October 10 marked the return of the UBC eSports Association’s bimonthly Super Smash Bros. tournaments.
Amid warming up the most dangerously fast moving thumbs ever, players sported t-shirts from different competitions and events reminiscent of a locker room. Red Bull even showed up to offer energy drinks.
The tournament was made “mostly just to have fun and to see who’s best in a tournament setting,” said Earth Vootivakinskul, a volunteer. There were singles, doubles and Smash 4, competitions.
“We are the centre for eSports tournaments,” said Kevin Dhir, the director of Smash for UBC eSports. With 96 players registered for melee halfway through warm up, 30 more for Sm4sh and a cash pot of $400, it’s easy to see why.
The lights in IKB dim and the match-ups are displayed on a floor to ceiling screen. Players are friendly and the games always begin and end with fist pounds. People often turn around to laugh at others’ jokes or chime in to answer questions.
The only divide comes from the game itself. “Smash 4 is a totally different scene and it appeals to a totally different crowd,” said Dhir. “A lot of top melee players are against Smash 4. They think it is too slow and has some totally janky stuff. There’s a lot of different mechanics.”
Inevitably, most conversations gravitated towards the incredibly competitive side of eSports— in particular, the League of Legends team which recently won $200,000 in scholarship money at a collegiate tournament in Korea. They defeated a powerhouse Korean team 3-0.
“I know a lot of people who join our club and talk to us personally. One of the biggest reasons I came to UBC instead of any [other] university in Canada was because of how big UBC eSports was,” say Ho.
The club aims to provide a sense of community and bonding between the eSports community.
First place in the tournament was awarded to [62-bit] Bladewise and Blunted_Object10 placed second.