Saturday afternoon's chilly weather couldn't keep some students from playing "the game that ties you up in knots."

Shouts of "left foot, green!" and "right hand, blue!" followed by cries of "this is killing me!" and "Hurry up!" could be heard on the HUB lawn, despite low temperatures and cloudy skies.

About 80 students kicked their shoes aside for the first Twister Challenge, sponsored by Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, 524 Locust Lane.

"We wanted to set the Penn State record for the most people playing Twister at one time," Michael Barasch, Twister Challenge chairman, said.

Fraternity members taped plastic Twister mats together to form one giant mat for the tournament, which raised $500 for YouthAIDS.

"We wanted to break away and do something outside of the box," Barasch said. "We wanted to raise awareness for YouthAIDS and bring back a game that people haven't played since they were 10 years old."

Barasch said they had hoped for about 600 participants, but the dreary weather and the other events happening the same day hindered participation.

"We hope to have a better turnout next year," said Dan Hadas, the president of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

Barasch said that late in the afternoon, when the sun finally came out, more passers-by decided to join in the tournament.

"The weather finally decided to help us out a little bit," he said.

The biggest challenge was getting the event off the ground, which is hard to do at Penn State, Barasch said.

"The University of Massachusetts holds the record for the most people playing Twister at one time -- 4,000," Barasch said. "In three or four years, when the event grows, we'd like to challenge that record."

Barasch said Milton Bradley, the company that manufactures Twister, donated 60 Twister mats for the tournament.

"Milton Bradley does this at a lot of campuses," he said. "They are very supportive of challenging the record."

Erin Kelly (junior-chemical engineering) said she was really excited when her friend, a member of the fraternity, told her they were having a Twister tournament.

"Twister's my absolute favorite game from back in the day," she said.

Others came to help out the fraternity's cause.

"I'm in a sorority, and we like to help out other philanthropies," Mandi Fargo (junior-journalism) said. "Then, hopefully, they will come to some of ours."