Hey Smashladder. Last night I went to my first local monthly, the Hall of Gaming of Wallingford Connecticut. I rounded up a few of my friends and we all went for it! For the last year or so all we've ever done was play friendlies are each others houses during the weekends. Some of us thought we were getting pretty good and I have to say going to this local was a truly humbling experience. When we entered the bracket, some of us were immediately smacked down to loser's, and then eliminated there too. I was lucky to be paired up with someone of less skill than I, but I was quickly down for the count as well. After the main bracket, the HoG ran Amateur bracket, where the people who lost during the main bracket got a second chance to win a smaller prize. I feel like I actually did worse in that one.
Losing aside, I had a great time with my friends and meeting new people of varying skill, age, race, and gender was a really cool experience! When you get down to it, we're all there for the same thing and that's to play some Melee. We had a surprising 52 players sign on for Singles! I'll definitely be attending the even next month.