During the school year, UNC students and Chapel Hill residents gather together every week — often twice a week — in order to play one another in a video game called Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
For a select few players, UNC’s Smash tournaments are a money-making opportunity. This is certainly true of Benjamin “Bully” Bradley, who is not only the best player in Chapel Hill, but also the No. 1 player in all of North Carolina, and a clear favorite to win any tournament he attends on UNC’s campus. Some players come to these events to improve at the game, while others come simply because of the fun of the game itself.
However, most players would agree that the camaraderie that comes from participating in this community is the most rewarding part about UNC Chapel Hill’s Smash Ultimate tournaments.
UNC’s competitive Smash community has grown substantially since the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in December 2018, as shown in the above graphic. Prior to Ultimate‘s release, UNC’s biweekly pay-to-enter tournament series, Spare Change, only attracted about eight attendees per tourney. But with the new game, attendance exploded, and Spare Change has since averaged about 29 attendees per tourney.
Tournament attendance reached its peak at the UNC Esports club’s Spring 2019 Gamefest, where 56 players entered the bracket, including many Smash community members from outside of Chapel Hill. Because of the game’s popularity, UNC Esports Smash director Shane McManus even began to run paid brackets at the club’s Wednesday night Smashfests, giving students and community members more opportunities to compete for a spot on Chapel Hill’s Smash Ultimate power rankings.
Ultimately (pun intended), this increase in the number of both events and attendees has had a positive effect on those who choose to take part in this community. It is particularly helpful for new students at UNC, like Joi Dunston and Bill Cozens, who were both interviewed for the above video.
Thanks to the quantity of Smash events, players are not only able to spend lots of time honing their skills in the game, but they are also able to forge friendships that may have been hard to come across otherwise. This helps to make the transition to UNC smoother for first-years and transfer students, many of whom do not know any of their fellow students before coming UNC.
This community’s emphasis on relationship-building based around a common hobby is what makes Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, as Bill Cozens put it, “more than just a game” at UNC Chapel Hill.
Dylan Tate 