Tucked away in the industrial area of northwest Long Beach lies Thunder Gaming, a 16,000-square-foot esports center that’s becoming the epicenter for competitive gaming in the area.

Beachcon, a Cal State Long Beach-based gaming exhibition that showcases the best Long Beach has to offer in the world of competitive gaming, began hosting their conventions at the studio in 2018, after outgrowing their previous facility at The Pointe, inside CSULB’s Walter Pyramid. The studio also hosts weekly, monthly and quarterly live events across multiple game titles, including Super Smash Bros. every Tuesday.

This weekly gaming competition, dubbed Thunder Smash Tuesdays, invites single-player entrants to duke it out (virtually of course) for a cash prize in a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate video game tournament.

If you think you have what it takes to crush the competition, you can enter the tournament for $15—$10 for the venue, $5 for a single-player entry ticket. Although it’s subject to change, they usually award the top three finalists with a cash prize. And because Tuesdays really wouldn’t be the same without tacos, on-site, $5 will get you three tacos and a beverage.

Doors open and free play commences at 6 p.m., but if you arrive an hour before, you’ll be privy to a Smash Bros. lesson from prominent Thunder Gaming sponsored gamers, K9sbruce and Tyrant. K9sbruce, referred to as “K9,” is a gamer from Arizona who currently ranks #11 in the SoCal Ultimate Power Rankings.

Tyrant, based in Southern California, is one of the best Super Smash Bros. Brawl players in the United States, having placed second in the Major League Gaming Dallas 2010 championships and currently ranks first on the SoCal Brawl Power Rankings.

Thunder Studio’s state-of-the art gaming arena is set up with a stage and viewing area for big matches, replete with dozens of console sections, souped-up with fiber internet and high-quality broadcast capabilities for streaming. Every game is streamed on Thunder Studio’s Twitch account, which, at its peak, was the number one channel on Twitch for 3 hours with 658,000 total live views and 15.7 million minutes viewed.

Thunder Smash Tuesday is from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m at Thunder Studios located at 20434 S. Santa Fe Ave. The lesson with K9sbruce and Tyrant starts at 5 p.m., doors open at 6 p.m. Registration to play starts at 7 p.m. with the competition commencing at 8 p.m. Pre-registration is recommended, which you can do here. For more information check out their Facebook event page, here.