ULX, the new official home of Grand Rapids Street Fighter, put on one Hell of a show for us today, folks. Friendly and helpful staff, excellent equipment, and actual couches instead of, you know, folding chairs, really made an impression on us. Free pizza didn’t hurt either. All future GRAPSF events (unless otherwise noted), will be located at ULX. They’re a great place of business and we want to patronize them as much as possible (even if the eyeliner and teenage angst quotient is higher than the legal limit. We can forgive).

Casual matches and coaching sessions went swimmingly, but the real event was the second GRAPSF community tournament. While the competition and friendly smack talk went a long way towards the tournament’s success, I think we can all agree that it was the enormous projection television (and accompanying 100 MegaShock sound system) that made it truly epic. My favorite match of the night was the grudge match between Slappy’s Cold, Inhuman Zangief and my peace loving and cuddly jungle dwelling Blanka which came right down to the last round of the last match and made the place go crazy. Cuban Ace made it out after a prolonged absence and brought a mean, mean Vega with him. HoldySnausages and Crip2nite made the rounds with their devastating shotos, and my young ward Singe came out to play for the first time since… Well, the first time. Fancy that.

SmurfTac0s took first place with his very lifelike Mike Tyson from Japan, having overcome The Artist Formerly Known As MegaTPlusStrength And Now Known As HotSauce (hereafter referred to as TAFKAMTPSANKAH) and his Godless and perverse Sagat. TAFKAMTPSNKAH has only recently switched over from padwarrior to arcade stick, and impressed everyone with his growing execution and ability. I myself took third, losing to TAFKAMTPSANKAH in a close and exciting match between his Godless and possibly fascist Sagat and my Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Blanka.

And now, some business. Meet ups are going to be weekly from here on out. Saturdays at ULX, starting at 2 PM and lasting until whenever. An all day pass is ten dollars, but if you can only make it for an hour or two, it’s two dollars an hour. I myself think that’s a steal, considering that you get to play on the BIG SCREEN, which if my calculations are correct, is only three inches smaller than God Himself.

To provide some incentive for showing up, the first GRAPSF Ranbat season will start this upcoming Saturday, and will take place every Saturday thereafter until the end of December. Check out the thread in the forums for more info, but the more events you attend, the more likely you are to win and score points. And the three overall winners at the end of the season have some excellent prizes coming their way, courtesy of Planet G-Boobie.

We will also be hosting  a monthly cash prize tournament with a ten dollar buy in. More info on that as it develops.

Thanks to everyone who showed up for a great time, and thanks again to ULX for making us feel so welcome. See everyone Saturday, and remember: bring your friends, bring your hype, and leave your eyeliner at home.