Annual Fall Brawl enriches local fighting video game community

Clusters of players crowded the Hilton Garden Inn ballroom Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 28-29, to participate in Fall Brawl 2023 — an annual video game community tournament. 

As avid gamers eagerly awaited their turn to compete, while cheering on their friends, an obvious sense of community permeated the event. 

According to tournament organizer Blake Mickatavage, Fall Brawl has been occurring yearly since 2012. The event initially took place in Missoula, but was moved to Bozeman in 2015. After a three-year hiatus as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition made an electrifying return this past weekend.   

The event featured tournaments for seven different fighting video games. Saturday included tournaments for Dragon Ball FighterZ, Mortal Kombat 1, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate singles and Super Smash Bros. Melee doubles – singles is a one player versus one player competition, while doubles is a two versus two match. Tournaments were then held on Sunday for Tekken 7, Guilty Gear -Strive-, Street Fighter 6, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate doubles and Super Smash Bros. Melee singles.

These tournaments are open to everyone. “We close the registration one hour before the tournament begins, so anybody can walk in and enter,” Mickatavage said.

According to him, this weekend's tournaments were arranged in a double elimination format, where each participant got two chances. If a player won their first match they’d progress, while their losing opponent would drop down to the losing bracket, at which point another loss would result in elimination.

The prize money for each tournament was partially determined by the number of individuals entered, as each participant spent ten dollars to enter their respective competition. This sum is directed into the prize pool. In addition, the event receives individual donations towards specific tournaments, which are referred to as pot bonuses, Mickatavage explained. 

These pot bonuses all vary in size, but some are quite large. The Super Smash Bros Melee singles tournament for example had a pot bonus of over 2,000 dollars.

While the competitive drive was palpable, the sense of community is what really stood out.       

“The fighting game is about community. It's about how we are all together and we are all constantly pushing ourselves and being supportive of ourselves,” Super Smash Bros Melee competitor Martin Housenfluck-Poli said.

According to him, the nature of fighting video games is highly conducive to positive encouragement and community building.

“Most of the time, if you're a better player, you win. There's no sugarcoating it. The better player wins, and that's beautiful because that's what I think makes the community a community, because you have to push yourself and everyone wants to push themselves so everyone's together,” Housenfluck-Poli said. 

Mickatavage shared this sentiment, also perceiving the competition as an excellent outlet for gamers to simply do what they love. 

“And I mean, that's what makes me feel good. It's just to see people having a good time, especially when they don't get the chance to do this kind of thing very often,” he said. 

Mickatavage encourages all those interested to check out the event next year.

“Competition is a huge part of it, but everybody's here to have a good time. So if you're worried about entering a tournament, whether it's Fall Brawl or any game just do it. And if you enjoy it, keep at it and it doesn't always have to come down to whether you win or lose,” Mickatavage said.