Annual Tecmo Bowl & R.B.I. Baseball Nintendo tourney

[Omaha Cy]

5th annual event. Saturday May 2nd Omaha, NE @ DJs Dugout (Miracle Hills location 114th & Dodge).
Tecmo Bowl @ 12PM, RBI @ 6PM.

Our 2019 event attracted players from 7 states. CO, NE, KS, IA, IL, MO, AR. Expecting 2-3 more states to be represented this year. Each tourney opens with 3 games of group play. Those results are used to seed the bracket for the elimination rounds. Tecmo Bowl is single elimination, RBI become best of 3 in semi-finals & championship.

2-3 Consolation games are included for any participant eliminated in the early rounds. The tourney format has a lot to offer players of different skill levels. Typically participants will play their final 2-3 games against players with a similar skill set.

$20 per tourney, or enter both for $30. $10 off with military ID. Trophy for 1st place with payout to top 5. Small cash prizes to winner of 7th, 9th & 11th place game.

For all details see https://www.tecmobowlnes.com/

We provide over a dozen systems, TVs, cartridges, along with 40 controllers. This accommodates the number attendees in an effort that allows everyone to play simultaneously.

 

[Omaha Cy]

For reminders & updates mark yourself as going or interested on the event page.

 

[Omaha Cy]

The event will be streamed again online. Last year was just game footage with a cam set on the players. This year we'll have someone calling the action for both tournaments. Submit your resume if you want the gig.

See tweet below for a clip taken from a separate event, which had a couple players setting in for commentary.
Tecmo Bowl commentary actually works better with just 1 on the call considering the short amount of time between plays.

 

[Peter]

Techno bowl. The greatest video game ever made.

 

[Omaha Cy]

Techno bowl. The greatest video game ever made.

• Techno Bowl is a table top football board game.

• Tecmo Bowl is a football video game.

 

[Omaha Cy]

Coming up on 2 months out for this event. Time to start testing systems, TVs, and controllers soon.

With returning out of state competitors and players representing new states, we're up to 10...and one of our Canadian players near Toronto plans to return this year. Pic below illustrates states and years represented.



There's definitely a fraternity element to this tourney with so many returning competitors. My favorite thing is the rivalries that have emerged between people from different states. 2 guys from Ft Collins Co & Ft Dodge IA played in the RBI Baseball Final 4(best of 3) one year, then the next year played in group play with a high seed on the line. Later that night faced off again in the 5th place game. Colorado guys leads Iowa guy 3-2 head to head.

I lost an epic 18 inning group play game vs our Kansas player. Later that night beat him in the 5th place game. We met again the next year in group play...and later that night I was 1 out away from a final 4 match-up with him, but I gave up a 3 run bomb to get knocked out. I've had to play a guy from southern Nebraska every year he's attended in the elimination rounds of Tecmo Bowl. One of our Chicago players lost in the RBI final 4 in consecutive years to a local Omaha player. The tourney is set up for everyone to play 7 games against a variety of opponents. While its rare to rematch with anyone you faced in group play it can happen, and the top guys have routinely faced off in the round of 8 or deeper, or even in the 5th place game.

 

[tzjung]

Need this to be super tecmo bowl!! I'd crush!

 

[CtownCyclone]

Need this to be super tecmo bowl!! I'd crush!

 

[Omaha Cy]

Need this to be super tecmo bowl!! I'd crush!

There is an annual Des Moines TSB Tourney each fall. No date set yet for this year but here's the site. http://www.iowatecmo.com/

Tomczak Bowl 12 in Dubuque on March 21. Details here. https://tomczakbowl.com/

Lincoln NE has an annual TSB tourney as well. Unfortunately they were on hiatus this year but should be back on next January for their 10th or so year of hosting.

I've been to a couple TSB tourneys in Lincoln & one in Green Bay. I hardly ever play TSB. I don't know the player ratings, substitutions, deep strategies, or match-up details. Somehow I'm 6-6 in group play games, and 0-3 in elimination games.
Some of the mechanics and basic strategies of TB translate well enough, so I'm at least competent at TSB. I'll lose a close games and get annihilated a time or two vs a pro, but It's still fun to play.

 

[demoncore1031]

It's awesome that you are still doing this! You have a bunch of techno bowl and rbi tattoos, right?

 

[tzjung]

There are some teams that can cheat in TSB which makes them pretty impossible to beat.

• Randall cunningham in excellent is literally unstoppable with reggie white on defense to clean up.
• Of course you have Bo with the raiders.
• The 49ers with Rice and Montana can march down the field even with every play being "read". Then Ronnie lott on defense. This is my favorite team to be!
• Bills are also a blast with Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, andre reed, and Bruce Smith on D.

I'll have to look up this tourney in DSM!

 

[Omaha Cy]

There are some teams that can cheat in TSB which makes them pretty impossible to beat.

• Randall cunningham in excellent is literally unstoppable with reggie white on defense to clean up.
• Of course you have Bo with the raiders.
• The 49ers with Rice and Montana can march down the field even with every play being "read". Then Ronnie lott on defense. This is my favorite team to be!
• Bills are also a blast with Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, andre reed, and Bruce Smith on D.

I'll have to look up this tourney in DSM!

The tourneys typically have a pre game coin toss and the winner names the match up. Other person then has first choice of team. Creates fair match-ups. Many TSB tourneys prohibit placing a WR at RB and they also do not allow the NT dive. I've watched high level players in late rounds call out Philly vs LA. Those players have a incredibly strong defensive acumen and are not sweating the skill sets of Randall or Bo. They'll go out and play that match-up and the score only ends up in the teens.

Buffalo has a trash secondary. Great offense, but suspect D, and a lot of passes can be completed vs them. San Fran I understand is the absolute best team, but some of the pros probably have a really great counter team for them. I'm going to guess that the Giants or Oilers are the 2 best options.

 

[NorthCyd]

The tourneys typically have a pre game coin toss and the winner names the match up. Other person then has first choice of team. Creates fair match-ups. Many TSB tourneys prohibit placing a WR at RB and they also do not allow the NT dive. I've watched high level players in late rounds call out Philly vs LA. Those players have a incredibly strong defensive acumen and are not sweating the skill sets of Randall or Bo. They'll go out and play that match-up and the score only ends up in the teens.

Buffalo has a trash secondary. Great offense, but suspect D, and a lot of passes can be completed vs them. San Fran is what i have gathered the absolute best team, but some of the pros probably have a really great counter team for them. Im going to guess that its the Giants or Oilers that are the 2 best options.

The nose tackle dive. Hah! I remember I figured that out when I was a kid and pissed off my friends so much. There is nothing you can do because you can usually break up the play before the player animations are finished and the opposing player actually has control.

 

[Omaha Cy]

The nose tackle dive. Hah! I remember I figured that out when I was a kid and pissed off my friends so much. There is nothing you can do because you can usually break up the play before the player animations are finished and the opposing player actually has control.

There are many counters to the NT dive.
Shotgun plays for starters. QB running speed rating plays a role in escaping it when under center. QB Eagles/Testeverde off the top of my head are fast. When they dive and miss, you have options open downfield for big plays. Certain run plays have a pulling guard to block the NT or the pitch plays work to get the RB out on the perimeter. Theres also a QB run play right up the gut that effectively blocks the NT.

Most major tourneys outlaw the NT dive, but there certainly are tactics that would get your opponent to stop using it due to its ineffectiveness. One could run a series to tests with each play to to see which negate it best.

There are many technical aspects to the old NES sports games. Many years ago my wife helped me chart defensive CPU player reactions for every combination of calls between the offense and defense with original Tecmo Bowl. That identified how to invoke the best CPU player pass coverage help against every playbook. Getting CPU coverage help shrinks the area you need to cover defensively. It also limits big play ability in the passing game and forces them to execute pass plays repeatedly leading to INTs and punts.

 

[Omaha Cy]

Now up to 10 states and 1 province of Canada being represented this year. I wouldn't have imagined 4 years ago we could draw in people from so many different areas.

 

[JM4CY]

This is really cool

 

[Omaha Cy]

Starting to put some thought into the 2021 event. Unfortunately Covid is still something that needs to be dealt with in terms of planning, preparation, and location which offers some hurdles to put this event on.

2020 event occurred back in August. A very spacious empty office building fell into my lap. Provided us the opportunity to have only 2 competitors per room in the 4 large indoor areas that were available. Other played out in a big warehouse, with a couple TVs/Systems outside in tailgate tents.

Had good air exchange that day in doors. Event was private invite only, which kept attendance numbers low but still had most of the top competitors in attendance. 3 of the best Tecmo players in the US & 2 of the top RBI players were in attendance. There was still a very high level of competition typically seen in the late rounds, despite the small turnout.

Video below is a Tecmo Bowl final 4 dandy. Added 1980s CBS intro theme to it.
I need to put together an intro for the championship game before posting it. The championship was ultimately a bit less climactic than this Semi-final below, but still a rough battle for 4 quarters.



One of our competitors is a realtor. He's going to look into finding us a similar building for a weekend this spring/summer to pull this off.

2020 event only had players from 4 states. Covid caused a lot of people to drop out. I expect a little higher total this year, but can't realistically expect a full attended event until 2021.

 

[BCClone]

I could do Tecmo but not RBI. All I ever did with RBI was hit the ball and then run behind the catcher into the stand to “stomp on heads”. So if it wasn’t a HR I was likely getting out.