If you’re a veteran of Splatoon on the Wii U, your moment of glory may finally be at hand.
Nintendo has announced their new competitive open Splatoon tournament, the Splatoon U.S. Inkling Open Tournament. Players who compete in the tournament will be in the running for the coveted grand prize, a free trip for the winning team to attend E3 in Los Angeles this June.
The tournament will be hosted by Battlefy, with registration open to all people living in the United States aged 18 and up, provided they have a Wii U console, a copy of Splatoon, and internet access. It will be a 4v4 format, with each team allowed to enroll one extra backup player for a max team size of five players. Games in the tournament will be played across multiple different multiplayer modes, including Turf War, Splat Zones, Tower Control and Rainmaker.
The qualifiers for the tournament begin on April 22nd at 11am PDT, as a single-elimination bracket of Bo5 matches in Turf War. Once narrowed down to 16 teams, the rounds will cycle through game modes in the order of Turf War > Splat Zones > Tower Control > Rainmaker.
As previously stated, each member of the first place team will win a free trip to E3 this summer, including travel, lodging, and an E3 pass. In addition, each grand winner will win a Nintendo Switch console, a copy of Splatoon 2, and some Splatoon branded clothing and figures. 2nd and 3rd place team members will not get to go to E3 but will still win the copy of Splatoon 2 and the swag.
For more information on tournament rules, schedules, and registration, head to battlefy.com/splatoon.