New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)

Regional Matchmaking Atlantic North
1

I couldn’t seem to find a thread for New England, so I’m starting one now.

I live in Saint Johnsbury, VT, and I am looking to start putting together a good consistent scene. I’m hoping to jump-start the scene for VT and New England in-general by running monthly events that will include as many games as possible. I used to do this on Long Island, NY and it went pretty well. So here’s to hoping my experience can help create a solid fighting community here too.

I work in the kitchen at Goddard College in Plainfield, VT, and was thinking that would be an excellent venue for a monthly event. But it would help if I can see how many people would be interested in showing up for such a thing. And I have no problems working together with you all on a different plan. Maybe you want the events to run at a different frequency and/or venue? Let’s talk about it and figure this out. Another possibility for venue could be in White River Junction, VT since there is an Amtrak train that stops there. Or at the least, I would be willing to go down to said train station and pick people up the night before the event. (the Amtrak stops at White River only one time a day, and it’s like at 8:00pm) There is a hotel near me that is only $50 a night or $55 for 2 beds. There’s also a big Comfort Inn near me, maybe I can arrange to hold the event there. I don’t know, let’s keep brainstorming.

Also tell me what games you all want to see at events. I’m cool with anything as long as we can get a hold of the game and system. Right now, I can tell you that I definitely want to see…

Super Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition Version 2012
Soul Calibur 5 (this is what I personally will be maining for the time being)
Tekken 6
Mortal Kombat 9
Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3
Dead Or Alive 4
King Of Fighters 13
(prefer to run on PS3s but I won’t be against using a 360 if we can’t get enough PS3s. And yes I know DOA4 is 360-only)

I also would love to run tourneys and/or casuals for lesser known games like Arcana Heart 3, Super Dragon Ball Z, and I dare say even more random oddballs like Ehrgeiz. But we’ll see how things go with TV availability and if there’s even interest for such games. And by the way I am a HUGE Virtua Fighter fan, so I will be pushing big time for VF action once Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown hits consoles this summer. Like I might go as far as putting some extra money in the prize pot for that game myself.

But anyways, step 1 is to generate interest. So let’s spread the word and get people talking about the idea of a scene and a consistent event for this area.

2

boston scene is coming up so youll def get some massholes if you hold a monthly

3

Cool. So about how many people is that anyway? Maybe I’ll try hold the event in White River Junction, VT so you all don’t have to travel as far. Plus there is Hotel Coolidge literally right next to the Amtrak stop. Also, Hotel Coolidge might be a decent venue for the event itself.

4

a 3 hour drive from RI, 2 hr from boston and 4 - 5 hr drive from CT.

Honestly the tourneys would have to have like a big pot bonus or something to get some of us up there instead of driving 3 hrs to NYC from RI or 1.5 hrs from CT.
I’m not saying it all to sound like a dick or anything I just feel like a NE thread would be more centered in MA, considering the stronger players are from there (and RI for mvc)

I wish you luck in running tourneys!
heres to hoping you get some pot bonus sponsors or something jumping on!

5

I know of a few decent venues here in Keene. But without the experience to put something big together, I would not be the right man for the job. With the right condtions, many in the region would be attracted to show up. Maybe we could network? If your interested, send me a pm and we can talk in further detail.

http://bestwesternnewhampshire.com/keene-hotels
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mhtdt-courtyard-keene-downtown/

6

But doesn’t MA basically have it’s own thread already? I was trying to focus on the rest of NE that usually gets left out, especially VT/NH/ME. But anyway, as far as the distance to the venue… that’s why I like the idea of putting it in White River Junction, VT because it’s literally right across the street from an Amtrak stop. I also wouldn’t be against the idea of having this be a multi day thing so it’s more worth getting a hotel room, or perhaps lessening the frequency of events.

But either way, this is why I wanted to talk about it so we can find a venue that satisfies everyone. I definitely want to work this out with you all and figure out something that gets the most people. So how does Tito’s idea of events in Keene, NH fly with you all? I’m cool with it myself

I used to run monthlys that averaged 40-50 people on Long Island, NY so I have no problem running events of whatever size. I don’t think we’ll be seeing hundreds of people at this thing, but even if somehow we did get that many I’d still be fine running it.

Anyway, yeah I’m ok with events in Keene if it truly gets that many more people. But hey can you happen to think of a decent location that’s close to some kind of train stop? That may or may not help. I mean if everyone’s just gonna drive anyway, I guess a train stop won’t matter.

7

Long Island has a larger population base and is closer to a lot of major cities. Also, there is a way to commute there if you don’t have a car.
What i think illwill is getting at is that if you build it people won’t necessarily come. You have to lure them with the right bait. And that bait is money.
If you’re looking to do a more casual thing, that could work out great. If you want NE’s best and brightest to attend, incentives and promo vids
will go a long way in legitimizing your venue.
Also, reaching out to all the LAN Centers and Gaming Stores that are currently running events (BrainBox, Sudden Impact, Replayd, Ultimate Gaming
Spot, Souper Bowl, Pinball Wizard, Game Underground, etc.) to help you promote and get numbers is what unites the FGC.
Best of luck.

8

I would love to have more money on the line. I just don’t necessarily have the funds to put it in there myself right now. Honestly, in a couple of months from now, I may be able to do so. But for now, extra prize pot won’t be coming out of my pocket. However, I could certainly put left over venue money into prize pots. Like the Comfort Inn up here says you can rent the event rooms for $300… so if we had 50 people come out at $10 venue per person, I could certainly put the extra $200 into prize pots.

What would you all vote for as far as venue and tourney entry fees go anyway?

9

Alright so I don’t know for 100% sure if we will definitely shoot for monthlys, but let’s focus on making one good event for now and then we can see how often people would be willing to come out.

Ok so right now… Let’s aim for running an event at Best Western in Keene, NH on March 10th or March 24th. Nothing is necessarily set in stone yet, but that is the current goal I would like to start building hype around:

Best Western Hotel Keene, NH
March 10th or 24th
Venue $15 / Tourney $10
(still open to suggestions)

EDIT: Kinda leaning more towards March 24th actually.

10

Hey Cla. It’s been awhile and I’ll be surprised if you remember me.

11

Alright so I’m trying to be more mindful of B.O.N.E and so now I’m thinking of no longer trying to make this a monthly. (cause that would compete with B.O.N.E, which is not what I want to do) Instead, I’m thinking of trying to run a bigger event less-often (perhaps every 3 or 4 months) and having it fall in the middle as much as possible between 2 B.O.N.Es when it does happen.

Or we may stay monthly with this but move it to the opposite side of New England. Where exactly is B.O.N.E?

I remember a couple of people from the Castle Fight Night days but I have since forgotten user names to faces. I want to say you were someone I hung out with at least once outside of the Castle events. Did we play VF4:Evo and DOA4? Or wait, were you the guy that helped me move from Long Island to NJ? Max was it?

12

yeah we played vf. but thats about it lol

13

Was it Rich? Didn’t you used to have a name like cocoaricheo or something like that? Or maybe that was your XBL Gamertag? Also, you showed me Haloid, right?

14

Hey guys, what’s up? I’m a Soul Calibur player from the 8WR.com forum, and at the urging of Nightblade, I’ve started an account here to discuss a tournament idea we have going in the New England area.

The potential venue is GamePlayUSA in Springfield, MA. The tournament date would be St.Patrick’s Day, Saturday, March 17th. The games we want to run are SSF4:AE, UMvC3, Street Fighter x Tekken, and Soul Calibur 5. There would be a $10 venue fee, and each tournament would be $10 entry.The store is located in the Eastfield Mall, so the venue opens at 10am, and we would likely begin signups at 11am. The first tournament would start at 1pm, with each successive tournament beginning very 2 hours. For example:

11am-1pm signups for all tournaments
1pm-3pm UMvC3
3pm-5pm Soul Calibur 5
5pm-7pm SSF4:AE
7pm-9pm Street Fighter x Tekken

Obviously, you can sign up for any tourney up until it begins (remember, the schedule above is just an example, not actual). Also, the mall closes at 9pm, but they might be willing to remain open until Midnight. So, from 9pm-Midnight, we might take a vote and run some side tourneys like Team Tourneys, Tekken 6, or Mortal Kombat. Also, you could play casual in whatever you’d like, and there are loads of setups available for you to play on. There MAY, however, be an additional $5 venue fee for remaining open. They may not charge this $5, but they MIGHT. I’m just letting everyone know what I have tentatively discussed with the store’s Tournament Director, Tom.

This post is really just to gauge the interest the New England 2D FG community would have in such an event ATM. Questions/Comments/Suggestions are absolutely welcome, and as the details are further discussed and things become definitive, I’ll continue to update you guys. Thanks.

15

Cla: Sorry Im not going to a tournament thats has $15 venue plus requires hotel stay that is not a major.

Is MK9, DOA4, and T6 alive still in this area?

I agree with will. I rather drive down south than up north.

16

Lol

17

Come on people, keep reading the rest of the thread. Plot Armor and chachadesmond, I addressed your concerns in a more recent post.

The reason for the high venue charge and change in frequency is cause the event room we had in mind is $700. And that’s only for a room that would accommodate like 50 people. So if we try to make this a bigger event, we gonna need an even bigger room.

Anyway, now I’m focusing on the idea of basically trying to turn this into a major. I understand that’s what it take to make it worth your time and money and travel. And I’m entirely cool with that. So anyway, now I’m asking would you come out to this if it was a major that ran every couple of months? (3 at the fastest) How often would you be willing to do this? (is every 3 months a good rate or do you need me to slow that down?) I want to make a good event, but I need input and feedback to turn this thing into what you all want it to be.

18

I think it is kind of far for most of us here. If you really want to organize a major, I would do it in MA or CT, where there’s more players and more accessible to people out of state.

Perhaps you could also start by building up your local scene? Start a thread for the VT/ME area, hold casuals/local tourneys and take it from there.

19

Cla, I wasn’t trying to be a dick it’s just that the reason that the NE scene seems to be centered in MA and CT is because thats where the bulk of the players are. I def think you should probably start with some local stuff to get the VT/ME players out cuz if you are pulling 20+ people for those locals then running majors up there would definitely tempt the rest of us and we would go up there to combine and get around 40-50+ on a conservative estimate, and you know the snowball effect would start and attract players from NYC and Philly hopefully.

Most of these guys problem is that they don’t wanna drive all the way up there pay a bigger venue fee to play the guys they can play at MA/CT tourneys. In MA we’ve gotten 30+ on UMvC3 monthlies and 40 for a few SF4 tourneys. With a solid turnout or two then running a major up there would definitely be a welcome addition.

20

Will dropping those fucking godlike knowledge bombs :slight_smile:

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