Is that not a lovely web flyer? What’s that? Why yes, I am a graphic designer extraordinaire for C&I Studios 8)

Anyway, a week from today I’ll be hosting an event at Blincos Sports Bar off Glenwood Avenue called SCTuesdays. Or hopefully it will come to be called SCTuesdays, meaning that hopefully this will be the first event of many. Inspired by LAN centers and Barcraft, I thought, what if there was a place that the working man/SC2 player could go after hours to play Starcraft with other working men/SC2 players, get something to eat while they were at it, and not have to pay an admission fee? Sounds awesome right? Personally I’ve never really been into your typical LAN Center. Walking in to your local GameFrog, (or RUaGamer in Cary), to play video games with high school age kids can tend to make a grown man feel like somewhat of a pedophile, and nobody wants that. Then I thought about Barcraft and how awesome that seems to be. I wouldn’t know because there don’t seem to be many of them at all in the Triangle area. Besides, they only watch streams of games happening elsewhere at those and usually the biggest draw is the booze. Who knew… So that got me thinking about the idea of playing Starcraft and hanging out with people at a place like a bar that would have reliable, free wi-fi, good food, and space. I grabbed 2 of my friends who play SC2 and sought out such a place, a search that would lead to Blincos.

Long story short, we played SC2 right there at Blincos on our laptops and it was AMAZING. They set us up with our own private room, table, and waiter. We ate some delicious burgers and subs, which were deliciously priced just under the $10 mark, and then began laddering. I successfully coached one of my friends out of Bronze and into Silver that night, (did I mention that she’s a HALO player O_o). We had a blast. As the universe would have it, the management at Blincos were Starcraft fans from the days of the original. i barely got to get the word “Barcraft” out of my mouth before they had offered to hold a bi-weekly or weekly event like this where a group of people could come to the sports bar and play Starcraft 2. Mind. Blown. Needless to say this is an awesome opportunity, specifically for the Triangle NC area, because our Starcraft community here is so disconnected. We don’t have regular Barcrafts. We don’t have LANs. Sure UNC has an active college team , but what about the rest of us? What about the people who don’t have a community to play with? What about the casuals? What about the post grads? What about the working man? What about the working Wo-man?? SCTuesdays could very well be our answer.

So here’s the deal. If you know what Starcraft is then you should already be Baneling bursting with excitement and making plans to attend. If you play on your laptop like me, then bring it. If you’ve got a desktop, and you are comfortable bringing your setup then by all means, Bring It. The monitor too. I want nothing more than to have players in the same physical space playing the game of Starcraft and getting a sense of the community around this game. If you can’t make it out then log in online, join the “SCTuesdays” group, and play with us. Online forums and in-game chat are great but they lack a significant amount of personal substance when there’s no foundational face-to-face interaction underneath it. So if you can, come out. Play. Watch. Eat. Have fun. If it stays popular, maybe we’ll even stream some pro tourney matches and have a real Barcraft, but that can’t happen if no one comes.

Now if you don’t play Starcraft and think that this isn’t for you, allow me to reprogram you. Blincos is a SPORTS BAR. There’s plenty of things to do besides watch a bunch of nerds play computer games. The food is fantastic and inexpensive. They have 2 pool tables, some arcade games, about 40 flat screen TVs playing all kinds of sports, and oh yeah, a FULL SERVICE BAR! By all means, come and just experience what an awesome place Blincos is as a sports bar. Who knows, maybe you might even take up a small interest in Starcraft if you watch a game or two. I just want to get as many people there as I possibly can. You do not have to play Starcraft to come. First and foremost this event is about building a sense of community and connecting with people. If for no other reason, just come to hang out!

So details, incase you missed them in the web flyer:

SCTuesdays @Blincos | Every Tuesday 7:30-11pm

6711 Glenwood Ave. Raleigh, NC 27612

See you and your friend there 8)