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By Robby McKittrick
Hometown Weekly Reporter
On Saturday, October 20, Medfield High Schoolers showed up to the Medfield Library to compete in a Super Smash Brothers tournament.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” said 15-year-old player Peter Travis. Travis is a sophomore at Medfield High School and has participated in the tournament since he was a freshman.
“[Ben] murders me on a regular basis,” he said. “He’s very, very good.”
16-year-old Ben Puntonio organizes the tournament for the library every month.
“[The games] are competitive,” Puntonio said. “[There are tight games] for everyone who comes.”
Puntionio has played Super Smash Brothers for around eight years, and he enjoys the community built around the game.
“There is a large community for it,” he explained. “They have tournaments that get thousands of people to come from across the world. It’s a really nice community that I am a part of.”
Two high school kids play against each other during a Super Smash Brothers tournament at the Medfield Library.
Although only four kids showed up to the tournament, there are instances when around 16 kids will show up to play. The tournament is a double-elimination bracket style, and it typically occurs once a month at the library.
“It depends on how often the teens want to do it,” explained Teen Librarian Erica Cote. “[The tournament] started with another kid … who came to me and asked me if he could [host a Super Smash Brothers tournament] here, and I said ‘sure,’ because when the teens do their own programming, its great … He and Ben started organizing it … [and] Ben was interested in continuing it.”
Puntonio creates a Google Docs sheet for people to sign up before every session. The winner receives a $15 to $20 gift card.
Cote explained that the age of the kids who participate ranges from younger kids to high school teenagers.
“We have had younger kids in elementary school [enjoy it],” she said. “We have had middle school and high school [kids, as well], so it seems like it covers a wide range [of age groups] … I am more than happy to reserve the room, and [Ben] does most of the work.”
Cote explained how the Medfield Library has evolved over the last few years.
“We have become more of a community space than just [a place] for research and books,” she said. “I just do whatever [the kids] are interested in. [This] is community building. They are hanging out together. They are doing something that is not delinquent, and it [involves] a lot of problem-solving skills. It just promotes a lot of different things.”
