Ever since I have been going to live tournaments (summer of 2010) I have dreamed of playing in my home city and possibly throwing the tournament myself. Over the past five years I have obtained 12 consoles with controllers and hookups and nine copies of Tecmo Super Bowl. I have pursued venues to play, but most give me the are you effing serious look, or they want to charge me an arm and a leg. Late 2014 I see a post from DStach on TecmoBowl.org declaring the inaugural Tecmo Indy tournament. I'm like holy shit of course I'm in. I registered by emailing this fellow right away and offered any help I could offer. In the months leading up to the tournament I made a tournament logo and stayed in brief contact with the tournament host. I tried to advertise via Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. As time grew closer I talked to him about logistics. The tournament was to be played at a small bookstore on Indy's north-side called Books and Brews. A year or two ago I remember this place having a retro game night and playing Tecmo Super Bowl, but I was unable to get a sitter to go up to play.
The day before the tournament I brought six CRT televisions to store and checked out the place. In the front was the bookstore, then a bar area, and then an unfinished recreational room, with a furnished room in the very back. For a tournament between 16-32 competitors this place is perfect. On top of that, Books and Brews offer a menu featuring locally brought in smoked meats. Their bar also has several high quality in house crafted brews which you can jug and take home. How cool!
The morning of the tournament I grab some breakfast and headed up. The place wasn't supposed to open until 11 AM, but I walk right in and am met by Kevin C. and Louis B. We start setting up the consoles I brought. The tournament direct Dan S. arrives a few minutes later. The tournament looked to have 20 total competitors including Matty V. who was showing up at 3 PM for group play. Why 3 PM you may ask? The Tecmo Indy tournament is unique in that it holds Tecmo Super Bowl SNES play as well. This year it was more like pick up games. Next year it looks to shape up to be an actual tournament for those interested.
When group play started, a few competitors got a little more than they bargained for and became upset. They bolted to the parking lot. One of them came back in and said they were done. He said he didn't need this shit. He also said his buddy was taking shrooms and was messed up. He said he needed to stay with him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid. Completely agree here. Only problem, is that these guys didn't understand how messed up the group play became. The groups were split into three regions if you will. The East region, the Central region, and the West region. Each region used special commemorative coins for game coin flips (a New York Giants coin for the East, a Chicago Bears coin for the Central, and a San Francisco coin for the West). Now that the two guys left it really screwed up who already played who. Bradbears81 did a masterful job of reworking the pools and few games had to be replayed, but all was well.
My first pool play game was against Tate M. Tate was an enthusiastic fellow who was asking questions all day. He was like a sponge soaking it all in. I called CIN vs. CHI. He took Da Bears. I fumbled and lost three first half fumbles. Thankfully for me Fulcher was Fulcher and picked Chicago back nearly every possession. I won this game 21-7.
Tate M. and his Tweet following group play:
My second pool play game was against Shane B. I can honestly say I have NEVER played a game of Tecmo where my play was called so many times. I couldn't do anything in this RAI vs. CHI matchup. Fortunately I was able to pull it out 10-18. What an odd game.
My third pool play game was against tournament director Dan S. I saw him play pretty well in a game or two before so I was not going to hold back. I called the S.D. vs. DET. As expected, he took the Lions and Butts ran wild. final score was 39-0.
My fourth pool play game was against Brian E. Brain was a talker. He talked the entire time. From the AdvoCare diet that I was currently on, to music play lists, to Nintendo collecting, etc. Long breaks from the game. Every return to the game was previewed by an "Are you ready." Nice guy. He called a PIT vs. T.B. matchup. He started out crazy with two consecutive CCs to Louis Lipps from Brister on Haddix to put PIT up 7-0. I stormed back to win 7-51. He was amazed by T.B.'s defense.
We saved the final pool play game for the heavy weights. I was to play Matty V. Matty was unsure if he was even coming due to having his car fixed, but he strolled into the tournament just in time for the beginning of pool play. I won the toss and called a matchup I have had success against Matty in the past, CIN vs. DET. Matty took CIN. I put Barry up top to give DET that deep threat. The game was classic. Back and forth stops, back and forth scores, and back and forth talk. The game breaker was early in the fourth quarter on a 4th and 4 from the Lions own 30. Matty called my play (Pass 4 Z-Slant) and I cycled through to the RB up top. A diving catch after a diving defender allowed the Lions to keep the drive alive and take the go-ahead score of 21-14. I would later be told be vogtcd1`1 (Matty's brother), who watched on the live stream, that this game was professional Tecmo at its finest. Matty said it was his only group play loss. So aggravated by the stream (will mention this later).
After pool play I found myself as the #2 overall seed and one of only two 5 and 0s (Louis B.). Here are the pool play results for all three pools:
In the first game of the double elimination bracket I faced Brian E. once again. He threatened to go with the PIT vs. T.B. matchup as we were allowed to repeat matchups after pool play. He decided to go with RAI vs. CHI. This time the score was worse at 0-51. Singletary was in the backfield every play. I called the same run (Run 2) the entire game. Still a nice guy, and still talked my ear off.
In the second game of the elimination bracket I faced Dave S. of South Bend, IN. Dave played pretty well all day and I could tell he has a strong interest in the game. He was wearing a PHI. Tecmo helmet shirt. He won the toss and called WAS vs. PHI. This is a tough matchup against anyone, especially if you have never played them and do not know tendencies. I played much better than the score indicates. I play solid D, calling his play quite a bit in the first half. I go up 0-10 with about two minutes left in the first half. He goes for it on a 4th and long from about 35-40 yards out and hits a diving CC with WR2 on Mayhew. The odds of this happening cannot be high. None the less the score is 7-10 going into halftime. After the half he got the ball and was stopped. I was able to march down and get a descent FG to make it 7-13. He has his best drive of the game and converted another 4th and mid range to go up 14-13, but left three minutes on the clock. I knew minus a fumble, I had this game. Sure enough Chip sealed the deal and I escaped a hard fought game.
In the third game of the elimination bracket I faced bradbears81. Brad lost against Kevin C. in pool play, but found himself defeating Kevin C. pretty handily in the game before us. He won the toss and called a CLE vs. G.B. matchup. I took CLE because I didn't want him to huck and chuck with 75 PC. He scored first to go up 0-7. I came back down and scored to tie it at 7. I fumbled before the half making and nothing was created by the Packers. I got the ball at half. I scored on the first possession making it 7-14. Brad converted two fourth downs and fumbled (retaining it out of bounds) on his way to a score. Game was tied at 14. On my next possession, sure enough, I fumble running with Metcalf and Brad scoops it up which turned into a 21-14 game. I get the ball with a chance to hail-mary with Browns. I drop back and B doesn't register. Safety to end the game. Score was 23-14.
In the fourth game I faced Tate M. again. This game he played much tougher and the score was closer than it appeared. He won the toss and called a N.O. vs. ATL matchup. Fearing the long garbage I took Rison. I went up 7-0 early. Saints didn't run their playbook at Deion which made defense much easier. This game would have been much different if he would have done so. Falcons tacked on two more score later in the game to win 0-21.
On to the Final Four. Only myself, Louis B., bradbears81, and Matty V. are left. I was to play Louis with the winner to face the winner of Matty V. and bradbears81 (Matty V.). I won the toss and called DEN vs. S.D. Louis replied with, "Can I just have some passing teams?" Louis played flawless. He hit the quick pass and won the taps when they mattered. I played ok and probably would have one against most other people, but I had a dropped pass in the back of the end zone that would have given me the lead late in the game. Elway + back of end zone = inevitable.
I'm a little conflicted. Going into my first original ROM tournament after Madison I had a target on my back. That target was magnified when I went 5-0 and was winning pretty easily. So how should I feel? Well it sucks not winning, especially in my hometown. I feel like a little bit of a failure after taking down the field at Madison and having such a great start to the day. After all, I was the only one who beat the eventual champ of this tournament. On the other hand, I had some bad luck in my first loss, which happens, and I was outplayed in the game versus Louis. Finishing top four at any tournament is not shameful. So conflicted.
Bradbears81 lost to Matty V. and then again to Louis in two close games, finishing third. Brad is much improved and played great a majority of the day. Well deserved. The championship saw Matty V. and Louis facing off. Louis had to double dip Matty to win. Matty just needed the one victory. Louis called MIA vs. PHI. Matty took MIA without much hesitation. A great game throughout. Louis was winning the taps and Matty played is normal poised game. One big 4th down stop that sealed the game was captured here:
I spoke with vogtcd11 a few times throughout the day. He said the live stream never dropped and it looked great. We used a newly created Tecmo Indy I account on my computer. I already had my Twitch (the_tecmo_psycho) set up to archive streams automatically. This newly created account was not set up to automatically archive broadcasts and therefore only people watching it live had the opportunity to watch it. I was devastated when I tried to upload the better games of the day onto YouTube to only find out that they were not saved. The high point of the championship game showed 17 viewers. The only evidence is the video clip above and this blue screen of the championship below.
The championship was played on my new custom TSB console pictured here. Congratulations to bradbears81 on his third place finish, Louis B. on his runner-up finish, and Matty V. for the title. The first Tecmo Indy tournament was a huge success do to Dan S., bradbears81, Kevinc C., and anyone else who helped out in the process. Next year's tournament will be even better as we look to have another great time. Eyes on Midwest Tecmo VIII in about a month. Long Live Tecmo.
