Alex Daise was in jail Saturday afternoon. His crime? Trying to steal an orange foam flag.
Daise was part of the Thon Capture the Flag event, a first-time collaborative effort between Penn State Rotaract Club and the Urban Gaming Club. More than 30 students attended the game Saturday afternoon for the benefit of the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon.
Jacob Meyers, Thon chairman for the Rotaract Club, said he approached the Urban Gaming Club to help create a fun event that could also raise money for Thon.
"I thought, 'Hey, how cool would it be to get a massive game of Capture the Flag?' " Meyers (sophomore-division of undergraduate studies) said. "We are a community service organization, and we're trying to raise even more money for Thon other than canning. The Urban Gaming Club wanted to help out, and they usually can find fun ways to get people involved."
The students split into teams, sporting orange and green duct tape and bandanas to distinguish themselves.
The players, most of whom were members of the Rotaract Club or Urban Gaming Club, used the west side of campus as their playing ground. Organizers collected donations and sold refreshments, raising about $300.
"It's basically a giant game of tag," said Matthew Mols (senior-information sciences and technology), the technical director of the Urban Gaming Club.
Along with raising money for Thon, the event also helped attract new members for the club's annual Humans vs. Zombies tournament.
Mols kept a lookout on his orange flag and watched as Daise (sophomore-information sciences and technology), also a member of the Urban Gaming Club,
tried to snatch it away.
But Daise was captured and put into jail.
"It's a lot of fun," he said, while waiting for another member to rescue him. "It's good exercise, and I like to show the other members that it's fun to be active."
Members of the Rotaract Club, including vice president Marty Broser, said they were thankful for the Urban Gaming Club's help with the event.
"I think this is great how they teamed up for Thon," Broser (junior-actuarial science) said. "We don't really know much about Capture the Flag, but the Urban Gaming Club helped us out with the technical stuff."
Meyers said although they would have liked some more students to take part in the event, he was glad with the way everyone participated and had fun.
