The third and final night of the massively popular One Piece trading card giveaways has been cancelled “due to the overwhelming response” to the event, according to an Instagram post on Tuesday. The giveaway of a trading card and poster to every ticket holder on Feb. 6 and Feb. 9 led to massive crowds and bidding wars in and out of the arena.

On Feb. 6, every ticketholder received an identical card as they left the arena. Foot traffic slowed to a halt as a massive crowd formed, with people buying and selling the cards for hundreds of dollars.

George Meyer, an alumni, described exiting the arena as “Just pandemonium…It took about five to 10 minutes just to get to the main floor.”

Ferdinand Rogers, who was in the student section, told The Torch, “There was a barricade, there was cops all over the place. There’s people throwing money in your face…And it took a long time to get out of there because people were trying to buy (the card).”

On Feb. 9, the cards were given out at the beginning of the game. For the most part, this prevented heavy crowds from forming at the end of the game. But this didn’t stop the card buying from happening,it just moved inside.

“It’s very bizarre”, said Philip Salmon, a season ticket holder, “a lot of people walking around here that aren’t here for the game, that are just trying to buy those cards, but to each their own.”

One card buyer, Jishnu Rahul, said, “I’m not a big fan of basketball either. I’m just here for the One Piece card.” 

International student Becca White discussed the sheer amount of card buyers present: “It was every single escalator. They were like, ‘Have you sold your card yet? Have you sold your card yet?’ And we were like, ‘Yes, leave me alone.’”

Although the crowds were filled with card buyers, the majority of the crowd on both giveaway nights were passionate Red Storm fans. Fans like alumni Bryan Pazaras, who has been going to Red Storm games since he was three years old.

“The excitement of this program…has never been higher,” said Pazaras as he waited in line for the Feb. 9 game. “And the other night was a wonderful manifestation between the enormity of the win versus Connecticut and the anime…It’s been tremendous.”