Ball State University's Homecoming Week is kicking off today with the annual Opening Day games.
The Opening Day games will be held at LaFollette Field, rather than Irving Gymnasium, and will feature new events.
Homecoming Special Events chairman Zach Anderson said the purpose of the Opening Day games is to promote camaraderie among students.
"It's a way to unite the students and bring them together to boost team spirit, to get pumped for the game," he said.
Anderson said students will compete in obstacle courses, tug-of-war and inflatable gladiator jousting, which is new this year.
The Steering Committee will also be handing out free lanyards to participants and spectators at the games.
Event organizers said they hoped the change in location and events would attract more students, but fewer groups signed up to participate this year.
Samantha Adamczewski, general chairwoman on the Steering Committee, said a total of 57 teams signed up this year, compared to 80 last year.
She said dodgeball, which is usually part of the games, couldn't be included this year because of the outside location.
Despite the new venue, Anderson thinks the flag football tournament finals on Wednesday drew away some of the potential participants for the Opening Day activities.
Regardless, Anderson said he's looking forward to the jousting event.
"It'll be an all-out brawl," he said.
Defending tug-of-war champion Jacinta Yanders said it was pretty awesome to win the event last year.
"I know there's no technical rivalry or anything, but we're going back this year to defend our tug-of-war honor," she said.
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