Competitive play.

     Each game has tournaments in which players from all around attend to compete for cash prizes. The rules vary between each game since, even though they have the same mechanics, they have different phsyics, stages, characters, and other variables. There are universal rules for each game though, such as all items are turned off, and a timer must be put on to avoid infinite play.
    Since I play Super Smash Brothers Brawl competitively, I will focus on that. Every tournament has at least two events, singles and doubles. singles is where you are put in a bracket and faced against an opponent in a double emilmination style. double elimination means that even if you lose to your opponent, you still have a chance to do well in the losers bracket. doubles is where you team up with a partner and fight in 2v2 battles in the same double elimination style used in singles. although the rules for singles and doubles are exactly the same, both require different strategies.
     Many people compete in these tournaments from all around the country. Tournaments are usually held every week in populated areas, and every few months, nationals are held in order to bring in more people from around the country. One of the best nationals I went to was called Apex 2010, and it would feature not only the top players from the country, but for the first time the Japanese came to compete. This was very exciting and one of there players, Brood, ended up winning the tournament. Here I have the last match of the tournament. Mew2king is widely considered the best player in the united states, so to have one of japans best and our best compete was very exciting.