Local Blast Zone Tournaments expand

Students are trying to find a way to join the competitive Smash scene.

Poster+for+the+Blast+Zone+Tournament+held+at+Pauls+Gamer+Zone.

Courtesy of Paul's Gamer Zone

Poster for the Blast Zone Tournament held at Paul’s Gamer Zone.

It is a boring Wednesday evening. No homework and family is out or doing their own things. Instead of playing the same online ranked matches that most people rely on to test their own skills, some prefer to see if they could handle the heat in person. 

Paul’s Gamerzone is a video game lounge that hosts tournaments on Wednesdays. A group of players, who were too good to just keep playing casually, created the tournament they call Blast Zone. 

“Currently we have two Blast Zone Sanctioned events. One in Massillon at Paul’s Gamerzone, and one in Wadsworth at Great Oaks Tavern,” said Anthony Huprich, the founder of Blast Zone Esports. Blast Zone Tournaments play the game Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.

Even though the box the game comes in claims it is a party fighting game, the community around Super Smash Brothers Ultimate has completely morphed this platform fighter into a high tech and diverse fighting game.

It is safe to say that Smash is going nowhere. With over a 100 different techniques to get a grasp on, some of them being mandatory to even play, techniques so unbelievably difficult and character exclusive that new techniques are still being discovered and implemented. 

Blast Zone happens once a week on Wednesday. A consistent schedule like this allows the community of the players that go to and compete in these tournaments to bond over something they all enjoy.

 “The main drive behind running these tournaments is because I like helping others. Hopefully someday, I can make a career out of this since it is something I am passionate about,” Huprich said. 

This is a very good start to a competitive community that simply enjoys a game. Especially considering that Blast Zone has inspired other tournaments to pop-up on the scene that add their own personal flair and personality suited for different types of players. 

“We currently have: Blast Zone (Massillon) this is our weekly tournament that we started with. Tavern Tussle (Wadsworth) this is the brand new tournament we are starting up to help open up more BlastZone events” Huprich said. 

“FaceOff (Massillon) This is one of our special events where we highlight two players for whatever reason and stage the tournament theme around them, this includes a draft crew battle with them as the captains and then a first to five wins set between them. Lastly we have Ground Zero(TBD). This is our invitational tournament you can qualify for by attending the other events,” Huprich said.

All of this work being put into a single goal, to help a small community grow. The community is always opening new players to join and compete against each other. Consider competing in person then against others online to help the game you love grow.