« On the Scene: Get Roasted at Dragon Lounge »

Dragon Lounge: 24th & TaravalSince I moved out to California some five or so years ago, there is one thing that always boggled my mind: why does San Francisco, a major metropolitan city of over 800,000 people, have no real fighting game scene? Sure, around the Bay Area there are plenty such as Starbase Arcade in San Rafael and Keystone II down in San Jose, but in the city proper there is very little going on. 

Until now. Enter the Dragon Lounge -- that is, as long as you're over 21!

Over the past few months now, we've been holding what I've so creatively dubbed "Marvel Mondays" at the Dragon Lounge. It's a small bar located in the Central Sunset district of San Francisco where, for whatever reason, they are totally cool with us bringing systems and monitors to play MVC3 all night until last call. It's probably because we all buy drinks there and give them business they wouldn't have had otherwise, but generally when you step into a bar, dudes sitting around playing fighting games is the last thing you would expect see.

This is echoed by the regular patrons, many who I'm sure have made this their haunts (har har) for many years now.  Each week, without fail, someone will come up to us and ask "they let you play that here?" or "damn, this is pretty cool. Never expected to see something like this here." Though I'm sure for every person that is intrigued by what we're doing, there is at least one other in the back that is mumbling something like "Man, what are these nerds doing here!?"

MVC3 on the big screen. It's the first thing people see when they walk in, or as they pass by on Taraval.A_Rival is the mastermind behind this project, who originally reached out to the owner to see if this was possible. When they first gave us the green light, it was just a handful of us, but now it's grown just enough where it's a lot of good company but we still don't have to wait too long to play another match. Hopefully we can keep it at this level of attendance, but I have a feeling after this post next week might be a little more packed.

A lot of who shows up are the usual suspects, though over the past week a few people from the Capcom marketing team have rolled through to test their might. Generally when it comes to industry peeps they are pretty free, but these guys are no joke. I've gotten blown up by X-23 numerous times, and just last night had the most epic X-Factor Sentinel mirror I've ever experienced since the game dropped. Props to these guys for coming out (names withheld so they don't get exposed at the office for their Tuesday hangover) and maybe they'll drag Seth out one of these days. 

Anyway, a lot of us are now at a age where, you know, we love arcades and tournaments and all that, but in many cases you just want to go grab a beer and kick it without the hassle of being called for a match, or being crammed in a room with people a good 10 years younger than you. 

For me, it's great. Since I'm working on the site 24/7 and typically when I go to an event it feels more like work than play, considering I have to set up the stream and all this other stuff. At Dragon Lounge, there is none of that. I'm free to play whenever I want, get salty as hell when I lose and not have to worry about pushing the stream through social networks or updating the site -- at least for a few hours.

It's been a nice experience for everyone though, as many of us lost touch over the years when we first met at SFSU (Stay Free State University) playing the original Street Fighter 4 on arcade, or even before that, playing in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike tournaments and what not.  It's always cool to see people still playing and staying competitive in each new game, even after all these years.

Haunts, why so serious?Staying competitive and staying hungry go hand in hand of course, though in this case I'm not talking about hunger for the next match. Monday is the night I skip making dinner at the house, and hold out for one of the Chicken, Cheese, Spinach & Mushroom crepes at the small restaurant next door. These suckers are real tasty and are a great way to start the night -- with a Stella or New Castle in hand of course. They even deliver right to the bar itself! Sick! I mean, delicious! Err, nevermind.

So yeah, this is probably the part where I should go on some diatribe about building a scene and all that bullshit but I'm busy nursing a hangover so that will have to wait. Instead, follow me on twitter (@haunts) if you live in the area and I'll keep you up to date on when the next roasting is going down.