Tecmo Madison 14 gathers the elite of a sports gaming classic
The beer will flow, the cheers will grow, and there will be a Reading from the Book of L. T. Hello friends, it’s a tradition unlike any other, and it’s not The Masters — it’s Tecmo Madison.
The Super Bowl of Tecmo Super Bowl will kick off at noon ET, and you can see all of the action live, right here, or through Tecmo Madison’s Twitch channel. Jimmie Kaska, a local sportscaster and personality, is again providing play-by-play coverage.
This tournament is being staged at The Red Zone, a sports bar by the University of Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium, with sponsorships from Koei Tecmo America, Hyperkin, and The Bo Jackson Foundation (yes, the greatest player in this game).
In its second year under new management, Tecmo Madison 14 is now more of an event, the tournament’s director said, acknowledging the need to engage fans and a 264-person player base in ways more befitting a modern esports tournament.
Related
Play begins at noon with the group stage round robin. Eighty-eight groups of three will sort out a first, second and third place among them, with all three advancing to separate tournaments, for the first time in Tecmo Madison history.
The first place finisher will go into the main event, which features the elite of Tecmo Super Bowl play from all over the United States. First place of that is looking at about a $2,500 payday. The other two go into consolation brackets.
The field of notables includes double-defending champion Joseph “JoeyGats” Chilkotowsky of Philadelphia, one of the younger elites in a field mainly comprising mid- to late-30-year-olds. The Beunnagels, Francis (aka “Mort”) and Louis of Buffalo will be on hand, as will Cincinnati’s Matthew Vogt, a perennial knockout-stage contender. Derek “TecmoPsycho” Ruble and Kyle “Regulator” Miller of Elkhart, Indiana, the 2015 and 2014 winners respectively, also return.
Lending Tecmo Madison even more of an event quality were preliminary tournaments on a “Road to Madison” series, giving winners an automatic No. 1 seeding in the group stage. And last night there were two other tournaments — a Tetris championship, whose winner goes to the Classic Tetris World Championship in Portland, Oregon.
