Casual players act hardcore, win loot
by Vladimir Cole 
{ Sep 11th 2006 at 1:01AM }
Something's perverse about the idea of a casual games tournament, but that's exactly what happened when 71 gamers who don't speak a word of l337 gathered to compete in Bejeweled 2, Solitaire and Zuma.
We're having trouble imagining a LAN party without overwhelming BO, shouts of "pwnt!" and at least one Y chromosome for every X, but that's what Fun Technologies claims happened this past weekend in Hollywood, CA.
To be serious for just a second: casual games tournaments are nothing new. Scrabble, Chess, Poker and Bridge tournies have been around for many years (in some cases, hundreds of 'em). This may well be the biggest prize awarded in a software-based casual game tournament, though.
Professional FPS players the world over can now rest easy. When ya'll are too old and slow for FPS competitions, you won't need to start endorsing Mueslix and Viagra. Instead, prolong your glory days on the casual gaming circuit.
[In the image: champion Kavitha Yalavarthi, with her winnings and her fiance.]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Psaakyrn @ Sep 11th 2006 1:06AM
And the 2 streams of gaming, divergent since D&D and Bingo, begins to converge.
Borat @ Sep 11th 2006 1:38AM
Holy crap $1m for casual games?
ShockWave @ Sep 11th 2006 1:34AM
That dude hit the jackpot with that indian girl , omg i would do her right there on top of that check.
wort wort wort @ Sep 11th 2006 1:34AM
What??? So this n00bie made more money than fatal1ty and all the other big name gamers out there?
Matt @ Sep 11th 2006 1:14PM
I am not sure what makes that guy luckier... his beautiful fiance, or his new-found fortune. Anyway, it is ironic how fricking chess pays out much more than any other gaming. =P
Psaakyrn @ Sep 11th 2006 1:53AM
You've not played Bingo or Poker, have you?
(though granted, Poker can also be considered hardcore depending on your point of view..)
Zack @ Sep 11th 2006 2:01AM
Chess is not casual.
Knoxximus @ Sep 11th 2006 2:18AM
That chick is HAWT!
the_pwnerer @ Sep 11th 2006 2:29AM
Ok, I hope for your own sake that you guys were being sarcastic when you said she was hot. LOL
Anyway, giving 1 million dollars to a casual gamer on a casual tournament is an insult to everyone's intelligence. Hell, just for that, I should get a billion dollars for simply being able to own those n00bs at everything.
TehDestroyer @ Sep 11th 2006 2:34AM
No that chick really is hawt. I would hit it over and over. I guess some people have different tastes in women. Anway Just because games are billed as casual does not mean they cannot have stratagies and such involved therin.
vrf @ Sep 11th 2006 2:36AM
What does a shouted "pwnt!" sound like?
IcebergSlim3000 @ Sep 11th 2006 2:42AM
OMG thats the finest indian chick I have ever seen. Screw the article I want to know more about her
arrakis @ Sep 11th 2006 3:17AM
I need to see more pictures to determine if she's hot[t]. Most of her body is covered by the check and her face is at an angle. We demand more pix.
Motoi @ Sep 11th 2006 3:02AM
Is this the first female you people have ever seen in your lives? All those polygonal Night Elves in WoW finally getting to your heads eh
peanutter @ Sep 11th 2006 3:02AM
Chess is casual gaming? I think that most true chess players would take offense at that. It took me 6 hours of playing CS for the first time at the largest lan party on te east coast to get in the championship team.... I'd like to see someone master chess in that amount of time.
Easy_G @ Sep 11th 2006 3:05AM
vrf:
pwn should be pronounced like "pown" or "pone so pwnt would be that with a t sound at the end. Basically Pownt/Ponet.
Petrie @ Sep 11th 2006 3:25AM
She can make that kind of money doing this because there's a way bigger market for casual games than for CS or Halo. The skill isn;t really what matters, it's the audience that gives this kind of influence. The same reason that Football players make more than Hockey players in the U.S.. the market for them is just way bigger.
Jecrell @ Sep 11th 2006 3:34AM
She looks like a serial killer.
Kaiser Soze @ Sep 11th 2006 3:36AM
Hey guys. Why dont you surf some porno on the internet, and then stop writing about your teen fantasies over that girl. There a forums for that kind, but this is not one of them.
devian @ Sep 11th 2006 4:28AM
So when's the Pong tournament? I heard the Senate is hyped about it.
Jim @ Sep 11th 2006 4:44AM
1m bucks? good for them!
/weeps...
limerick @ Sep 11th 2006 5:12AM
There is at least one X chromosome for every Y. XY, remember? ;)
HotShotX @ Sep 11th 2006 7:06AM
Hey, nothing says "pwnt!" like a large novelty check with 7 figures.
~HotShotX
BrandynQ @ Sep 11th 2006 9:57AM
Her fiance is making the Kevin Federline face.
Gabriel @ Sep 11th 2006 7:48AM
I think she's hot mainly because of that huge check in front of her...
1 million dollars just because she has a lot of free time and spend it all on yahoo games?
damn -_-
frickshun @ Sep 11th 2006 8:40AM
How the hell can you confirm a 'casual gamer' isn't a ringer??? I guess it's scout's honor when you enter. "Wha...me? I'm not a gamer. I mean my little brother plays games...". This reeks of that Johnny Knoxville Special Olympics movie.
Lone Starr @ Sep 11th 2006 8:43AM
Since when are chess and poker casual games?
vc @ Sep 11th 2006 8:38AM
Limerick, do I really need to explain that chromosome joke? I will, anyway: by writing that I'm implying that LAN parties are 100% male.
Z @ Sep 11th 2006 9:25AM
There's nothing casual about bridge, scrabble, or chess. Those players are more hardcore than video gamers. Have you ever seen someone who lives their life playing those game? Craziness.
Imadogg @ Sep 11th 2006 10:09AM
Damn, the money ain't bad, the chick ain't bad... too bad I suck at casual games!
"Limerick, do I really need to explain that chromosome joke? I will, anyway: by writing that I'm implying that LAN parties are 100% male."
HAHA
The Intangible Fact @ Sep 11th 2006 10:24AM
Lan parties are the best. Have a party with 8-10 people bring their computers, three 30 packs of beer, some game "enhancing stuff" and in the other room have music turned up with girls dancing and drinking. So when you die at Unreal you have to give up your seat and go drink and dance untill its your time to play again! Now thats a fun party!
Zsavior @ Sep 11th 2006 10:30AM
LOL Videogamers think gaming started with them, the day a videogamer wins 12million dollars in a world championship of video gaming then you can talk about hardcore. Till then you are just playing for bragging rights. You make strategies to win when your own money is on the line. The terms professional gamer is kind of a slap to the face of all the poker players, who ear millions more than any of the FPS pros. Has their even been a serious movie about pro videogaming, and if there was would you watch it?
Seriously console and PC videogamers are getting a little bit self-impressive, because the rest of the world doesn't see our past time as a sport. Movies about games I have enjoyed, Rounders, The color of Money, The Hustler, Maverick, and that is just to name a few. Notice how videogames didn't even make the category, nobody takes videogaming seriously outside of console and pc gamers, so stop looking down on the Yahoo games, because we are in the same boat. Wait matter of fact isn't Fataltiy's earnings only 500k life time, didn't she double his earnings like in one tournement? And we are talking about her being casual, what does it say about the videogaming pros? When it comes to gaming, videogames are on the bottom of the totem poll of hardcore that is just the way it is. You can hate the fact that when it comes to poker, blackjack, pool, chess and other games, we are just a new daffy kid on the block, but it is true.
A chess pro is considered to be a genius, with a complex intellect. A videogaming pro is considered to be a drunken momma's boy who has never been with a woman. A poker pro is feared for their cunning and savy, a videogame pro is feared to have horrible body oder and bad social skills. Yet we videogamers have the nerve to call other people who don't game like us "casual" or "noob" and look down on them yes yes, we are the elite! Yes we are the elite all you other gamers are...just making more money, and getting more women and acclaim, but I have awesome hand eye corrdination and my own L33T language Sk1LLz that you guys can't comprehend. So take your million dollars noob, I am no company drone, I am no cog in the machine of the man!
P.S. Damn I can't wait to get my new console! I gotta support the industry by adapting to what they want me to buy right away! Cause I am hardcore and PRO L337 that way.
razer @ Sep 11th 2006 11:55AM
All that time between Dell support call's gave her plenty of opportunity to practice her Bejeweled skills.. I dunno but 1m for a games tourney seems crazy..
chuckles @ Sep 11th 2006 2:37PM
bah, no one says pwnt at a LAN party anymore. Never know what a LAN party truely is until you have LANed with 2000+ other people (there are no extra zeros there).
J Empire @ Sep 11th 2006 6:35PM
This tournament was sponsored by SkillJam, a cash-games site. I guarantee that the players put up the $1m and more besides, like a poker tournament.
If CS players would put up their own cash they'd have million-dollar tournaments too.
Casual Gamer @ Sep 11th 2006 1:28PM
As for someone who was there - the tournament was amazing.
The skill required was nuts.
When they went in to the bracketed rounds, the 1,2,3 seeds made it all the way to the "final table"! That's better than the NCAA tournament in terms of seeds to results. To win the thing the finalists played from 9am in the morning to 10pm at night - a 13 hour game day.
So - the guy who just said he'd 'skool' the finalist girls - yeah - good luck with that.
All Your Lost Socks @ Sep 11th 2006 1:42PM
Zsavior: What about Grandma's Boy? (lol, just kidding...) Anyway, did all you guys not see the word FIANCE in that article? Yeesh. Though she is gorgeous.
SunshineMom @ Sep 11th 2006 2:05PM
OK, so, did he propose before the tourniment or after?
goingto_thepolls @ Sep 11th 2006 4:22PM
If you look like you don't have a brain then you must be a CASUAL GAMER!
ShaolinDolemite @ Sep 11th 2006 5:41PM
"OMG thats the finest indian chick I have ever seen."
Then I take it you haven't seen Aishwarya Rai.
http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2004/12/29/image663855x.jpg
Back on point; that's a lot of bread for Zuma.
Abuzar @ Sep 12th 2006 10:19AM
If you think thats the hottest indian chick you have ever seen then you havent seen a lot of indian chicks.
Aishwarya Rai
Priety Zinta
Kreena Kapoor
and especially Neha Dhupia
Skilljam GRRL @ Sep 13th 2006 12:19AM
From another gamer who was there. "Casual" game refers to the rules, not the intensity. It means a game that you can learn in just a few minutes (moments to learn, a lifetime to master as the saying goes.) I made it to the finals and I can tell you the competition was STIFF! Those girls who won are like cyborgs and they deserve it - it was awesome to watch!
Red @ Sep 13th 2006 7:56AM
That's not a million dollars. That's a million rupees.
At the latest conversion rate of 1 INR to 0.0216123 USD, that is about $21,162. Still not bad.
Disturbed Person @ Sep 13th 2006 5:43PM
https://webspace.utexas.edu/shahvr1/engagement%20moon%20revised%20145.jpg?uniq=24d2s5
https://webspace.utexas.edu/shahvr1/worldwidewebgames%20083.jpg?uniq=24d2rl
Hmmmm...
Vlad @ Sep 14th 2006 1:00AM
Dear Red (which is probably short for redNECK),
The tourney was in LA you idiot. That's a million USD that she won as a native-born Texan, not a million rupees. You must really need to believe that to feel better about yourself hehe.
mike shepherd @ Sep 15th 2006 6:19AM
* "Casual games" is just a marketing slogan to make people realise that anyone can do it and you don't have 2b a professional.
* Yes, it was a pay to enter tournament. Each qualifier had to win a preliminary round which raised around $4000 for the sponsors (they were hoping to cover costs but fell way short this time, though the TV revenue (being screened on GSN Dec 3rd) will probably more than make up, along with the new recruits it brings).
* "An insult to intelligence"? Why is winning at a games of almost pure skill an insult to intelligence? Is Tiger Woods an insult to intelligence? Is Pete Sampras? What about Tyson?They all win by skill and co-ordination with only some basic intelligence needed.
Yes, I was there, by the way, and I say a huge congratulations to Kavitha whom no-one in their right mind could consider "casual" as a gamer. I've met a few, and she and Amy (placed 2nd by the narrowest of narrow margins - just ONE CLICK of a mouse) were noticably ahead of the rest of us from early stages. A couple of challengers took a game off them but they prevailed in the "best of 3" knockout stage right to the end. These folks are the best of the best in their field (albeit one that some would consider facile) and deserve all the credit and rewards that go with it.
On a final note, Kavitha comes across as a quiet and unassuming type, personally I go for an outgoing personality when looking for "hot" ;-)