Munn Ice Arena was transformed into a gambling bazaar on Saturday for Dice & Ice, a University Activities Board event.
This year more than 2,200 students journeyed to the arena, said Jenna Virant, University Activities Board event director and a communication senior.
Students were able to test their luck with a number of different chance games that were set up throughout the venue. Free ice skating also was available for students.
Stations included poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, slots and bingo. Student organizations including the MSU Dance Team, Successful Black Women and the Ballroom Dance Team worked the tables as dealers.
Social relations and policy junior Sona Movsisyan dominated the blackjack tables, collecting many black coins.
“It was my first time playing for real,” Movsisyan said. “It was pretty much all luck, I didn’t have any strategy.”
Movsisyan gave away her coins to other blackjack players and threw her coins into the crowd that watching her as she won hand after hand.
Media and information freshman Peter Burroughs used his skills in karate at a cash grab booth. He ended up winning computer wipes and a pen.
Burroughs said his favorite aspect of the event was the free food and the opportunity to learn to skate.
The event’s sponsors had stations set up inside the arena. While some provided food, other sponsors gave out prizes and souvenirs.
Virant said the planning process for the event began in December.
“The best part is seeing it come to life and having everything come together,” she said.
Gold coins were introduced this year to streamline the gambling coin exchange, Virant said.
Plastic coins of different colors and values could be traded in for a gold coin, which could then be traded in for a raffle ticket. For example, 10 black coins could be traded in for one gold coin.
Prizes included a Beats Pill, Rose Bowl gear, gift certificates and a flat-screen TV.
The prizes were drawn at the end of the evening, culminating in the flat-screen TV. A ticket was chosen, but no one came to claim it. The speakers had been turned off and would not turn on again.
To broadcast the winning ticket number to the crowd, the event coordinators handed the next pulled ticket to civil engineering junior Ricardo Freshley, who was chosen for his loud and booming voice.
Freshley hollered out the ticket number — coincidentally, his own number, ending the night on a stroke of pure luck.
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