The Games Eden Christmas Quiz has long been a highly anticipated fixture of the Cambridge game industry’s social calendar. Welcoming students as well as competitors from all the major studios in the city, it took place in various pubs for a number of years before finding a home in the studios of Frontier and Jagex, with those companies taking on hosting responsibilities in alternate years.
The most recent in-person event at Jagex was a sell-out, with participants treated to the wonderful hospitality of the staff in the studio’s comfortable bar and canteen. Hosted by the ever-witty Mr Jon Torrens, prizes were sponsored by a number of organisations including Cambridge Network and the British Antarctic Survey, and there was also a baking competition and sale to raise money for Special Effect.
In 2020 the event was held online for the first time, and was a resounding success despite the inevitable Zoom-fatigue that many people were feeling after months of lockdown. It was especially fantastic to see familiar faces that ordinarily would not have been able to come to the in-studio event because of travel or other reasons!
This year, due to ongoing uncertainties and in order to best allow people to feel at ease regardless of their situation, it was decided to host the event online once more, with the hope that the event will return to its full and sociable glory in 2022.
While in the past the quiz was primarily a great opportunity to get friends from across all the Cambridge studios together, the online events make it possible to welcome a much wider audience – the questions are of course all game-related, but everyone is welcome to come, spend a virtual evening with Santa, and try to lay claim to the coveted quiz trophy. Happy quizzing!