Lubbock, Texas · Hub City · Running brackets since 2019
West Texas Fighting Game Community
Free fighting game nights in Lubbock, open to anyone. Showdown brackets every Wednesday, The Crow's Nest casuals every other Sunday.
Every Wednesday · every other Sunday · both free
The regulars
Wednesday is Showdown brackets. Every other Sunday is Crow’s Nest casuals. No experience needed, nothing to pay.
Showdown bonus game
Get involved
Never miss a night
Get a reminder the day of, put both regular nights on your calendar, or join the Discord where brackets get posted and rides get arranged.
Event reminders
Pick the events you want a heads-up for. Showdown reminders go out Wednesday afternoon with that night's bonus game and the start.gg link; Crow's Nest reminders go out on the morning of each confirmed Crow's Nest Sunday (it runs every other week). Nothing is sent during the Showdown break.
How reminders work
Email or a browser notification, for the events you check. Submit again with a different selection to change it. Text messaging needs a registered sender, so it is not offered.
Put it on your calendar
Subscribe once and it keeps itself up to date: every Showdown Wednesday for the next year, The Crow’s Nest on its confirmed Sundays, the Showdown break, and any regional on the books.
Join the Discord
Where brackets get posted, rides get arranged and sets get scheduled.
Join the DiscordMake the site yours
A free account saves events, follows players and series and keeps your study notes on every device. Saving an event doesn’t sign you up for it.
Sign in or create an accountLubbock this year
Showdown brackets on start.gg
Hub City Throwdown + Noisemaker
on the calendar
every week
Regional majors
The Majors
All of 2026 · 0 events on the books
The Year Ahead
Click any date for details and signup.
Next on the calendar
What's Next
Everything else on the calendar
More Local Events
Platform fighters, on their own nights
The Smash Area
Smash Capital and Pool's Party run their own brackets with their own formats. Their results live here, apart from the Wednesday boards.
Running something?
Put It On The Calendar
Every tournament on record
The Record Books
Regionals and monthlies, every bracket, every placement and every set we can pull from start.gg.
Last Showdown
This Week
Who won, who came, who showed up for the first time.
Built from start.gg with each data refresh
Top 8
Click a card for that player's full set history.
Tracking every Showdown since August 2024
Scene Health
Brackets with five or fewer entrants run round robin and come off the stream. Click any point to see who was there.
New Faces
Never entered a Showdown bracket before, ever. Checked against all 95 Showdowns since August 2024.
Welcome Back
Gone three months or more, then walked back in. Some of these were away for over a year.
For the people running brackets
Tools for TOs
Game-by-game entry counts for the scope chosen in Scene health above, so you can see which brackets are growing and which need help before you post the next flyer.
Game by game
Prize money and taxes
If a player takes home $600 or more from you in a calendar year, the IRS expects a 1099 and you will need a W-9 from them. Collect it at payout, not in January. The W-9 form and instructions are on irs.gov.
Listing your event
Use the calendar form. Series need a start.gg shortlink so the calendar always opens the newest bracket, and every listing needs a street address.
Something for this page?
If you run brackets here and want a tool added, or a number checked, reach Soulve in the Discord. The site's data pulls are automatic; the tools are built on request.
Season points · ratings · head-to-head · attendance
The Standings
Points reward showing up and placing. Ratings are earned set by set. Head-to-head is the record between two players, and attendance tracks who keeps coming back. Each is counted on its own.
Live from start.gg · seasons reset every January 1
The Standings
1 point for entering, plus 12 / 9 / 7 / 5 for 1st–4th, 3 for 5th–6th and 2 for 7th–8th. Resets every January 1.
Attendance Streaks
Showdowns entered in a row. Counted all the way back to the first one.
Separate from the standings
Power Rankings
Standings reward showing up and placing. This is different: a skill rating built from every recorded set, in the order they were played. Beating a strong player moves you up more than beating someone on their first night.
Picked by the TOs
Player Of The Month
Head-to-head sets from the newest Showdowns
Head-to-Head & Rivalries
Every set between two people, counted from the Showdown brackets on file. Pick a rivalry below, or pick any two players yourself.
Closest Rivalries
Pairs with four or more sets against each other, closest records first.
Showdowns in a row · all time
Attendance & Streaks
A streak counts every Wednesday in a row a player entered a bracket. Missing a night resets it, and the best run stays on record.
Every player on record · Showdown, the monthlies, the regionals
Player Hub
Find anyone who has entered a bracket here. Open any profile to see the brackets, sets and characters behind the numbers.
Hand-picked · not a leaderboard
Local Legends
Support the people filming, editing and streaming this scene
Content Creators
Crews · as tagged on start.gg
Crews & Orgs
The prefixes players carry on their tags, with everyone on record under each. A crew can send in a description and roster for approval.
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Money matches · first-to-10s · grudge sets
Exhibitions
Past exhibitions people send in are reviewed by the TOs before they show here. Character picks and scores are only listed when they were confirmed.
Sets and moments the scene keeps coming back to
Community Highlights
The sets people still bring up, each with a short note on why. Got one that belongs here? Say so in the Discord.
Live every Wednesday from 7:00 PM CT
Watch Live
Games with five or fewer entrants come off the stream schedule.
FGL Events
Brackets go live here every Wednesday night. Tap through to watch.
Match archive
Watch The VODs
Every video · filter it
Pulled straight from youtube.com/@FGLEventsLLC, . Every card opens the video.
Money, gear and time
Support The Scene
Nothing here is required to play.
Donate
The Gear Fund
Both weeklies are free and we intend to keep them that way. What money comes in goes straight back into the room: setups and consoles, monitors, DLC and character passes so nobody is locked out of a bracket, cables and adapters, and the occasional pot bonus. Nothing here is required to play, ever.
Why we ask about Brook adapters
Any controller, any station
A Brook Wingman lets a Switch pad, an old PS4 stick, a hitbox, or basically anything else plug into a PS5 or a PC and just work. Without one, somebody shows up with the controller they have practiced on for years and cannot enter. With one, they play. That is the whole reason we care about them.
We do not have enough. If you want to help and would rather buy a thing than hand over cash, buying one and bringing it to a Wednesday is the single most useful donation there is, and it stays useful for years.
See the Brook Wingman FGC →Not a sponsorship and not an affiliate link. We just use them and they solve the problem.
Merch
West Texas FGC
Bring a setup
A console or PC plus a monitor is one of the most useful things you can bring. More stations help brackets run on time and keep casuals going. Please make sure your equipment is clean and working, and let a TO know what you're bringing so we can plan space and connections.
Lend a controller
Got a spare pad or stick? Let a TO know and help someone new get a game in. Please bring clean, working equipment and check with a TO before lending it out so everyone knows who it belongs to and how it will be returned.
Film it, clip it, post it
Recording and sharing our events is encouraged. Before taking photos or recording, check with a TO about the event's photography rules and ask permission before photographing or filming someone individually. One phone pointed at Top 8 can capture a great moment. Post to TikTok or Instagram, include "Lubbock, TX," and tag the official West Texas FGC pages so we can share it. Want help getting a clip out or being featured on the Creators page? Ask a TO or reach out in the Discord.
Run something yourself
Running your own events is encouraged, and that counts even if it's four people on your living room floor. A side bracket, a retro night, an online lobby, a house session: all of it is the scene. Want it on the calendar and start.gg? Say so in the Discord and a TO will help you set it up. Want to just run it and not think about any of that? Do that instead.
Photography notice. Some events may be photographed, filmed, or streamed, and footage may be shared publicly. If you have a concern about appearing on camera, talk to a TO and we'll see what we can do. We can't guarantee that you won't appear in the background or on a stream.
Guides · wikis · hardware · organizing
Library
Guides and wikis people here use, each with where it came from and when we last checked it. Suggest one or report a dead link and a TO reviews it.
Being put together
Resources (old)
Character wikis, first-time-organizing guides and TO paperwork will live here. Nothing is listed yet. This section is being built. If there is something you want on it, ask Soulve in the Discord.
Your account
Sign In
Sign in with a one-time code sent to your email. Your player profile opens once you link start.gg. That is where your tag, your placements and your results are.
- A website account (email code, Google or start.gg) keeps your saved events, follows and notes on every device. It is not a tournament registration.
- Linking start.gg verifies which player record is yours. Your tag and results, and brings in your start.gg avatar. A matching name alone never claims a record.
- Entering a bracket always happens on that event’s own start.gg or Round1 page. Saving, following or signing in here never signs you up.
Checking…
Loading the record…
Start here · New player guide
Never Been To A Local?
You do not need to be good. You do not need to be a fighting game player at all.
This Is Where Legends Are Made
Some of the strongest players in the nation come out of this room. Every one of them started off as a newbie who wasn't very good at the game.
What actually makes this place work is that everybody here loves to learn. People will teach you, run matches with you, and break down what just happened to you. Walk in knowing nothing and you'll leave knowing something.
It's free, it's every Wednesday, and there is no version of you that's too new to show up.
No controller? Still come.
There are regulars who will happily lend you a pad for the night. Just ask. Nobody gets turned away for showing up empty-handed.
We use Brook adapters so people can bring third-party, Switch and unconventional controllers.
Want to support us? We don't have many adapters yet. Lending or donating one to the community genuinely helps more than anything else you could give us.
What does it cost?
Nothing, either night. Showdown is a 100% free local, no venue fee, no entry fee. The Crow's Nest is free too. Donations are appreciated but never required, and nobody is treated differently for not giving one.
I don't have a controller.
Come anyway. Regulars will lend you one, just ask. We use Brook adapters so third-party, Switch and unconventional controllers work, though we don't have many yet. If you want to support the scene, lending or donating an adapter is the most useful thing you can do.
Am I too bad to enter?
No, and you don't have to be a fighting game player at all. Some of the strongest players in the nation started here as complete newbies. It's free, so the only thing you're risking is an hour, and people will actively teach you.
What do I bring?
Your controller or stick. Wireless works, and we have adapters for third-party and Switch controllers, but not many, so a modern pad like a PS5 controller is the safest bet. No turbo or macro controllers. You don't need to bring a setup, and bringing your own console or PC is always welcome.
What actually runs?
Wednesday: Guilty Gear Strive, Tekken 8 and Marvel Tokon, plus a rotating bonus game, four brackets a night. The Crow's Nest, every other Sunday, is open format, so bring literally any fighting game and someone will play it with you.
When do I need to be there?
Wednesday: doors 6:30, brackets can start as early as 7:00, venue closes at 11:00. Registration closes five minutes before start, though you can sometimes still sign up in person after. Ask a TO rather than assuming you missed it. The Crow's Nest (every other Sunday) runs 1 to 5 PM and there's no bracket to be late for.
- 1Choose a nightWednesday bracket or every-other-Sunday casuals
- 2Know what to bringthe checklist below
- 3Registerstart.gg or Round1
- 4Find the roomarrival guide
Before you leave the house
Check these off; the list is saved to this device.
How do I sign up?
Wednesday Showdown, the monthlies and the regionals run on start.gg. Tap any date on the calendar or the Sign Up button and it opens that night's page. Make a free start.gg account, hit Register, pick your games. Showdown registration closes at 6:55 PM.
The Crow's Nest (every other Sunday) signs up on Round1 instead. Its card on the calendar links there, and Round1 and the Discord are where its dates are confirmed. It is a casual lobby, so signing up just lets people know you're coming.
Where is it?
Wednesday is Mad Hatter's House of Games, 1507 Texas Ave downtown, through the front door and immediate left downstairs. The Crow's Nest (every other Sunday) is at Stormcrow Games, 5102 60th St Suite A.
Read before you enter
House Rules
Everyone, every event
Code of Conduct
- No bigotry. Treat everyone with respect. No harassment, witch hunting, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, violence, threats of violence, inappropriate contact, hate speech or other personal misconduct will be tolerated at our events.
- No bullying or harassment of other members. Anything above "FGC trash talk" gets dealt with accordingly.
- No damaging or stealing property. Reported to local law enforcement, and a lifetime ban.
- No bad odors. Wash up and put on deodorant before you attend. We'll ask you to go home and clean up if you still want to play. Three warnings is a one-month ban, and local TOs get notified.
- Alert your TOs of any issues. If you see something against these rules or something that makes you feel unsafe, find a TO. They're listed at the bottom of the start.gg page. If it rises to a serious crime, contact law enforcement first. Your safety comes before the bracket.
Formats and equipment · Showdown specifics
Controllers
Wireless is fine. We support wireless controllers, and we keep adapters on hand for third-party, Switch and unconventional controllers.
But we don't have many adapters yet, so if you can, bring a modern controller like a PS5 pad. It saves everyone time between sets.
No controller at all? Regulars will lend you one. And if you'd like to support us, lending or donating a Brook adapter to the community is the single most useful thing you can give.
No turbo, no macros. Program and turbo functions are banned. In-game macros are fine, the dash button in Strive is acceptable, a macro that inputs two forwards is not. One button per input; you can't have two L1s. Get caught and it's a DQ for cheating; a DQ'd controller means you play on something else.
Bugs & glitches
Intentionally triggering a bug or glitch that stops the game from being played is a loss for the player who triggered it. Discovering one mid-tournament is not a loss. Repeating it in the same match is a loss unless it doesn't crash the game or break its rules, the Ruby Heart freeze glitch in MVC2 is a loss; infinites are a tactic, go learn the Iron Man combo.
Brackets, DQ & the 11 PM wall
5 entrants or fewer: round robin. 6 or more: double elimination.
DQ timers: 10 minutes on winners side, 5 minutes on losers. Message ahead if you're running late.
Round-robin games come off the stream schedule going forward, that's what keeps us out of the building by 11. No game is guaranteed a stream spot.
Every listed event follows these rules
All events listed on this website must follow our house rules. If you believe a listed event is not following them, please contact us so we can review it. Listing an event here does not mean West Texas FGC runs it. It means the organizer agreed to these standards.
Just here to play?
You don't have to enter anything. Bring a console or a PC, set up, and play whatever you want all night, other games are welcome for casuals, with the exception of anything deemed too risky for the venue.
Entry is free. Donations are appreciated and never required.
Where we play
Our Mainstay Events & Venues
These are our regular community gathering places and the best starting points if you're new. Each one is an event first and a venue second, Showdown happens to live at Mad Hatter's, and The Crow's Nest at Stormcrow Games.
Planning an event? Please check the calendar and coordinate with local TOs to avoid overlapping our mainstay events on the same day or at similar times.