There's a World Championship for 'Big Buck HD,' and It's Full of Drunken Glory

Sarah SpainOctober 24, 2015

If you've been to a bar lately, you've probably stumbled across a Big Buck HD cabinet. While arcades are a dying institution, coin-operated machines still make a killing in places like bowling alleys, movies, and especially bars. Games like Golden Tee Golf and Big Buck HD have become mainstays of local watering holes, to the point where competitive scenes have arisen around them.

There is such a big scene around a game involving shooting onscreen animals, in fact, that there was a Big Buck HD World Championships event streamed live from Chicago's Hard Rock Cafe this weekend on Twitch. While the event has ended, videos from the stream are still in Twitch's video archive.

It's a raucous affair, with drinking games happening in the background, a big party atmosphere, and hosts that are seemingly inebriated at points. It's also utterly fascinating to watch: In an environment where esports are becoming classier and more professional-looking to appeal to wider audiences, the Big Buck World Championships embraces its bar-amusement background to the very end.

This isn't a new thing, either: Big Buck Championships have been running since at least 2008. Here's a video of highlights from the 2014 event in Minneapolis:

The finals actually consist of two divisions: the Ladies' Tourney and the World Championships. The Ladies' Tourney, as you might surmise, is a women-only affair, but the World Championships is 100 percent co-ed (and, if you're a woman, you can actually enter both). This year's results actually cemented some genuine Big Buck competitive dynasties, starting with the Ladies' Tourney, which was won by Sara Erlandson, owner of Clyde's Corner Bar and Grill in Beldenville, Wisconsin.

It's OFFICIAL Big Buck HDOctober 24, 2015

This was Sara's fourth win, and she doesn't look like she plans to stop anytime soon. Her prize was a sizable $5,000 check… and a literal pair of jugs representing the Ladies' Tourney trophy.

The World Championships trophy was claimed by Trevor Gartner, who took home the trophy and $15,000 in prize money by dethroning last year's champion, Derek "Skippy" Tower. He was also 2013's winner, making him the first two-time top placer in the history of the event. With the 2013 and 2014 champs going head-to-head—and Tower barely edging out Mike Byrne in the preceding round in the Loser's Bracket—excitement at the venue was at a fever pitch.

While it might not be the classiest or most lavishly produced event, there's an intriguing charm to the Big Buck HD World Championships: At a moment when eSports are becoming a big deal, it represents a scene that lies far outside the domains of what we usually recognize as competitive gaming. It's worth watching for that reason alone.