AEX stands for Atlantic Extravaganza and is a competitive Super Smash Bros tournament in South East Pennsylvania. The eleventh event was held on July 9th, 2016 with tournaments in the following brackets: Melee, Project Melee, and Smash 4 - each game has a singles and doubles bracket each with double elimination.
How It All Began
It began one night with an idea and a phone call; Ben called Cody with an urgent tone to come over. The idea -- a Smash Tournament, right there, in Ben's garage. This dream became a reality in the winter of 2013. This event had 23 attendees.
"Looking back, it's pretty crazy to think that people came from far away to this rinky-dink tournament," says Cody, the tech guy.
As The Years Go On
As each event went by, attendance increased, streaming quality imporved, and venue changed multiple times -- from a garage, to a church basement, to a hotel, and then since then, a church gym. AEX2 brought a new venue while AEX3 began the venue fees to help pay for new venues and also started AEX's continued donation to charity. The donations began because one of the member's mom had been diagnosed with Leukemia the day before the tournament. AEX4 was the start of the current venue and food was brought in. AEX7 brought a crowd of over 100.
The Breakthrough
AEX10 was extremely successful with a turn out close to 200 and well-known, successful gamers that are ranked in the top 100 of smashers in the world. AEX10 happened in January 2016 and at this point they had raised close to 1,000 dollars towards charity.
Every tournament is streamed live by the AEX team on twitch. These streams can be watched by anyone who would like to watch them.
The AEX team also sponsored a player from Canada to come to AEX10. This was a big deal for the attendees.
Today's Tournament
AEX11 happened on July 9th, 2016. There were 147 in attendance and 1,000 dollars in pot bonuses for the top ranked players in each bracket. Here is what the attendees have to say:
"It is a day when my friends and the smash community can come together over a video game," Steve "LeX" of the AEX staff.
"It's a fun day when the community comes together and has fun," Sam, of AEX staff.
"Even though it's in the middle of nowhere, it's in a great venue, great people, great setups, AEX provides food, and it is great. The Pot bonus is an incentive to get people like me to travel as far as we do for the tournament and tell others about it," DJ Nintendo and The Moon from New York - first place in Melee Doubles.
"We had a much bigger turnout than we originally expected, which is great for the future of AEX. We are getting good pictures and good video. It's such a nice day, minus the heat, and I am glad it worked out," Blake of AEX staff.
"AEX is a really fun event, lots of casual set ups," Jonny Gamble an attendee in the Melee Singles and Doubles Tournament.
"The new addition of the tickets for pizza was a good idea," UltimaScout and Archille, two competitors from today's tournament.
"This is definitely my favorite tournament to come out to, there is always plenty of available outlets, food, and drinks. The area is great. There are tons of setups, some tournaments have too little setups, and there is a surplus here. You meet great people. The staff knows what they are doing and there are plenty of them around. AEX special is something that is really enjoyable but really surprising. Being able to see the brackets on the monitors is one thing I love about these tournaments," Bobby D. "Metal Reaper", won AEX1.
"It was a great event. Yeah, there were definitely some kinks, but I got some good games in. Everyone was nice for the most part, and it was a good event," Emily "EnGarde", a competitor in today's event.
"I think it's great that AEX gets so many people out in the middle of nowhere. It always surprises me with the turnout for these events." Plank, is well-known in the regional Smash community.
"This is a really fun event," Professor Peen, a competitor in today's event.
"It was great, the turnout was great, I love how enthusiastic people get about the game and the event," George "Empale", a Tournament Operator for a tournament in Shippensburg.
Results
Melee Singles
1st Place - DJ Nintendo
2nd Place - The Moon
3rd Place - Jflex
4th Place - Captain Smuckers
5th Place - Plank
5th Place - Stango
Melee Doubles
1st Place - DJ Nintendo/The Moon
2nd Place - Griffith/Captain Smuckers
3rd Place - Jflex/CIZ
Smash 4 Singles
1st Place - C3P0
2nd Place - Uno
3rd Place - burghelin
4th Place - Codeman
5th Place - Four Leaf
5th Place - King Kupo
Smash 4 Doubles
1st Place - C3PO/Uno
2nd Place - Sandstorm/LOZO
3rd Place - GaMaRAY/HaremKing
Project M Singles
1st Place - Plank
2nd Place - DJ Nintendo
3rd Place - The Moon
Project M Doubles
1st Place - DJ Nintendo/The Moon
2nd Place - Jflex/Stango
We saw quite a few upsets throughout the day, but in the end, the ranks were pretty much predicted from the beginning.
"AEX is a life changer," Ben Tobias, founder of AEX.
