June 25, 2015 / by Aric Fehrenbacher

Starcraft 2 is the greatest sport ever created by humanity. There, I said it.

Now, I know some of you out there in the blogosphere may want to dismiss the phenomenon known as E-Sports as an annoying infringement by those pesky nerds stealing the sacred “S” word from good and proper sports like curling and table tennis.

But the simple fact is that while even the NFL has seen steadily declining admissions since 2007 (side-note: go hawks) the audiences for E-Sports events have grown to Thunderdome-like proportions.

IEM World Championship

E-Sports are booming and with million dollar prize pools and swarms of rabid fans (there are fantasy League of Legends leagues…let that sink in) these games are only going to get bigger.

Now in my humble and undisputedly correct opinion Starcraft 2 is the greatest E-Sport of all E-sports.

“But Aric,” you chirp,“What makes Starcraft so amazing?”

Because Starcraft 2 is simultaneously the chess, pistol duel, and professional wrestling of the E-Sports world.

For example:

1. ) There are WWE levels of showboating.

Renaldo’s got nothing on FireBatHero.

2.) It requires an insane amount of superhuman dexterity and quick thinking.

300 APM=6 actions per second.

3.) There are crushing defeats and epic comebacks, ALL THE TIME.

If you didn’t understand what just happened, it was crushing. Trust me.

Hopefully, if you’ve made it this far, I’ve at least piqued your interest in Starcraft because now we can get to the point of this post.

This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Gamma Ray Games will be hosting replays of the World Championship Starcraft Finals and the Global Starcraft League Code S (code S means the baddest players in all of badassdom) matches as it is pretty much impossible to show them live.

starcat

So come in, hang out, and let’s talk Starcraft and if you don’t know how to talk Starcraft then feel free to ask me what the hell is going on every couple of minutes because I’ll probably be providing my own live commentary anyway.

Cheers,

Aric F.

 

 

June 23, 2015 / by Eric

Then we’re the place for you! Conveniently located at the corner of gender and sexuality at the gateway to Seattle’s legendary Capitol Hill neighborhood,

Now with rainbow crosswalks!

Now with rainbow crosswalks!

we’re right next to the action and just off the beaten path.

With our full barcade of classic titles like Street Fighter II & Turtles in Time,

arcade

we’re the perfect pop cultural respite for you should you need a little nerdy or geeky time in the Emerald City.

Welcome. Welcome.

Welcome. Welcome.

We’ve even got 3 special events for you while you’re here! Starting on Thursday night with our of our weekly . Come out, meet some people, and test your geeky mettle as local fave challenges Iron Quizomancer Andrew in our unique Iron Trivia format that at least one person has taken to calling, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show of Trivia Nights.”

Come on up to the lab.

Come on up to the lab.

Then on Saturday, we’ve got Magic Drafting at Noon and our weekly Standard Tournament at 4pm, both of which are welcoming to guests and boast a healthy GLBT population.

Both on and off the table.

On and off the table.

And finally, on Sunday, you are invited to join us for our Queer Geek boardgame meet up. It’ll be a great afternoon to relax and play some games with friends new and old as you wind down from your crazy weekend and try to remember what exactly did happen last night.

You can learn more about these and all of our other events on our Special Events Page. If you have any additional questions about Seattle, the neighborhood, the scene, or anything else while you’re in town, don’t hesitate to call or come by and we’ll get you sorted.

See you soon,

-Eric