Mike Schramm

Six hundred videogamers have gathered in the O'Hare Hyatt ballroom. Major League Gaming has been running tournaments around the country, and Chicago is the last stop before the big championship in New York in January.

Tonight is the "Last Chance Qualification" bracket, in which hopefuls from around the country, some veterans, some newcomers, compete for a chance to take on the pros. They're playing Halo 2 "Free-for-all," which means it's everyone for him- (or her-) self in the popular Xbox first-person-shooter. Eight people play at a time on tables of four consoles and four television screens, and matches go until one person gets fifty kills, with players respawning as they die around the virtual battlefields.

The players are all known by their gamertags. CaptAnarchy, Detach, Toxix and Ogre 2 (brother of gamer pro Ogre 1) are the names to beat, but a few local contenders are also in the mix. dewinthedew and MAFIAXIII are both kids from Chicago who've paid the fee and make their way onto the gaming floor to prove themselves. Even though they've been practicing every night or so for a few months, they both drop in the first round--when dewinthedew falls to the bottom four of the eight people playing in his first match, he stands up angrily, pulls his controller from the console, and walks away.

Though the average age is somewhere in the late teens, both sexes are represented. TankGirl9, a member of the huge gaming clan KSI, also drops in the first round, but isn't broken up about it--her father lives in Chicago, and so she's planning to use the rest of the trip home, paid for by KSI, to see him.

As the rounds go on, a few names start to float to the top. Poison is one--in real life, he's Gabriel De Leon, a quiet teen from New York, but in the tournament, he's known and feared, sniping opponents from across the map. Even more feared is his nephew, LiL Poison, who, at 7 years old, is already one of the best gamers in the world. "If he gets like fifteen kills, he's amazing," says one gamer, getting ready to watch LiL do his thing with a controller so big he can barely hold it in his hands. "He'll get like fifty," says another. "This kid is fucking bad as hell."

Sure enough, the 7-year-old rocks the game, targeting opponents even before they come into view, and nailing them from a distance with the accuracy of a surgeon. LiL Poison wins the match by nine frags, and goes on to place fourteenth in the tournament, nine steps ahead of his uncle.

(2006-01-03)

Also by Mike Schramm

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