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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter
After a long school week, Saturday is the perfect day for students to unwind and decompress. For one particular group of students, that means participating in a Super Smash Bros. tournament at the Medfield Public Library for the chance to win a $25 gift card.
While the library isn’t thought to be the first place to host a video game tournament, it has become a place for many middle and high school student to hang out.
“We don’t have any other place we can really do it,” said Ben Puntonio, who organized the tournament with Teen Librarian Erica Cote. “Most of the things in this town are either pizza shops or grocery stores. We don’t really have any community spaces besides the library.”
On January 27, the teens spent the afternoon battling on the Wii U and playing the best two out of three games against those of similar skill. However, even those who spent fewer hours practicing had the opportunity to play multiple games as Ben organized a winners and losers bracket.
Before beginning the tournament, though, the participants played a few warm up games, which they jokingly called “hand-warmer games.” As some of the participants had only played at friends’ houses before, it also gave them a chance to better learn the controls.
The library began hosting video game tournaments last month after several teens approached Erica with the idea. As long as the teens are still interested in participating, they’ll be organizing one every month with free snacks (and occasionally pizza) and a gift card prize.
“I love when teens continue to present ideas for their own programming. I encourage them to,” Erica said. “We’re really trying to be that community hangout spot for them.”
The teen area currently has a couple of sofas and a TV set up, and the young adult books wrap around the perimeter of the basement. Since it’s not the ideal setup, the library is planning to remodel the teen space, where Erica hopes to give them a more defined and comfortable area conducive to studying and relaxing with friends.
While great things are certainly in store for Medfield’s teens in the new year, the monthly video game tournament has proved to already be one of them.
