Details emerged late last night of the event, Sassquaando LAN 4, with a website and press release circulated. A prize purse of €100,000 split between Call of Duty 4 and Counter-Strike: Source was promised but suspicions were aroused after a number of oddities were discovered in the press release (link).

"As announced back in December, the minor Dutch tournament SASSQUAANDO LAN was
recently bought out by the OnGame Group, and has decided to invest a large amount of capital into their newest venture, including a total prize fund of €100,000 over the two tournaments" reads the official press release.

No details of this December announcement can be found online and although OnGame was once a "world leader in digital entertainment with a focus on poker", according to Wikipedia it was acquired in March 2006 by bwin Interactive Entertainment AG. The company's former website, www.ongame.com, now redirects to www.bwin.com. www.ongamenetwork.com does still seem to exist however and further clarification on this issue has been requested from the tournament director.

Next the venue, the prestigious "Jaagslek Trio Studios" of Amsterdam. No reference to the studios can be found online and it remains unclear whether such a place exists. The only address visible on the press release is that of Frits Vandenhoff, listed under contact details.

A search for his address, "Vuurvlinderlaan 46 5641 DM, Eindhoven", surprisingly leads to the home of a Dutch shoe shop called "CloggieShop" (link), casting further doubts on the event's validity.

According to the press release, "the website is currently being revamped to the new owners, but will be available soon, along with more tournament information". If the event were to go ahead it would clash with the Antwerp eSports Festival, scheduled for the same weekend, as well as the-eXperience Counter-Strike: Source tournament.

TEX event manager Jens Ringdal remained unworried, saying "I have never heard anything about this event before and with all respect, I have never seen anyone launch such a big event with a pdf press release, with less than 3 months to go and not even have a homepage". He did however say that Roskilde eSport "welcomes the initiative" if it does turn out to be legitimate. AEF organizer Steven Leunens was unavailable for comment.

GotFrag will keep you informed as more details on this peculiar case emerge. Inquiries have been made to the listed contact details but GotFrag is still awaiting a reply. The tournament website can be found here.

Update: Tournament director Frits Vandenhoff's response to this article can be found here.