48 Hours of Apex Legends: Local gaming personalities battle for the Red Bull Locked In title

It was a warm Saturday evening in Cape Town. Inside the Bellville Velodrome, loud cheers echoed through the dome. Rows of glowing monitors lit up the space and the rapid clicks of keyboards filled the air.

Gamers were locked onto their screens, faces set in intense focus. This was the atmosphere at Red Bull Locked In, a 48-hour gaming marathon. Gaming fans were treated to Red Bull Locked In, an electric gaming tournament that saw four teams and 120 players locked in for 48 hours to prove they were the ultimate Apex Legends team on LAN (Local Area Network).

A LAN set-up brought everyone into the same space, linking consoles and computers through a local network for the fastest possible gameplay. The competition featured four prominent South African gaming personalities as team captains. Leading Team Red was Bish (Julia Robson) — the sole female captain in the line-up — while Skarra (Collins Manyame) took the helm for Team Silver.

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Rounding out the roster were HenricoM (Henrico Morton) for Team Blue and Binkz (Tyler August) for Team Yellow. Selecting the right teammates was no small feat. Captains carefully vetted online applications, looking for the specific competitive edge needed to survive a 48-hour LAN marathon.

“I did look at skill. Of course, I am naturally competitive,” said Skarra. “I love to win.

But also at the same time, it’s also about having fun and making sure that you bring a good vibe to the team. “It was also kind of looking into that and making sure that the people that are on my team kind of have a good vibe to them. They also know that it’s not always about winning and even if you’re losing, you can still have fun.” Binkz said many of the participants were familiar to the organisers through their streaming communities.

“When the signups opened we told everyone to register, so a lot of people we knew joined,” he said. Team selections were based partly on chemistry and familiarity but also on giving players the chance to meet, mingle and make new friends. “That’s the point of the LAN.” Beds lined the side of the stage, giving players a place to rest during the 48-hour marathon.

The set-up recreated the nostalgic “LAN party” culture of early gaming, where players would spend entire weekends gaming, sleeping and competing in the same space. “The ‘bed’ aspect for people that don’t know is that when it comes to LAN, you always want to make sure that you at least have a place to sleep and you know you have some place to rest,” Skarra said. “It’s not always just about straight gaming.

Some people enjoy gaming through the night but with an event like this, where we know there’s going to be an intense schedule coming through, I try to advise the players that: ‘Hey, you know, we want to have fun but there has to be a cut-off time. Try to get some rest, get yourself refreshed for the morning.’” Gaming professionally is not something Bish, the captain leading Team Red, thought she would do.

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