Video gamers were given a chance to test their skills in tournaments for “Super Smash Bros. Melee” and “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” Wednesday evening in 7th Street Underground.

The registered student organization Video Gamers of Eastern Illinois University as well as Eastern’s chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals hosted and organized the tournaments.

They had originally intended to start at 7:30, but were not able to start untill 8:30 due to problems with the tournaments’ brackets. The tournaments served as fundraisers for both the Video Gamers of Eastern as well as the AITP and had several sponsors including Walmart, GameStop, Monical’s Pizza, Pagliai’s Pizza, and the Mangy Mousse Hair Salon. Competitors had to pay a $3 entry fee but it was free for anyone who simply wanted to come and watch.

“We’re holding this tournament as our way of giving back to the community, we want to bring the gamers of EIU together and for it to be more of a social experience rather than just us gaming and having fun,” said Anthony Butler, sophomore sociology major and vice president of the Video Gamers of Eastern.

While most of the players were Eastern students, a few came from other areas including T.J. Richey, an Eastern alumnus, who has competed at “Super Smash Bros. Melee” on a national level.

Richey has competed in Baltimore and New York for tournaments and said that overall the money he has earned from his winnings has paid for his travel expenses and has given him the opportunity to meet a lot of people.

Several players however were not happy with such successful gamers.

“It’s not fair,” said Anna Lindstrom, a sophomore environmental biology major. “A lot of people here are not nearly at that level.”

Michael Leaner, a sophomore management information systems major, agreed with Lindstrom.

“It’s like a professional chess player going to a local chess tournament,” Leaner said.

This is the third tournament for the “Super Smash Bros.” games that has been hosted by the Video Gamers of Eastern according to Justin Rhodes, a senior recreation administration major and the president of the Video Gamers of Eastern. It is, however, the first time prizes have been offered. First, second, and third place prizes were given for each tournament, first place being a $25 Walmart gift card, a T-shirt, and a lanyard.

Butler explained the Video Gamers of Eastern host other game tournaments as well but that the success of “Super Smash Bros.” comes from its variety.

“Brawl has a lot of characters so you get a lot of different types of personalities, it has a lot of versatility which makes it fun for a lot of people,” Butler said. Both tournaments were double elimination and each player had three lives in each individual match. Only certain stages in the game could be used unless both competitors agreed otherwise.

Seth Schroeder can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].