Fastest Thumbs in the West

A couple weeks ago while driving in Grand Junction we saw a sign for "The Fastest Thumbs in the West" video game tournament. The boys' ears instantly perked up, and tongues started panting. Maybe their ears didn't actually perk.... but they were panting. I wish I were kidding. Anyway, the game for the tournament was Halo 2, so we bought a used collectors edition copy of the game, and a huge strategy guide book. The boys were so excited to get home and start playing that we didn't even see the movie that we came all the way to town for, only to get home and discover they only have the special effects/bonus DVD and not the actual game.

We do the eighty mile round trip a few days later to get the game, and for our trouble they repair a couple of scratched Xbox games. After getting home, none of the games work. Another eighty mile round trip another few days later, they give us a new Halo 2 game, and clean the Xbox. Normally I would be really annoyed with these unnecessary trips but the guys that work at the Gamerz Planet in Grand Junction are the most professional and customer pleasing bunch of guys that we've come across in gaming stores...I just couldn't be mad at them.

After a week, and only six days until the tournament, they finally get to play and learn Halo 2, besides just reading about it in their book.

We get to the tournament and see all these big guys, and right away Jonas backs out. Jacob's unphased, and even ends up playing in the very first round.

The guy on the right won that round, and eventually the whole tournament, but Jacob did a fantastic job holding his own. He went on to take first in his next round, to getting knocked out by the top three finishers of the day, in the third round. The guys running the contest recognized Jake's talent and told us they wanted to give him some kind of award. (They didn't even know that he'd only been playing a week, and never online.)

After the tournament was over the organizers gave a special speech and announced The Sportman's Award for Jacob, for being such a good competitor and actually winning a round against guys two and three times his age, and size. Then he got to pick any used game he wanted in the store. He got Pokemon Fire Red for the DS (to replace the one stolen from him two years by a kid in a campground in Michigan.

It was a long day, longer than we planned, but it was so much fun. The turn out was great, they fed us pizza and pop, and Jacob(with Joey) got interviewed by the local paper:

Best of all: Jacob has found his sport.

The next competition is in three weeks, it's a newish game, Super Smash Bros Brawl, which we've had for a while now, so it should be an even playing field next time. Go Jacob!

Link to article added: Video Games aren't just for Kids