History Main / TournamentPlay

* ''InTheGroove'' had an official tournament while the series was running. Initially, they decided that the main prize would go to the winner of the division that didn't hold on to the support bar, while the support bar division (and most hardcore players used the support bar, since it makes it easier to get higher scores) got basically nothing. No points for guessing how well that went over.

Game play at the highest level. This is beyond the arcade, way beyond XBoxLive, way, way beyond just sitting on the couch with your buddies. This is the best players in the state/country/world getting together to slug it out, the winner is usually awarded prize money, from mere hundreds, to the hundreds of thousands. [[note]]NASL Season 3 total winnings are a whopping 200K[[/note]]

Game tournaments are now a SeriousBusiness, where a really good player might be able to make his living off his winnings. Some players even sign contracts with their teams, like professional athletes. Because of this, they occasionally get some flak from other fans who accuse them of being StopHavingFunGuys, specifically Tournament players of games like ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', where all items are turned off, and several stages are banned. On the other hand, who wants to lose the finals (and a huge payday) just because [[LuckBasedMission a bomb spawned on your face]]?

Common games at tournaments are ''VideoGame/{{Counter-Strike}}'', ''WarCraft'', ''{{Quake}}'', ''StreetFighter'', ''StarCraft'', and ''{{Halo}}''. Nintendo has sponsored ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' and ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' tournaments.

* TabletopGame/{{Poker}} has their annual "World Series Of Poker" events where the Main Event (a $10,000 buy-in Texas Hold-Em No Limit) has over 6,000 entrants playing over the course of 9 days for millions of dollars in prize money. Subverted in that poker, by its very nature, is a LuckBasedMission. The Statistics of the game, however, has developed a "[[StopHavingFunGuys proper playstyle]]".

** Now for "The International 2014", one could wonder how far the community will get...

[[quoteright:300:[[VideoGame/{{Starcraft}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daum-osl-07-5.jpg]]]]

[[VideoGame/{{Starcraft}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daum-osl-07-5.jpg]]

See also our [[UsefulNotes/ProfessionalGaming Useful Notes: Professional Gaming]] page, which NeedsMoreLove as it covers very few games at the moment.

** Creator/Capcom has also launched their official ''Capcom Pro Tour'' that, like Evo, uses smaller regional tournaments as part of its calendar, giving out point and ranking and seeing players accordingly in preparation for Capcom Cup in December. Interestingly enough, Evolution also counts as a Capcom Pro Tour event with it being placed in a special category of its own with the winners earning more points than they would in any other event as well as automatically qualifying them for Capcom Cup.

See also our [[UsefulNotes/ProfessionalGaming Useful Notes: Professional Gaming]] page, which NeedsMoreLove as it only covers ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' at the moment.

** And now ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}'' had their tournament "The International 2013" with a ''$2,8 million'' prize pool, almost half of it funded via players' in-game purchases of the "Interactive Compendium". "The International 2013" also considered the most intense tournament ever, culminating with an EPIC grand final series of Na'Vi vs Alliance that Alliance won 3-2 after a gruelling baserace in the fifth game.

* {{Multiplayer Online Battle Arena}} games are getting involved. In October 2012, Riot Games ran the second ''LeagueOfLegends'' World Championship, with a grand prize of ''$1 million'', and Creator/ValveSoftware's ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}'' championship offered the same the preceding September. This gets a little less astronomical when you realize that only {{Five Man Band}}s are eligible for competition, but it should also be pointed out that both games are free-to-play, and ''Dota 2'' '''wasn't out of beta yet'''. [=MOBAs=] are getting to be big business.
** And now ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}'' had their tournament "The International 2013" with a ''$2,8 million'' prize pool, almost half of it funded via players' in-game purchases of the "Interactive Compendium".

** ''{{Jeopardy}}'': The Tournament of Champions, which pairs the highest money winners from (usually) the past year or so, plus the winners of the Teen, College and Teachers tournaments.
** ''TheJokersWild'': During the first four years of the syndicated run, the highest money winners from the preceding year (plus the top winners from the CBS era for the 1977 tournament as well) competed in a high-stakes tournament. The fourth year saw the winner pocket $250,000 (10 $25,000 annual annuities) plus the privilege of donating another $250,000 in his name to his favorite charity (he chose the March of Dimes). Like most Jack Barry-produced game shows, these tournaments provided some truly suspensful gameplay.
** ''TicTacDough'': In 1983, the show hosted a tournament of the top eight winners up to that time for a share of $100,000 for the winners' favorite charities.

* The {{Pokemon}} Company International has run the [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/World_Championships Pokémon World Championships]] since 2004, containing tournaments for both the [[TabletopGame/{{Pokemon}} TCG]] and, after 2008,the video games. Much as you'd expect, players from Website/{{Smogon}} regularly dominate the elder divisions of the video game tournaments, having a particularly impressive showing in 2011.

* {{Multiplayer Online Battle Game}}s are getting involved. In October 2012, Riot Games ran the second ''LeagueOfLegends'' World Championship, with a grand prize of ''$1 million'', and Creator/ValveSoftware's ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}'' championship offered the same the preceding September. This gets a little less astronomical when you realize that only {{Five Man Band}}s are eligible for competition, but it should also be pointed out that ''[=LoL=]'' is free-to-play, and ''Dota 2'' '''wasn't out of beta yet'''. [=MOBAs=] are getting to be big business.
** And now ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}'' The International 2013 with a ''$2,8 million'' prize pool, and almost half of it was funded via players' in-game purchases of the "Interactive Compendium".

* Poker has their annual "World Series" events where the Main Event (a $10,000 buy-in Texas Hold-Em No Limit) has over 6,000 entrants playing over the course of 9 days for millions of dollars in prize money. Subverted in that poker, by its very nature, is a LuckBasedMission. The Statistics of the game, however, has developed a "[[StopHavingFunGuys proper playstyle]]".

** Similarly, modern [[DigitalPinballTables digital pinball games]] like ''Pinball/PinballArcade'' and ''[[Pinball/ZenPinball Zen Pinball[=/=]Pinball FX]]'' support online leaderboards and tournaments.

** Similarly, modern [[DigitalPinballTables digital pinball games]] like ''Pinball/PinballArcade'' and ''[[Pinball/ZenPinball Zen Pinball/Pinball FX'' support online leaderboards and tournaments.

* {{Multiplayer Online Battle Game}}s are getting involved. In October 2012, Riot Games ran the second ''LeagueOfLegends'' World Championship, with a grand prize of ''$1 million'', and Creator/ValveSoftware's ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}'' championship offered the same the preceding September. This gets a little less astronomical when you realize that only {{Five Man Band}}s are eligible for competition, but it should also be pointed out that ''[=LoL=]'' is free-to-play, and ''Dota 2'' is '''wasn't out of beta yet'''. [=MOBAs=] are getting to be big business.

* {{Multiplayer Online Battle Game}}s are getting involved. In October, Riot Games ran the second ''LeagueOfLegends'' World Championship, with a grand prize of ''$1 million'', and Creator/ValveSoftware's ''VideoGame/{{Dota 2}}'' championship offered the same the preceding September. This gets a little less astronomical when you realize that only {{Five Man Band}}s are eligible for competition, but it should also be pointed out that ''[=LoL=]'' is genuinely free-to-play, and ''Dota 2'' is '''not yet out of beta'''. [=MOBAs=] are getting to be big business.

* The ''[[{{Yu-Gi-Oh Card Game}} Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' card game is built on this, with entire forums devoted to discussing the Metagame and things like that.

----

Game tournaments are now a SeriousBusiness, where a really good player might be able to make his living off his winnings. Some players even sign contracts with their teams, like professional athletes. Because of this, they occasionally get some flak from other fans who accuse them of being StopHavingFunGuys, specifically Tournament players of games like ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'', where all items are turned off, and several stages are banned. Consider however:
* This ''is'' SeriousBusiness, after all: who wants to lose the finals just because a bomb spawned on your face?
* The StopHavingFunGuys trope is actually about pushing tournament rules ''outside'' of tournaments.

Game play at the highest level. This is beyond the arcade, way beyond XBoxLive, way, way beyond just sitting on the couch with your buddies. This is the best players in the state/country/world getting together to slug it out, the winner is usually awarded prize money, from mere hundreds, to the hundreds of thousands. [[hottip:*:NASL Season 3 total winnings are a whopping 200K]]

* The {{Pokemon}} Company International has run the [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/World_Championships Pokémon World Championships]] since 2004, containing tournaments for both the [[TabletopGame/{{Pokemon}} TCG]] and video games. Much as you'd expect, players from Website/{{Smogon}} regularly dominate the elder divisions of the video game tournaments, having a particularly impressive showing in 2011.

* The {{Pokemon}} Company International has run the [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/World_Championships Pokémon World Championships]] since 2004, containing tournaments for both the [[TabletopGame/{{Pokemon}} TCG]] and video games. Much as you'd expect, gentlemen from Website/{{Smogon}} regularly dominate the elder divisions of the video game tournaments, having a particularly impressive showing in 2011.