Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Meet the touring Quake championship from Romania.
In 1996 the Romanian magazine Computer Games announced its first national event.
Computer Games transmitted optimism, publicly promising that "as long as the magazine exists, the event will also exist", even guaranteeing a second edition.
The championship was held at the facilities of the "C&C Computers" store itself, and to speed up the matches, a single-elimination method was adopted.
A total of 90 young people gathered outside the venue, under a biting cold to await the opening of the doors.
In the first stage, to decide who would play Quake, players needed to compete in other games, such as "Pray for Death", "Actua Soccer", "Mortal Kombat 3", and "Shellshock".
The winner of this stage was "Priciu Cristian", from Bucharest. As a prize, he won a CD of the game "Outpost", and the runner-up won a magazine.
The final stage was with Quake. Curiously, there was no direct clash between the participants. The goal was to finish the first level in the shortest time possible.
The event was modest, but it exalted the importance of fun, socialization, creating new friendships, and the exchange of information and experiences that took place.
The 8 best players were automatically qualified for a super dispute at the end of 1996, where the Romanian national electronic games team would be formed.
The qualifying stages would still travel through Bucharest on November 9, Iași on November 16, Sibiu on November 24 and December 7-8, Iași on December 14, and Bucharest again on December 21.
The grand champion was "Dia Valentin"! As a prize, he won CDs of classic games such as "Sam & Max", "Indiana Jones", "Day of the Tentacle", "Star Wars", "Rebel Assault", "Full Throttle", "Dark Forces", "The Dig", "Rebel Assault 2", and "TIE Fighter".
Notice that Romania held an eSports championship of massive proportions months before the famous "Red Annihilation" event, which many consider a pioneer. Unfortunately, without global appeal, without famous names, and with more modest prizes, Eastern Europe remained obscured in history.
In 1997 the magazine "Computer Games" began its second touring championship. Due to the success of the first edition, this time they secured support from world-renowned brands and resources that allowed for an even more professional tournament.
Massive publications in various communication channels were tempting: they promised a top-of-the-line computer and notebook of the era to the winners.Additionally, it boasted more than two hundred varied prizes for participants.
This time the event took place over 70 days, including 19 cities in the country, more than 6,000 registrants, and a caravan traveling more than 3,500 kilometers.
At the end of each day, the winner of the local stage was automatically scheduled for the great national final, which took place in Bucharest, at the "Sprint Computers" headquarters.
Unlike what happened in the first edition, this time Quake would be competed in its essence, deathmatch in direct multiplayer confrontations.
The caravan traveled through the cities of Bucharest, Ploiesti, Târgu Secuiesc, Sfântu Gheorghe, Brasov, Giurgiu, Iași, Târgu Mureș, Cluj-Napoca, Hunedoara, and Oradea, in addition to several other smaller localities throughout the country's interior.
After several qualifiers, 24 of the best players reached the final with a big surprise: the final confrontation would be held in the newly released Quake 2!
They fought bravely for 4 long hours, until only one survivor remained. The victor was "Dan Voicu", a student at the Higher School of Computer Science in Bucharest.
Using the nickname "Nemesis", he was crowned the best player in all of Eastern Europe, immortalized in eSports history with his new honor named "Quake Master".
On December 13, 1997, this second national touring championship came to an end. It was a complete success, never forgotten by that entire generation.
"Computer Games" needed to reinvent itself to meet the public's new behavior. So they decided to create the largest IT and video game portal in Romania and Eastern Europe. The only site with live updates, news, and videos.
With such repercussion, support from the media and major brands, it was a matter of time before "Computer Games" returned to holding mega championships. For this they created the "PGL - Professional Gamers League" in 2002.
Repeating the success of the golden days of the old printed magazine, "PGL" became the largest electronic game competition organizer in Eastern Europe!
The success remains to this day, where "PGL" has finally written Romania's name as one of the great powers in "eSports", performing true spectacles in the form of local, national, and world tournaments.
#quake #dukenuken #cs #csgo #counterstrike #doom #gaming #pcgaming #pc #RedAnnihilation #tournament #romania #oldcomputer #computing #cs2 #computergames #magazine #PGL #esports #Bucharest #90s #mortalkombat #FPS #FullThrottle #championship
Meet the touring Quake championship from Romania.
In 1996 the Romanian magazine Computer Games announced its first national event.
Computer Games transmitted optimism, publicly promising that "as long as the magazine exists, the event will also exist", even guaranteeing a second edition.
The championship was held at the facilities of the "C&C Computers" store itself, and to speed up the matches, a single-elimination method was adopted.
A total of 90 young people gathered outside the venue, under a biting cold to await the opening of the doors.
In the first stage, to decide who would play Quake, players needed to compete in other games, such as "Pray for Death", "Actua Soccer", "Mortal Kombat 3", and "Shellshock".
The winner of this stage was "Priciu Cristian", from Bucharest. As a prize, he won a CD of the game "Outpost", and the runner-up won a magazine.
The final stage was with Quake. Curiously, there was no direct clash between the participants. The goal was to finish the first level in the shortest time possible.
The event was modest, but it exalted the importance of fun, socialization, creating new friendships, and the exchange of information and experiences that took place.
The 8 best players were automatically qualified for a super dispute at the end of 1996, where the Romanian national electronic games team would be formed.
The qualifying stages would still travel through Bucharest on November 9, Iași on November 16, Sibiu on November 24 and December 7-8, Iași on December 14, and Bucharest again on December 21.
The grand champion was "Dia Valentin"! As a prize, he won CDs of classic games such as "Sam & Max", "Indiana Jones", "Day of the Tentacle", "Star Wars", "Rebel Assault", "Full Throttle", "Dark Forces", "The Dig", "Rebel Assault 2", and "TIE Fighter".
Notice that Romania held an eSports championship of massive proportions months before the famous "Red Annihilation" event, which many consider a pioneer. Unfortunately, without global appeal, without famous names, and with more modest prizes, Eastern Europe remained obscured in history.
In 1997 the magazine "Computer Games" began its second touring championship. Due to the success of the first edition, this time they secured support from world-renowned brands and resources that allowed for an even more professional tournament.
Massive publications in various communication channels were tempting: they promised a top-of-the-line computer and notebook of the era to the winners.Additionally, it boasted more than two hundred varied prizes for participants.
This time the event took place over 70 days, including 19 cities in the country, more than 6,000 registrants, and a caravan traveling more than 3,500 kilometers.
At the end of each day, the winner of the local stage was automatically scheduled for the great national final, which took place in Bucharest, at the "Sprint Computers" headquarters.
Unlike what happened in the first edition, this time Quake would be competed in its essence, deathmatch in direct multiplayer confrontations.
The caravan traveled through the cities of Bucharest, Ploiesti, Târgu Secuiesc, Sfântu Gheorghe, Brasov, Giurgiu, Iași, Târgu Mureș, Cluj-Napoca, Hunedoara, and Oradea, in addition to several other smaller localities throughout the country's interior.
After several qualifiers, 24 of the best players reached the final with a big surprise: the final confrontation would be held in the newly released Quake 2!
They fought bravely for 4 long hours, until only one survivor remained. The victor was "Dan Voicu", a student at the Higher School of Computer Science in Bucharest.
Using the nickname "Nemesis", he was crowned the best player in all of Eastern Europe, immortalized in eSports history with his new honor named "Quake Master".
On December 13, 1997, this second national touring championship came to an end. It was a complete success, never forgotten by that entire generation.
"Computer Games" needed to reinvent itself to meet the public's new behavior. So they decided to create the largest IT and video game portal in Romania and Eastern Europe. The only site with live updates, news, and videos.
With such repercussion, support from the media and major brands, it was a matter of time before "Computer Games" returned to holding mega championships. For this they created the "PGL - Professional Gamers League" in 2002.
Repeating the success of the golden days of the old printed magazine, "PGL" became the largest electronic game competition organizer in Eastern Europe!
The success remains to this day, where "PGL" has finally written Romania's name as one of the great powers in "eSports", performing true spectacles in the form of local, national, and world tournaments.
#quake #dukenuken #cs #csgo #counterstrike #doom #gaming #pcgaming #pc #RedAnnihilation #tournament #romania #oldcomputer #computing #cs2 #computergames #magazine #PGL #esports #Bucharest #90s #mortalkombat #FPS #FullThrottle #championship
