Everything to know about The Gimvitational

Calvin “GimR” Lofton’s upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate invitational is only one week away. The Gimvitational, in Laurel, Maryland, features 16 high-level Smash players from around the world, all competing for the top spot in the tournament.

Here’s everything viewers need to know about the spiritual successor to Smash 4 Boot Camp and potential rival to Beyond the Summit’s Smash Ultimate Summit series.

Players to watch

The Gimvitational will mark the first international tournament appearance of Japan’s best player; 15-year-old Steve main acola. Since making his offline debut in February, acola’s consistency has been unparalleled — he has never placed lower than second at an offline tournament. Additionally, he holds even or winning records against every person he has ever played.

It's official: flights for @acola_Lui & @asimo_ssbu have been booked! They will be competing in the US for the first time at the #Gimvitational!

At 3 PM ET today, the Top 2 players with the most votes will make it in!

Cast your votes ASAP at https://t.co/ibDSf3Hdw6 pic.twitter.com/aIfCDINVB9

— VGBC (@VGBootCamp) June 4, 2022

GimR’s tournament will give acola the first chance to test his mettle against some of North America’s best players, including Edgar “Sparg0” Valdez and Paris “Light” Ramirez. The current No. 1 player, Leonardo “MkLeo” López Pérez, won’t be in attendance, but this tournament could provide the first indications of if acola has the potential to be the best player in the world.

Brazilian Kazuya main Felipe “Ferps” Moura will also make his North American tournament debut at the Gimvitational. His online results up to this point have been promising, having beaten top North American players like Gabriel “Epic_Gabriel” Romero, Dylan “ApolloKage” J. and Juan “Skyjay” Pablo. At the Gimvitational, Ferps aims to show that his online skills can translate to upsets at an offline major.

The Gimvitational format and stream schedule

Alongside the main Singles bracket, there will be a number of side events at The Gimvitational. These include a Zoomers Vs. Boomers crew battle, pitting the eight youngest players against the eight oldest players, and a Chaos Tournament, where an additional rule will be introduced for every round of the bracket.

Other scheduled side brackets include rock paper scissors, Mario Strikers: Battle League and a quads tournament, putting two teams of four against each other at the same time. The tournament organizers have not yet announced the format for the Singles bracket.

The full tournament schedule has not been made available yet, but the event will run from June 16-19, and will be streamed in its entirety on the VGBootCamp Twitch channel.