Despite cold weather, Iowa State Greek students went out to celebrate their age old traditions, including the majestic display of LARPing.

The air is cold as banners and flags of Greek lettering flap through the wind. Hundreds of people gathered wielding swords and shields while outfitted in warpaint and matching uniforms.

What has been described is a battlefield, but in truth it is something much more exciting and fun for the Greek students of Iowa State: LARP. For those unacquainted to the acronym, LARP stand for Live Action Role Play. It is a game in which teams fight each other with homemade weapons and shields, usually from foam, and attempt to hit the other teammates, knocking them out until your team soley remains.

For greek week teams of fraternities and sororities fought in two areas in front of Phi Kappa Psi, where teams of six fought against each other in a bracket style tournament. The participants fight in a best of three rounds until a winner is decided.

Judges/refs watch the students and make the final call on whether or not a person was hit with the foam weapon. Paired with the excitement of mocking a battle of ancient warfare, cheers erupt from all sides of the areas with loud, exciting music fueling the adrenaline of the participants.

Students in the LARP volunteer to participate, and spend time making their own custom foam weapons, shields, and uniformes. “It’s just something fun people like to do,” Andrew Nurse a Phi Delta Theta member said, “I like participating and it brings all of us together for a fun day.”

As one of the many events Greek week has, LARPing holds a special place for many members of the Greek community, and play an important role in uniting the Fraternities and Sororities of Iowa State.