Boffey @ GAME Arndale FIFA Tournament

Even if you are not a football fan I can almost guarantee that you have owned at least one installment of EA sport's game, FIFA football. So with the game being so popular with all gamers, GAME stores around the country have hosted FIFA lock-ins after hours. When I heard about this I was straight on the GAME website to see if there was one close to me. Thankfully there was one being hosted in the Arndale Centre in Manchester, so with a quick phone call I was booked in and the practice period started.

All I did in the build up to the big night was play on FIFA when ever I got a chance because even though I think I'm the Messi of the virtual world, the truth is I lose as many as I win. With all the playing I may have overdone it because a couple of days before I couldn't buy a win, which was quite worrying and I felt that I was going to make a show of myself.

The day finally came around and I drove the 25 miles to the centre of Manchester and, despite the attempt of the Arndale security to block me, after a five minute conversation, I was in. While walking to the GAME store through the deserted shopping centre, I had a look around and could only think of one thing, Dead Rising, and I was waiting for a hoard of zombies to come flying through the windows at me.

I got to the GAME store 20 minutes before the opening so had to wait around outside, this gave me the opportunity to see what I was up against for the first time. While waiting outside we saw the most important part of the night going into the store, the pizza. Followed closely behind the pizza was one person that would make the night memorable, Abdul. As he walked over to the shuttered door a chant of 'Abdul, Abdul' rung around from inside. This made me think this guy will be ridiculous at FIFA and I should go home now because there is no way I will be able to compete against him.

Just before seven the shutter went up and the rush to get on to a console for some practice began. I chose against fighting to get some practice and went for to look at the food table, which was cramped with pizza, cookies, cakes and fizzy drink. After some organising of the groups we were underway, with four groups of five playing on a total of eight screens, four PS3 and four Xboxes.

While the first games were going I was left to watch and see for the first time my competition playing under tournament conditions. Thankfully what I was seeing made me quite happy - I'm not saying that the other players weren't good because nearly everyone looked better than me, but they weren't superbly good and there wasn't that many skill moves being made throughout the game. When the first matches had finished (and I was finished stuffing my face with junk food) I was up.

I would be lying if I said I was even remotely confident after watching the first games, but there was no time for nerves. We went to the team selection screen with me choosing PSG and my opponent choosing Real Madrid. To my surprise I went one up with in the first five minutes, but that was the highlight of the game for me as the final score was slightly one sided at 6-1.

The second game began after a break for more sugary goodies, and with the embarrassing defeat of the first game I decided the reason I lost had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the team, so this game I would play with Chelsea. Again things started off well and I was one up within a couple of minutes, but unlike the last game I took it slow and tried to keep the lead. To my surprise I did more than that and added the second and third after halftime, to make the game 3-0.

Game three happened on another console - I'm not one to make excuses but it's because of the controller settings having been changed from what I'm used to with the B button as shoot and X as cross. This caused havoc with my strong Chelsea team as a couple of times in the first half the ball got lobbed over the bar because I press the wrong button. The final score was a 2-0 loss.

In the last game I really had nothing to play for other than pride, which every man knows is important. I again chose the trusted Chelsea who had given me my first win of the night, again like what happened in the previous games, I went one up midway through the second half. I then thought that if I had the ball, my opponent couldn't score. This didn't go as planned and it was 1-1 within a couple of minutes. After that I thought the best thing I could do is play on for penalties but within the last minutes of injury time my back line was broken and my final conceded goal went in. Right after kick off the final whistle went and I was as out.

After the group stages were over, the GAME employees worked out the winners and runners up in each group and organised the draw. As all the quarter-finals could take place at once some players needed to play on the consoles there weren't used to, which added for some more drama. The biggest shock to me was that the person I had down for winning the whole thing was out, so maybe he wasn't as good as I thought. After the quarters had finished, a handful of the players that had been knocked out in the previous rounds left, but in the spirit of the game I stayed to watch who won, nothing to do with the free food still on offer.

Also after the quarters we found out why Abdul was well known to everyone. Apparently he had been going in everyday for the three weeks leading up to the tournament practicing. The final four played on two of the Xboxes at the side of each other so they could see each others progress. When the games had finished we were left with two, Ross and Aseel. The final was a field of all-stars with the classic 11 versus the world 11.

After a very tense 90 minutes one person rose victorious, Aseel with a relevantly easy win. He went home with and £40 GAME gift card and a trophy, Ross took home a £15 GAME gift card and a smaller, but still impressive, trophy. Even though he didn't made it though the group stages, Abdul also went home with a prize, a copy of FIFA 13 for the PS3. Now he can play at home and not trek into the store just to have a game.

Overall it was a really good night, made better by the food and Abdul. Hopefully there will be another night very soon if not on FIFA, on Halo or Forza. A big thanks to the staff at the GAME store at the Arndale for giving up their night to watch us all play, even if some had no interest in football at all.