Playing a match of EA Sports FIFA is an event that is never taken lightly by high school students around the world. There is a reason it is the number one selling video game worldwide every year. Whether you are about to go out for the night and you’re playing with your friends or chilling with your lady, there is always time to fit in a game of FIFA. Not with your friends? No problem, you can play them online. None of your friends online? No problem, you can wax a random kid from England. What makes the art of FIFA so special is how universal it is, everyone knows how to play.

I conversed with senior Jake Helphinstine, and asked him one simple question. “What does FIFA mean to you?”

“It is more than a game, FIFA is complete bragging rights, it is the deciding factor for who gets to sleep on the couch, it is the PS4 overheating, it is getting my mind off of whatever is bothering me, it is hours of intense FUT play, it is an investment for the future,” said Helphinstine.

I asked senior Mitchell Westerkamp when he plays FIFA the most.

“I find myself playing the incredible game the most when I have friends over. After a good night with the boys, while we are waking up and my mom is making breakfast, we fire up the PS4 and battle each other in FIFA. It always gets pretty emotional and heated, but that’s what it is all about,” said Westerkamp.

EA Sport’s Madden comes out in the summer, making Madden season the summer. MLB The Show gets released in the spring, marking its season. NBA 2k owns the fall. Every sports game has it’s respected season, and FIFA’s season is all year round. The gameplay never stops. Although the playing of FIFA is constant all year round, it really heats up right at the start of fall. That is because the newest annual edition comes out then. Most high school students can be found lining up at their local GameStop after school to purchase their copy of the game. Sixty dollars a year, not a bad investment.

The newest edition FIFA 16 just came out, and it takes about a month or so for the kids to get into the full swing of things again. With the minor adjustments to the actual gameplay, and the plethora of new exciting content it can take a few weeks to get used to. If you are still stuck in 5th grade going home and playing Madden every day, maybe it is time you grow up. Nothing like ripping upper 90’s with PSG’s striker Zlatan Ibrahimović.

If you have not already, go out to your local GameStop or BestBuy, and cop the latest FIFA. See you boys out on the pitch.