Once a month, Iowa gamers that specialize in the art of complicated combos and frame traps find themselves driving to a small tabletop gaming store named Battlezone Games. Cedar Rapids gamer Scott Jackson, handle "Xiang", runs a once-a-month series of tournaments at the Hiawatha shop, and eager gamers across the state meet up for the chance to see how they fare against their state-wide brothers and sisters. Dubuque's fighting game fanatics are no different, and so a trio of us made our usual monthly trek to the appropriately-named Battlezone in Cedar Rapids' suburb to play some games, see some old friends and, of course, throw down for a small amount of cash and a larger amount of bragging rights and pride in our one-on-one games of choice. This threesome, consisting of myself ("Hogosha"), long-time fellow gamer and rival Alex (handle "Keela"), and local old-school gamer James ("DTJB"), pulled up to the venue within 10 minutes of the tournament's beginning; after an incredibly small amount of practice matches, setup and socializing with fellow Iowans the opening rounds began.
