Some kids play sports or attend club meetings after school, but a handful of parents in search of an outlet for their own video game-savvy children have come up with a form of entertainment they believe is social, intellectually challenging and downright fun.
Super League Gaming touts itself as the world’s first interactive video game league, bringing gamers of varying ages into a contest that allows them to play Minecraft alongside peers and on the big screen of movie theaters in more than 80 U.S. cities.
The league is coming to Goleta’s Camino Real Cinemas this month, offering a four-week season during which locals between the ages of 6 and 14 will compete with thousands of gamers nationwide for a Super League championship trophy and $15,000 team scholarship.
“It’s obviously totally new to the area,” said Brett Morris, Super League Gaming president and COO who, in 2014, helped create the league in Santa Monica. “The concept of gaming in the movie theater is new as well.”
Up to 100 youths can participate each week in the 90-minute, space-themed Minecraft experience called Galactic Mission — Super League Gaming’s own game that tests players’ creativity and teamwork.
Morris said players work on laptops to build amazing structures or earn points by completing tasks, with scores tracked on the movie screen leader board where family and friends can also watch what’s going on.
There are a limited number of loaner laptops, but Morris encouraged kids to bring their own for league play, which begins at 4:30 p.m. Feb. 17 and runs through March 9 at the Camino Real Marketplace theater complex.
Douglas Trowbridge, a 7-year-old Goleta resident, used one of the loaners when he attended a Super Gaming League pre-launch party in January.
His mother, Elisa, heard about the league on the radio and saw an opportunity for her son to socialize while playing a video game like Minecraft — which is not too gory.
“It’s one of the games we don’t mind him playing because there’s critical thinking,” she said. “It was a great experience for him.”
Douglas, who’s used to playing Minecraft on Xbox, said he hopes to convince some friends to join the league, too.
“You get to move around, build worlds,” he said. “It was really fun, and it was exciting when you actually go and play.”
Metropolitan Theatres, which owns eight movie theaters in Goleta and Santa Barbara, saw the partnership as a way to grow its revenues and to diversify its audience, said Dale Davison, the company’s senior vice president of operations and development.
“If you’re in our business, you’re really paying attention to what’s going in the industry,” he said. “I would encourage parents who have kids at home playing these games … to give them an even better time.”
Super League Gaming hopes to create more contests with different games and older age groups in the future, which Davison hopes to also host locally.
Tickets to participate in the league are $60 for the full four weeks and can be purchased online or up until the day of competition, since kids are required to be involved all four weeks.
— Noozhawk staff writer Gina Potthoff can be reached at gpotthoff@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.