Prospect Heights gamer headed to Las Vegas for Super Smash Bros. tournament

Jeffrey Solberg, 18, has competed for four years.

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Jeffrey Solberg, 18, poses with a promotional poster after winning the GameWorks Schaumburg tournament June 9.

Jeffrey Solberg, 18, of Prospect Heights, will compete in the national tournament in Las Vegas on June 29.

Courtesy of Jeffrey Solberg

Like many 18-year-olds, Jeffrey Solberg just graduated high school and is getting ready to go away for college — but not before he makes one crucial stop in Las Vegas.

The Prospect Heights native is heading west this weekend for the GameWorks national Super Smash Bros. tournament after winning the regional tournament in Schaumburg on June 9.

Even though Solberg has been playing in Smash Bros. tournaments for four years and is a seasoned competitor, the tournament on June 29 will be the first one that he’s had to fly to.

He said he’s been studying up on his competitors. Solberg frequently watches future opponents’ games on Twitch, the online, livestreaming platform.

“When I play against somebody, I try to find out their play style and find out how I can take advantage of their weaknesses,” he said.

In addition to each player’s strategies and strengths, Solberg needs to be aware of each character’s abilities.

“When I’m at home trying to get better, a lot of that is finding out what’s the best strategy against a character and each circumstance of the game to optimize how to play in each situation,” he said.

Solberg has been playing Smash Bros. for about 10 years ever since his older brother and sister introduced it to him. But he never expected that he would get this good.

Smash Bros. is his favorite game, but he said he hasn’t played his siblings in a long time.

“They just can’t win, like, at all,” he said. “They pretty much can’t hit me, so it’s not really the same anymore.”

These days he mostly sticks to playing other high-level competitors online. A friend from school recently was looking to get better at Smash Bros., so Solberg helped him out by playing him and giving him some tips. 

“Yeah I definitely just beat him by a lot,” he said.

No matter how good he gets, Solberg said he’s always looking to grow as a player. He said his goal has always been “constant improvement.”

Solberg will face off with the six other regional winners from GameWorks venues across the country. One last-chance winner will be chosen Friday night to compete among the regional winners as well.

Regardless of how everything goes this weekend, Solberg is looking ahead to August when he’ll travel to Chantilly, Virginia, for Super Smash Con — the largest Smash Bros. tournament in the world.

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