Civil engineering senior Tilman “Roulette” Strickland won the Texas A&M Esports in-house Super Smash Bros. Ultimate double-elimination tournament at Rudder Tower on Friday, Feb. 6, to claim bragging rights as the club’s top player for the week.
The best Super Smash Bros. gamers at A&M showcased their knockouts and grabs as they vied to secure a place on the Maroon and White rosters for the 2026 season. Open to all A&M students, the double-elimination style tournament offered every player at least two chances to prove themself.
“You know what they say, ‘Iron sharpens iron,’” explained biomedical science senior Mateo “Winterclaw59” Garcia Hernandez.
Strickland, who has played in the College Station Smash scene for about four years, now anchors the A&M Smash team. A&M preseason tournaments have changed over the years, he said, from tournaments as large as 100 players when he was a freshman to the 20 competitors who competed Friday night.
“I’ve made lifelong friends here,” Strickland said. “It’s definitely my primary friend group here, and you know, we hang out outside of Smash. We do all sorts of stuff outside of Smash.”
Last season, A&M Esports played in the Runner-Up: Smash Collegiate Tournament on Nov. 16, 2025, in San Antonio. TAMU Maroon won the double-elimination style collegiate tournament against 23 schools after opening with a win over RRG Blue and TAMUSA before suffering the only loss of the tournament to UH Red. The loss sent Maroon to the losers’ quarter-final, where it beat UTRGV in a 5-4 nailbiter before advancing to beat RRG Orange and UTD Varsity to earn a rematch against UH Red. In the Grand Final, TAMU Maroon avenged its loss to UH Red in back-to-back matches to win the tournament, 7-1.
“For me, it was horrible, that’s the reason why I did not want to play in it again this year,” Strickland said. “But I’m like, you know what, this is an event for me and my friends, and I just want to have fun.”
In-house tournaments give players a low-stakes way to build team chemistry and sharpen skills against top players. The long bracket runs and rematches simulate collegiate tournament style to make it easy for players to see exactly where skills break down.
“I think I just need to be a little more patient,” multidisciplinary engineering technology junior Javier “Javi” Pinales said. “I got really aggressive today, and that’s usually not my play style. But I can honestly do better next time.”
Boasting over 4,000 members in the Discord server, A&M Esports is student run and led by entrepreneurial leadership graduate student and President Pierce Ray. Other officers include business senior and Vice President Sreya Suresh, public service & administration graduate student and Director of Content Management Leslie Plata. The team coordinates play for an array of 16 gaming titles and more than 30 dedicated teams.
Up next, the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate team will travel to Lubbock for the Smash Bros. Lubbock Encierro tournament March 21-22.
