Princeton defends its virtual turf

The last week has been a busy one for Princeton in Go Cross Campus, the Ivy League's virtual turf war and strategy game. Old Nassau pushed Brown off its footholds on Long Island, invaded the coasts of Massachusetts and Maine, and prevented Yale from storming the shores of New Jersey. But to win the annual competition, Princeton will need to add more troops, according to Dan Humphrey ’12, the group's "quartermaster."

So far, more than 700 Princeton students and alumni are participating in Go Cross Campus (GXC to the initiated), which includes teams from each of the eight Ivy League schools. The object of the game is to seize territory on a map of New England, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. (Alumni can sign up at ivy.gocrosscampus.com.)

This year's tournament began Oct. 10 and should run into December (last year's competition took 61 days). Princeton won the inaugural tournament in 2007 but fell to Penn in 2008.

The leadership of Princeton's virtual cadre has been fairly fluid in the last three years, with one notable exception: Odie Ayaga ’08, a fixture in the command structure with a remarkable recall for old maneuvers and battles (he wrote a 1,000-word essay about one memorable 2007 clash between Princeton and Yale).

In previous years, the teams competed for a flat-screen TV, donated by a sponsor, but this year, there are no prizes -- just bragging rights. Or, in Humphrey's words, "the satisfaction of demonstrating our superiority."