A friend of mine and an old high school teacher recently partnered up to open up a LAN/Gaming center in the town of Jefferson, OH.
The place is called ICU Gaming center and it is located in a complex called Jefferson Commercial Park. There’s a Google maps location in the first link, and their temporary website is in the 2nd link. The website lists the current games they have available.
I’d like to start a Street Fighter Scene in this area and I figure SRK is the best place to start. The systems they currently have are several XBox360’s and 8 PC’s wired for LAN/Internet games. They currently don’t have any copies of Super SF4, but if there is enough demand for tournaments they will order some copies. There are at least 2 people that I know who can bring SSF4 for the 360 if copies are not available at the target date for the first tournament, which I am setting as November 27, 2010. There needs to be at least 10 people on the “I am attending” list for the tournament to actually happen, so raise that hype!
If you are interested at all in learning more or participating in some local Street Fighter action, or wanting to contribute to starting a SF scene in this area, let me know in this topic or send me an email at ordinarystory@gmail.com! I check my email a lot more often that I read SRK forums if you want a speedier response.
I haven’t been having much luck yet, but I’m making a greater effort tonight. I’m going to print out some fliers and hang them around town & at the local College with contact information in hopes of getting some people. I KNOW there are people around here that play SSF4, but I think they are primarily casuals.
Awesome! Prorook, do you think you could PM me your contact info so I could get some more info from you? This is honestly my first attempt at running a tournament and I would like to try and get a head count of how many you can bring + all the locals I’m trying to attract.
i dunno if id run a tournament just yet if i was you. espically if youve never been to one. id also say that trying to get a scene started with a tournament is a bad idea as well. tournaments require money to enter and ppl who just play super casually arent gonna shell out 20 bucks to come to a strangers first tournament with no knowledge of the scene. id start by hosting casual nights or at least setting up casuals somewhere that way you can learn who the ppl are and they can meet you. then after a few weeks of succesful casual nights then consider putting on a tournament. but id still recommend attending a few yourself first so you can understand how they work and what speed bumps to pepare for cuz no tournament runs like it should not a damn one. ive been around the scene for quite sometime now and im only trying to help your scene grow cuz us down in cincy have prob the biggest but def the best scene in the state.
I’d love to try and make it to one of those weekly sessions in Cleveland, but unfortunately my work schedule currently prevents me from making it to one of those events since they hold them on Thursdays. It’s a 1 hour drive for me one way, so that would give me about 2 hours tops of playtime every week and that’s without me cooking dinner with the g/f. I’ll try and make it up there some time, just not any time too soon (with winter upon us and all. Damn Snow Belt winters.)
As for the organizing of casuals, I’d definitely like to get some of that going too. I’d have to find a different venue than the Gaming center though, because they charge by the hour for the use of their facility. It’s actually cheaper for everyone who comes if it’s a tourney because it’s a flat rate rather than hourly.
I’d like to make the entry fee $10, and depending on how many people show up, that’s how big the pot is going to be. It’s important that everyone RSVP so I know how many are showing.
I’ve been talking with the owner of the store about pricing plans. Since it’s a LAN center and he needs to make a profit to keep his business afloat, he was initally wanting to charge an hourly rate to use the game systems or PC’s there. I’m trying to talk him into adopting a flat “at the door” fee for unlimited play. Personally I feel that a flat fee would attract more customers than charging people by the hour.
Ideas that are currently in discussion:
“League” nights, where groups of people wanting to play a specific game can get together for a discounted door price. (this one would be really healthy for trying to foster a fighting game community IMO).
Weekly or bi-weekly tournaments for games (not just SSF4, but all the games listed on the website depending on popularity).
Monthly membership where you get unlimited play any time for a monthly fee.
If anything happens with these ideas, I’ll update this topic as soon as I hear about it.
I’ve been talking with the owner of the gaming center. He’s cool with the idea of casual nights where groups can come and play for a flat fee rather than hourly. The fee he wants to charge is $10 at the door, and you can play until closing. He’s thinking Friday afternoons/evenings for the casual nights.
Can I get some feedback from you guys as to whether or not you’d think that’s a good price/time for playing?
10 is too expensive for a casual night. down in cincy we have an arcade that is pay at the door and all games are on free play. although its 10 dollars to get it regularly and its 10 dollars for tournaments jesse only charges us fighting game fans 4 dollars on thurs nights. thats about what it should be. if xbl and psn werent arount he might be able to get away with that price but i dont think ppl will wanna pay 10 dollars a week to play casuals when they can play online for free. it needs to be cheap and it needs to be hype or its not gonna work. and fri night is a bad night considering how popular of a date night it is.
It might sound expensive to you because you live in a more populated area where there is a higher volume of customers, and 4 dollar thursdays in a video arcade can keep the place afloat. This gaming center is in a more rural area where people don’t really have access to any nearby arcades or anything. Ironically the only arcade in town is owned by a guy named Tuxie who is a huge Linux nerd and he won’t get any arcade machines past 1985, lol. I asked if he could maybe get a Super Turbo machine and put it on 25 cent play, but he’s more into stuff like Defender, Pac Man, Dig Dug, etc. Regardless, if this place doesn’t pull in much money then it is most likely going to go under. As cool as it would be to have a “jessie” in the area to charge low rates for free play nights I don’t think the gaming center can drop it to 4 dollars at the door for a full night of play.
Anyone else that lives a little closer by have any feedback?
NE Ohio players!!! I don’t live in Ohio at all (I live in Georgia), but I’ll be visiting Ohio for thanksgiving weekend. Is there going to be a tournament going on? I’d really love to participate in one with you guys.
That’s the hope Ebbflow. I haven’t been getting much feedback from the forums though :sad:
I’m stopping at the LAN center after work today to talk with them about whether or not we have any confirmed registrants for a tourney or at the bare minimum a casual night.
The store employee that I was asking to help out and try to grab some locals hasn’t been doing his part so the tournament is going to be postponed for a bit. I got on one of his co-workers and his boss to crack the whip a bit on him, and also asked the co-worker to spread the word too. I’ll update this topic when we get some people that commit to showing for a tourney. The entrance fee is looking like it’s going to be $20, with a 50/50 split between the prize pot and the store. Official tourney date TBA.
On a more positive note: the gaming center is going to host casual nights on Fridays. $10 at the door starting at 5 PM, and play until closing. The first casual night is this friday, so come on out if you can make it!
Hey guys, I’m putting up a team and I want to know if anyone is interested because I live in Painesville, Ohio. So if anyone want to meet up with some casuals at my place, hit me up on this.
