At 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, freshmen Jake Yormak and John Sharrar met at center court of the Palestra for a spirited game of "Battleship."
In the background, as the racket of poker chips slamming against the hardwood echoed through the historic arena, the more exhausted students struggled to find comfortable sleeping positions.
Twelve hours later, as "The Line" came to a close, about 400 Penn students left with envelopes of 14 freshly printed men's basketball tickets, eager for the season to begin.
"The Line" occurred at the Palestra from 7 p.m. on Friday to 4 p.m. Saturday. On Friday night, students selected seats for the season, with priority determined by bracelet number.
Over the course of 21 hours, students slept over at the arena and participated in a slew of activities, ranging from Quizzo to a burrito-eating contest.
Dan Flynn, director of marketing, promotions and community affairs, said that this year's Line was both more popular and more successful than last year's.
"The Line ran as smoothly as it could go," he said. "The students were much better this year. They behaved better and seemed to enjoy themselves more, so there were no bad incidents."
Over 100 more students attended this year's Line than last year's.
Saturday morning, the men's team scrimmaged, and coach Fran Dunphy thanked the students for their support.
Aside from losing much-needed sleep, almost all of the participants in the Line enjoyed the experience and left the Palestra brimming with enthusiasm about the upcoming season.
"Besides the two random people who were making out next to me in the middle of the night, it was great," freshman Kenny Chan said.
