframe, resulting in both Salzer and Chkaya defaulting into the final and only match, which took place on 12 March 2020 and resulted in Salzer's victory.[16][17] Due to these circumstances, it was decided that no 3rd place match will take place and the bronze medal will not be awarded in Billiards. It was because of the state of the Billiards tournament at the 2020 eSports Games that the event was excluded from later editions until 2024.
Battleships was another new edition to the MOF eSports Games, being opened on 20 February 2020. The event, played on the battleship-game.org website, was one of the faster events, its last match taking place on 9 March. The event was won by Nathan Smith (ARB), who defeated Steve Freayth (ABE) in the final, while Jan Šťastný (RER) won bronze.[18]
Rock Paper Scissors was the last event in the single-elimination tournament format, starting on 21 February 2020. The rpsgame.org website was used as a venue. With 22 registered contestants, it was the most popular event of the games. It ended on 10 March 2020 with Ashley Jaax (IUS) winning gold, Leon Montan (Ponderosa Hills) silver and Jakub Svatek (SGY) bronze.[19]
Tetris was the penultimate event of the 2020 eSports Games, introduced for the first time. Unlike previous events, Tetris did not take a form of a single-elimination tournament, but instead followed the format used for Agar.io in the previous years. Contestants were given a window starting on 22nd February in which they submitted their scores from the tetris.com website, top five contestants then moved onto a second round. Of all the people who registered for the event, 11 submitted a score. Zoey Liu (MIL) won gold after winning both rounds, followed by Jakub Svatek (SGY). Matthew Salzer (LAD) beat Leon Montan (Ponderosa Hills) in the second round, placing third.
Agar.io was the last event of the 2020 eSports Games to start, its first round two day window commencing on 23rd February 2020. Unlike previous years, contestants, playing on the agar.io website, were not ranked based on either survived mass or survived time alone, but rather on the product of the two, allowing for both strategies that emerged in the past games. The first round was ultimately extended due to technical difficulties the contestants of Posaf and Quietrock were facing. 13 of all the registered participants submitted a score, with Zabëlle Skye (NEI) leading in the first round, followed by Adam Pivetz (SGY) and Nathan Michaeve (QUI), in the second round Pivetz was able to beat Skye and won gold. Nicolás Millán, the only returning medalist of the 2019 games, placed fifth in both rounds.
For the 2020 eSports Games, the National Titles were determined through a popular vote conducted in the Gymnasium State. To prevent the Gymnazists from voting for themselves, the host was excluded from the competition. Due to this, it was decided beforehand that the National Titles medals would not be counted towards the final medal count.[8] Due to the format, some placements were awarded to multiple micronations as split vote was common, most notably in the anthem category. Results of the National Titles were announced at the end of the closing ceremony on 28 March 2020. The Rednecks Republic won in the flag category, Phokland in the coat of arms category, Arbreland in the motto category and Abelden and Plushunia shared first place in the anthem category.[4] The 2020 eSports were the last games at which National Titles were awarded, as the category, planned for both the 2021 and 2022 edition, was cancelled both times and ultimately excluded from the 2023 games completely.
The final medal count was announced by Tomáš Falešník on 13 March 2020. The following day, 3D model files of the medals, designed by Adam Pivetz, were distributed to the athletes, giving them the option to print their medal physically. The total medal counts and final placement of all participating nations were also included in the closing ceremony on 28 March.[4]
A small controversy arose from the way the medals were counted, with Millanian delegation insisting that the total amount of medals takes precedence over the amount of gold medals, while the Ladonian delegation supported the system used in previous MOF games, giving precedence to the gold medals instead. This was motivated by the placement of the two nations – under the Millanian scheme, Millania would place second and Ladonia third, while under the traditionally used scheme promoted by Ladonia Millania would fall to fourth place, after Ladonia and Arbreland. The Gymnasium State placed first under both proposals. Ultimately, the Ladonian delegation gave in and agreed to the Millanian proposal, resulting in Millania officially placing second and Ladonia third. This was overturned again in 2023.
Jakub Svatek (SGY) became the most successful athlete of the games with two gold, one silver and one bronze medal, followed by Nathan Smith (ARB) with one gold, two silver and one bronze medal (all of Arbreland's medals) and Zoey Liu (MIL) with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals.[8]
Gymnasium State
Millania
Ladonia
Iustus
Kaion
Natia
Alperia
Tupos
Babou Chkaya (OCC)
Rowan McLarty (MAT)
Jenna MacRonn (PSF)
Cristian Dobrev (PLU)
Charlotte Baird (WEG)
Jan Šťastný (RER)
Jayden Lycon (AEN)
Zabëlle Skye (NEI)
Nathan Smith (ARB)
Leon Montan (PRH)
Charles Ross (PHK)
Abigail Batalia (PHY)
Connor Stumperth (ATO)
Thomas Bainbridge (ABE)
