Contend for a prize

Esports event proves popular

Stefan Bradley and Tom Parry

THE Australian Esports League (AEL) Wellington Cup took place at Sale Memorial Hall earlier this month. The free event, supported by Wellington Shire Council, attracted gamers and families of all ages to play video games for fun and competitively, with participants able to win from a prize pool of $1400 spread across the tournaments. The competitive spirit was alive in Wellington, with dozens of participants aiming to climb the ranks of popular titles Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Halo Infinite and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, with other games such as Rocket League and Just Dance available for freeplay. Sale resident and gamer Cassie Drumm attended the event with her 10 year-old and seven year-old. “I saw this event on Facebook and I follow Esports because I always play games and watch Twitch, so I thought it was a good opportunity to bring the kids down and introduce them to this community,” Ms Drumm said. “I’ve been playing games since I was about 12, and I’m 26 now, and their dad is competitive in Call of Duty, so I’ve been trying to get the kids into games, and they’re mainly into Fortnite at the moment. “My son just won his first round, he lost the second, but it’s such a motivation for him, he loves it, they’re both having a lot of fun.” Ms Drumm said she’d definitely go to future Esports and gaming events that come to the local area. “If this was an every year sort of thing, I’d always bring my kids to this, and I think if more people had known about it, there would have been an even bigger crowd,” she said. “I have a lot of friends my age who didn’t come, even though we play games every day but I just know that it’s a bit of an awkward thing for some people to go to these. “I’m driven by my kids, which helps a lot.” Tournament administrator Brendan Lu said the event had a great turnout. “It’s great to see a new community,” Mr Lu said. “We went to Warragul at one point and it had a similar turnout, so it’s great to see parents come here and watch their kids and they showed interest in the games as well.” “The kids are really into how the tournament works and how they can place first, second or third.” Mr Lu said he hoped the Wellington Cup would inspire others in the area to travel to tournaments or set up their own local Esports events. Australian Esports League chief executive officer Darren Kwan said the Wellington Cup will become an annual event after the positive response. “Attendees enjoyed hanging out with like-minded gamers, and a lot of them didn’t realise there were so many in the area that had common interests,” Mr Kwan said. “People were telling me they want another event this year, so we may have to figure out a different way to bring Wellington Shire gamers before the next Wellington Cup. Mr Kwan said the AEL was working to grow the Wellington Shire gaming community. “We want to drive access and participation in Esports to the area,” he said. For those who cannot wait, Mr Kwan said there are other events that gamers could participate in. “We got the online high school cup, which runs for five weeks each school term, and we want to support local events with games such as Rocket League, Overwatch, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Minecraft and others,” he said. Head to ael.org.au to learn more.

The Halo Infinite winners.

Photo: Contributed

Halo Infinite tournament.

Photo: Stefan Bradley

A closer look at the competitive virtual world

THE Super Smash Bros Ultimate Open tournament saw two competitive players from Melbourne compete in the grand final at Sale Memorial Hall. There were 22 players, with some of the rounds being live streamed on the Australian Esports League Facebook page, with commentary from shoutcasters Miguel De La Cruz, known as “Miggle”, and Jacob “Mado” Tutungi. A shoutcaster (caster for short) is someone who commentates on Esports events. Sebastian “SebPro101” Poli from Melbourne ended up winning the tournament, with his friend and fellow Melburnian Gilberto “UnReal Sora” Fraga taking second place. To progress to the next round, each player had to win a best of five games. Mr Fraga was the only one in the bracket that was able to win a game against Mr Poli, but Mr Poli ultimately ended up victorious in every round. Jack Stonehouse, a 14-year-old Sale local who competed under the name “Jacstablook”, took third place in the tournament. “A friend told me about the event, he said he thought I could win it, and this is my first tournament,” Jack said. “Everyone’s been really nice at this event.” Gilberto Fraga, who competes in Super Smash Bros Ultimate under the name UnReal Sora, said that he and fellow player Sebastian decided to come to Sale from Melbourne the day before the event. “We were eating McDonald’s and Seb asked if I wanted to come to this tournament, and I didn’t have anything else on for the weekend. I was probably going to sleep until 10am, so I decided to come to Sale instead.” “Since petrol is so much we’re splitting the cost, but it’s great to be here in Sale to have some fun and play some games, people here have been so friendly.” “A lot of kids today like to play games online, so I think it’s good for them to meet up in person.” “I’ve been playing Smash Ultimate since 2019, and played weeklys at Pixel Bar and Cafe in Melbourne, and I’ll be going back to Melbourne after this to play another tournament.” Sebastian Poli, who competes in Smash Ultimate under the name SebPro101 ended up winning the Smash Ultimate tournament. “I started playing Smash competitively at tournaments at the end of 2016, currently in Victoria I’m ranked sixth, but last season I was third and life’s gotten in the way a bit, and across Australia before COVID I was 12th, and in that season that was cut short by COVID I was ranked sixth or seventh.” “Unreal Sora lives close to me so we practice together all the time, so we’re not rivals, we drove in together.” “AEL events are fun, the first AEL event I went to was in Sydney, and AEL usually does events over long weekends so it works well.” “It’s a fun event, I like the people, including the tournament organisers, and we got to discover a new town, Sale, and I hope the cocktails are good because that’s where we’re going to after this.” “I liked this bracket because it took place over a day, not over two days like some other events, which can be exhausting, and tomorrow (March 13) will be a Smash Bros Ultimate tournament for high school students so that will be good for those kids.” Also taking place was the Halo Infinite tournament. Nine teams competed in that event, featuring a variety of ages and skill levels, and some competitive Halo players had also travelled to take part.

Jack “Jacstablook” Stonehouse from Sale finished third in the all-ages Smash Ultimate tournament. Smash Ultimate tournament winner Sebastian “SebPro101” Poli (left) with runner up Gilberto “UnReal Sora” Fraga. Photo: Left to right: Commentators Miguel De La Cruz (“Miggle”) and Jacob Tutungi (“Mado”) during the Wellington Cup. Photo: