Lively during the day, the Student Union at Middle Tennessee State University winds down as night falls. Janitorial staff vacuums the nearly empty first floor while small gatherings of friends finish group projects on the level above.
But while the rest of the building begins to shut down, the party is just getting started up top.
For the last five years, the MTSU Esports club hosted weekly Super Smash Bros. tournaments on campus. Located on the third floor of the student union, the weekly invitationals saw players of the popular Nintendo fighting game come together to enjoy the franchise they held so dearly.
But as semesters went by and frequent players moved on or graduated, attendance numbers dwindled. The head of MTSU Esports’ Super Smash Bros. division, Justice Wasilewski, saw the need for change.
Beginning Jan. 31, the Esports Club and the Student Union opened doors to non-students. The shift comes as an attempt to give new life to the tournament and get players out of their comfort zone, Wasilewski said. Competitors fought over the night’s pot, consisting of entry fees of all players.
“Not only are we getting some of the best talent Tennessee has to offer, but we’re also giving our players the experience to play against those people and learn new things,” Wasilewski said.
In the last two weeks, the weekly Friday night crowds grew from as little as eight regulars to as many as 35 registered players, coming from in and out of state. In return, local Super Smash Bros. players have welcomed the weekly tournaments with open arms.
“People outside of campus, they’ve been fiending for a tournament, they’ve been local starved, and the fact that we have a new one especially on a date as convenient as Friday, people were so excited,” Wasilewski said.
On Feb. 7, a field of students, MTSU alumni and players from surrounding counties fought to the death with their favorite characters.
Miles Jena and his two roommates found the tournament through Discord, driving from Nashville to play. From time to time, Jena and his roommates travel upwards of an hour to play in Super Smash Bros. invitationals.
Despite losing his first set of the night, Jena and his friends will be back for more, he said.
“Everyone has been super welcoming to newcomers to the tournament scene, so yeah, it’s been cool,” Jena said.
Other competitors come from further away, such as Madison, Wisconsin, where Mario Rea Garcia calls home. While visiting a friend in Murfreesboro, the Wisconsin player decided to get in on the action.
Even if a little nervous at first, Rea Garcia eventually settled in and finished fifth in the first weekly, he said.
“It was a very fun experience, I would say all of the players here are very nice, everyone is pretty welcoming and it’s a nice college too,” Rea Garcia said.
Seeing the Super Smash Bros. community thriving again at MTSU has been great for Wasilewski, even if he isn’t the best player in it.
“The joy in it for me is being able to just host it all, because I want to give people this chance to play,” Wasilewski said. “When I saw those numbers dwindling and I could tell that people were upset by it, it really made me want to have a nice big turnout.”
Players 18 and older can join the MTSU Esports Discord here. Weekly registration costs $5 for Esports club members while nonmembers pay $10. The weeklies take place on the third floor of the MTSU Student Union on Friday nights at 6:30 p.m.
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