On April 15, friends and I traveled to the University of Pittsburgh to spectate and even participate in Pittsburgh’s own Fight Pitt 7. Fight Pit 7 is a gaming tournament based on the popular fighting game Smash Bros: Melee and was located in the University of Pitt’s student center. At this tournament there were two main ways of competing, singles (1 vs 1) and doubles (2 vs 2.)

One of our friends, Jordan Hess was the only one to enter while the rest of us were there to boost morale and watch our friend play his heart out. The day started out with doubles and all of us searched for Jordan’s partner, who happened to play the same character he did. Once we found him, Jordan and his partner seemed like good friends despite not knowing each other before. They both shared tips and tricks together and managed to climb the competitive ladder all the way to 25th place out of 100 plus!

In the singles bracket, my friend was placed against some of best players Pittsburgh had to offer and was even featured on their livestream! Unfortunately Jordan, who was the youngest player there at the age of 16, was dropped to the amateur bracket and did extremely well. Unfortunately, he was dropped out by one of his friend.

The main thing that really caught me off guard was the overall respect and courtesy players showed to one another. Instead of getting upset or starting an argument, both players politely fist bump each other and ask what they did wrong and how to improve.
When my friends first told me about this tournament, I was expecting to just spend time with my friends. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the result of it and I have a newfound interest in the game that was played and for fighting games as a whole.