Gamers & Sports Fans Might Have To Duke It Out For TV Time In Bars

Good news for those of you who like watching other people play games better than you ever could: Beyond watching sports on TV in bars, the new trend of watching pros play video games is now catching on in bars around the world.

The video game Starcraft II is known as an “e-sport,” with popular pro players competing for cash prizes, announcers commenting with a play-by-play, and dedicated fans organizing what is known as Barcrafts to get together and watch, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Already popular around the world, and especially in Korea, Internet users log on watch live streams on sites like Twitch.tv, now many bar owners in the U.S. are catching on to the idea.

Seattle Bar Chao Bistro is hailed by Barcraft attendees as the first to host an event this year. A fan of Starcraft and regular at Chao Bistro urged its owner to advertise a match event. Since he saw patrons ignoring baseball games on his TVs, he went ahead and put out the word. Two days later, 150 people showed up and the bar now has twice-a-week events.

We imagine this might result in a few heated exchanges when football season starts.

Geeks Beat Jocks as Bar Fight Breaks Out Over Control of the TV [Wall Street Journal]

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