A host of well-known UK-based streamers are currently competing in the KFC Gaming Arcade Showdown, a retro tournament featuring Tetris and Space Invaders.
They’re competing to win a custom-built full-size KFC Gaming arcade machine cabinet known as the ‘Hot Winger 64’, plus £30,000 in prizing.
The tournament is run by KFC Gaming, the games arm of the fast food chain KFC, and is running for three weeks.
June 25th saw streamers taking part in a Tetris qualifier, next week (July 2nd) is the Space Invaders qualifer and the week after (July 9th) will see a mystery game chosen by the community to be played in the grand finals.
The winner from each of the two qualifier weeks will reach the grand finals.
16 streamers will be taking part – and the overall winner will take home the arcade machine plus £10,000.
Participants include RossBoomsocks, Fifakill, Seapeekay, Tommey, Wolfabelle (pictured) and more. GaGOD won the Tetris qualifier:
KFC has got involved with esports tournaments for content creators in the past. In 2019, top UK streamers took part in a KFC Royale Call of Duty esports tournament.
And last year, KFC generated tons of headlines and buzz on social media after announcing the KFConsole, a Bargain Bucket-shaped PC that promises ‘the world’s first built in chicken chamber’, which is kitted out to keep its contents hot, ready for consumption during gaming sessions.
Esports News UK was not always convinced this thing actually exists, and we’ll keep on pestering our PR contacts until it launches! This reminds us, we’ll give them a nudge and ask when it’s supposed to launch and report back…
In December 2020, a spokesperson told us: “We don’t have any details on availability and cost as of yet.”
The KFC Gaming Arcade Showdown returns next Friday with the Space Invaders qualifier.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
