Two Māori Gamers To Compete For Title In Eke Panuku IRL Grand Finale - On Māori+

Ten reo Māori speaking gamers. Nine grueling rounds of play. Just two remain.

Ko wai ka eke panuku? Who will be the last man standing?

The grand finale of the inaugural EKE PANUKU-IRL whakataetae (competition) will be live streamed from the LPL Gaming Studios inside the Sky Tower on Māori+ on 29 July 2022 at 7.00 PM.

Both finalists are graduates of Kura Kaupapa Māori; Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Kura Kōkiri in Tauranga, and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Māngere.

Funded by Te Māngai Pāho, EKE PANUKU IRL (in real life) was conceived by Rotorua-based Arataua Media as an e-sports reality show where rangtahi compete against each other in six popular games.

First prize includes $2000 cash, a Sony PS5 gaming kit, controllers, and the games featured in the whakataetae. In addition they also win an NFTiki (Non-Fungible Token), 10 of which were specifically made for the show by Rotorua-based artist Tawhanga Rika. The winners of each round were awarded a unique NFTiki.

EKE PANUKU IRL producer Renee Ihaia said the aim was to show a tūturu Māori perspective on the world of gaming and E-sports.

“Our aim is to inspire and connect with rangatahi through mediums they participate in,” said Renee Ihaia.

“Eke Panuku-IRL unifies te ao Māori, the Māori world with the gaming world. It is all about encouraging Māori to succeed and aim high.

“We bring a Māori perspective to the world of e-sports by using Māori kīanga (colloquialisms), rewarding the use of reo in our whakataetae (competition) and and applying tikanga haumaru (safety practices).

“Our intent is to normalise the use of reo in the game space,” said Renee Ihaia.

Ten rangatahi Māori aged 19 -30 years old were chosen for the inaugural competition from hopefuls who applied from all around the motu.

EKE PANUKU IRL involved nine rounds of competition, playing a range of ‘old school’ and newer games including Street Fighter, Crash Bandicoot Team Racing, GT7 (Grand Turismo 7), FIFA 2K22, NBA 2K22 and Rocket League.

The competitors converged on the taiwhanga kēmu – gaming hub – in Rotorua where the nine rounds of competition were filmed over one week in June 2022.

Each round of the competition will also be available from Māori+ after the final has played.

Eke Panuku hosts were D’Angelo Martin (Te Rarawa) a.k.a Tūturu Māori and Te Aorere Pewhairangi (Ngāti Porou).

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