Our first tournament of the year was full of the unexpected. It was exciting, well attended, competitive, and definitely not the smoothest tournament we’ve ever run. Yesterday started off with unexpectedly good turnout for singles. We’re generally happy with 10-12 people, thrilled with 16, and a bit concerned if we get more than that because a 17+ player singles tournament on four tables can run slowly and be a bad experience for players.
We had 25 people. Six pros turned out, plus four brand new players from as far away as Dubai! We switched the match format from best ⅔ to race to 10, and thought that would be enough to keep the tournament on schedule but it didn’t quite work out. Our normally reliable netfoos software had problems, so we ran the event on kickertool. It turns out Kickertool doesn’t seed tournaments properly, so we ended up using paper charts to fix that. Not long after we got the tournament started there was an unexpected rain storm and roof leak that required an emergency table move. And to top it off, after the winners bracket finals one of the players had heart palpitations and needed to take a break. (He’s fine now.)
Someone started honking and setting off fireworks in a nearby parking lot. That didn’t mess with the tournament, but it definitely fit the vibe.
Even with all of that, the tournament was a success. One of the things I love about our players is how they take a little bit of foosball chaos in stride. Players were moving tables, making sure matches got started on time, and used the long breaks between playing to snack, socialize and catch up. They took a difficult situation and made it a good time.
Singles results are posted on the Bayfoos Kickertool page. Congratulations to our winners:
1st: James Castillo
2nd: Jake Barnett
3rd: Sergie Aragones
4th: Collen Cole
5th/6th: Greg Mendel
5th/6th: Nick Furci
Doubles got started about 7, only an hour delayed, but ran slowly because we were trying to wrap up the singles finals at the same time. Competition was tough, 12 teams total, with five having pro forwards who were fighting for the win. The tournament moved pretty quickly after singles wrapped up. We normally like to finish before midnight on Saturdays, but the finals wrapped up about 1 am. Finals came down to Mo and Simeon vs Greg and Charlie, with an excited audience eager to see who could bring their best game to the table after a long day of foosball. Full results are posted to netfoos. Congrats to our winners:
1st: Mo Uddin and Simeon Yep
2nd: Zeke Cervantes (of Unreal Foos fame) and Nick Furci
3rd: Greg Mendel and Charlie Baumert
4th: Gemma Mio and Jim Mackraz
Top draw team: Phil Schlaefer and Rodrigo Zamudio, taking 5th/6th.
