So recently I started a Facebook group for people interested in playing video games competitively. It's doing quite well, in fact, and our first tourney will be held in February (expecting around 70 to 80 participants). We're still collaborating on the details, but CODMW2, Halo 3, Smash Brawl, and Mario Kart Wii look to make a promising and diverse line-up.

I'm sure quite a few of you have taken an interest to the idea before. I'm just here to tell you you're not the only one, and it's not as impractical as you might think.

The first tourney likely won't see too many entrants, so we'll be hosting it in-house. Charging an entry fee for each game will pay for prize money and electricity. In addition, most of the setups (TVs, games, systems) will be brought by the people that want to play. And to further encourage people to bring them, we're giving out discounts. Matches will (hopefully) be recorded, so the hype can last after the experience ends (and will more people to go to the next one). As the scene grows, we can begin to charge more. The initiative being more people to play with and a higher payout for placing well. The more we agree to pay, the more accommodations we can get (renting a large venue, getting catering, etc.).

So in the end, the host might be out like $100 bucks for providing a foundation, but anyone entering at most stands to lose $10 or so bucks out of their pocket (which they traded off for a fun experience anyway). Works out pretty well (in fact, the smash bros community makes the absolute most of it).

Before our first tourney we're doing small gaming fests. Just getting people together to play for fun and practice. It's something we'll continue to do as long as we have people interested.