FORT SMITH, Ark. — Contender eSports is a PC and console gaming center that opened just last month in Fort Smith. Contender focuses on all group games like Fortnite, Madden, and any other game considered an eSport by the state of Arkansas. Owner Shane Fisher said he wanted gamers in the community to be able to have a good place to hang out.
"The idea is to build a gaming community. You have a sports bar where people can watch football or basketball and get together. This is the same idea except for the gamer community," said Fisher.
On Sunday, the venue hosted a Smash Bros tournament put on by local gamer Job Hagler who wanted to bring people together to play the games he loves.
"A lot of people in the community just really like to play video games and video games bring people together socially if you don't have anything in common least you like playing a game together."
Gamers from the tournament believe eSports are just getting started and have a bright future ahead.
"Video games are really coming into the mainstream as a sport, though it might not be, you know, a game of the body as much as a game of the mind. It's still just as mental of a game as something like chess. I wouldn't be surprised, you know, many, many years down the line if we saw eSports at the Olympics or something like that." said tournament participant Mauricio Pernudi.
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The venue hosts eSports tournaments three to four times a week and is hoping to have tournaments like these every Sunday.
"What we're looking for is a way to partner with anybody that has a gaming desire. What I mean by that is that if you have a game that you're passionate about and you're wanting to build that community, we want you to reach out to us because we will build around you and your passion for that game." Fisher added.
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