‘Rise ‘N Grind’ gaming tournament brings players from all over the world to Waco for Super Smash Bros themed competition

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - People from all over the world congregated at the Waco Convention Center for the first annual Rise ‘N Grind Super Smash Bros gaming tournament.

These E-SPORTS events give players a chance to interact with other players, in the real world, while competitively playing their favorite video games.

E-SPORTS gaming has taken off as in recent years with some universities creating E-SPORTS teams to compete against other colleges.

For three days Waco played host to the Rise ‘N Grind tournament.

The Super Smash Bros themed event started on Friday with over 700 attendees coming together to play and spectate.

Event organizers say it’s the first of its kind in the E-SPORTS world and they’re happy to see such a positive turnout.

“Through a year of planning, contacts, traveling, sleepless nights and a lot of stress and anxiety, here we are and it’s beautiful. It’s really amazing,” said event organizer Cyrus Gharakhanian.

One player from Seattle traveled across the country just for the Super Smash Bros tournament.

He placed fifth in the doubles battles and placed top eight in a side battle, squad strike.

To advance to today’s 1v1 battles, he’ll need to place top 64 which he says he’s hopeful for.

“It looks good, my bracket looks good. I play a guy from Nebraska and a guy from Mexico. So yeah, it’s cool playing people from all over,” said Logan Ainsworth who traveled from Seattle for the tournament.

The tournament saw players from France, Mexico, Canada and India as well as players from across the United States all meeting under one roof.

As for why Waco was chosen to hold this tournament, Gharakhanian had this to say:

“I wanted to bring some more love, especially to Waco. There’s not a lot of activity here in Waco in terms of E-SPORTS. I think this is a great way to give some light to the convention center to the local community and just to bring more people here to Waco, Texas,” said Gharakhanian.

Featuring local E-SPORTS vendors as well as Texas style BBQ, the Rise ‘N Grind tournament is giving those from around the world a taste of Texas in between their heated gameplay.

The tournament will wrap up Sunday with single player matches winding down from the top 64 players to top 8 ultimately deciding who will walk away with the title of Rise ‘N Grind champion.

The name, Rise ‘N Grind, represents the work that had to be done to bring the tournament to life.

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