Robin "Juggleguy" Harn: Taking Charge

Source: Robert Paul (@Tempusrob)​

When you think of The Big House tournament series, you think of one of the most influential tournament organizers in the United States, Robin “Juggleguy” Harn. Juggleguy is the organizer for two major tournament series: SWEET (Spartans and Wolverines Exhibit Entertaining Tourneys), an interuniversity regional tournament series alternating between campus venues at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University; and The Big House, the largest annual Smash tournament series in the Midwest, which has attracted players such as Joseph “Mango” Marquez, Adam “Armada” Lindgren , Kevin “PPMD” Nanney, Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma, Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman, William “Leffen” Hjelte, and several other top Super Smash Bros Melee players. His large-scale events are known for their quality as well as their efficiency.​

Beginnings

First Logo of Road to APEX: The Big House
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Juggleguy started playing Super Smash Bros. Melee casually in 2006, like most, alongside his high school friends. Juggleguy’s first infatuation with the game started with him watching Ken Vs. PC Chris sets over and over again on YouTube leaving him wanting to explore more about the game mechanics and how the game plays rather than having the stress of performing well or obtaining the glory in tournaments. With the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl Juggleguy switched scenes to attend more tournaments. "I started playing Melee around 2006 casually and I wanted to beat all my friends in high school…That pretty much coincided with the release of Brawl, so I attended Brawl tourneys for awhile until the Melee revival became a big thing," says Juggleguy on the topic of his beginnings.

Tournaments now these days are set to the highest quality of standard for players attending; examples include Shine 2016, Super Smash Con and now The Big House series. Juggleguy did not find an interest or have the initiative to set up in TO-ing events until 2009 when he noticed that most of the tournaments he would attend were not organized, the venues had no internet, poor seeding options, no streams, basically; TO’s didn’t know anything. Having the background experience of recording/streaming to document matches, Juggleguy was willing to step up and take charge to make things better for future players and attendees. Juggleguy took ideas from previous tournament he had attended and evolved them into more efficient concepts. It wasn't until Pound 4 where he found his inspiration for huge events. “Pound 4 was held at a huge venue, provided a huge number of setups and scheduled events really efficiently. It was probably my first TO-ing inspiration.”

Being one of the most influential tournament organizers in the United States is one of the most honorable titles that Juggleguy has received in his Smash career. People often come seek him for advice when it comes to planning large scale events. “The evolution of Melee is indeed impressive. It's hard to believe that events used to be hosted in small dingy places to now lavishing ballrooms and high quality venues.” says Juggleguy. The venue at any event is an important variable that Juggleguy stresses when giving others advice. Juggleguy's point of view is “Without a comfortable venue or environment, players won't be able to perform well or have a sense of comfort at events. Venues are a key component.”

The Big House​

Lovage (left) vs Duck (right) at Road to Apex: The Big House​

The Big House series didn't start off as the premier tournament series that it is now; in fact, the first Big House was a qualifier for APEX 2012. From 115 players to a total of 1561, ten times its original entrants, The Big House continues to prove year after year to the point that it is one of the biggest major in the United States. Juggleguy did not believe that The Big House tournaments would continue to grow. “I kind of had an idea that it had potential because people enjoyed attending. I am just taking it one year at a time with these events. Having 2000+ people attending a Smash event is a crazy feeling.” says Juggleguy.

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The first Big House event made Juggleguy realize that the skill level that was in attendance was at a high level compared to the rest of Michigan’s Melee scene. Having both Johnny “S2J” Kim and Oscar "Lovage" Nilsson in grand finals left an impact on Juggleguy as his most memorable moment at any of his events. “During the years of 2008 and 2011, there weren't any out-of-state Melee players that made the travel to Midwest. They really didn't have a reason to come. The Big House made it a reason for players to come to the Midwest.”

The Big House - Lovage (Fox) vs S2J (Falcon) Grand Finals
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When you make the decision to travel out to a premiere tournament, you expect it to be an experience of a lifetime. A spacious venue, an organized event staff, a vast amount of friendly set-ups and a well-lit environment are things that players/spectators take in mind at these certain events. Throughout the years of hosting The Big House series, Juggleguy has perfected his craft of event organizing. When the topic of what Juggleguy takes in mind when organizing events he says, “The number one priority I take in mind are the players and spectators experience when they come to my events. I want them to have a good time so they tell their friends and can come back to the event.” Some other things he says are, “A great quality stream, the presence of sponsors and a great team are things one must accommodate. Running a national is a team effort. And as a team we should always have the highest of standards.”

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Are you excited for what's to come from this major tournament? Juggleguy and others responsible running the event assure you to expect great things to come from The Big House 6. For Super Smash Bros. Melee events, stay tuned to VGBC’s Twitch stream. For Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, stay tuned to Unrivaled Tournaments’ Twitch stream. For more updates on any upcoming Big House events, follow The Big House 6's official Twitter as well as Juggleguy’s Twitter.

 

I think the Big House is a viable option to use as "the" tournament of the year instead of EVO.

 

I think the Big House is a viable option to use as "the" tournament of the year instead of EVO.

Pretty sure it already is. Evo's prestige comes from its reputation for fighting games. Big House prestige comes from how well it runs, early bo5, attendance, and basically every other metric.

 

Pretty sure it already is. Evo's prestige comes from its reputation for fighting games. Big House prestige comes from how well it runs, early bo5, attendance, and basically every other metric.

When people make a PR for Melee and Smash in general, they almost always use EVO as the measuring stick. I believe that is wrong. I think the best tournament to measure one's true skill is not the questionably ran/structured/seeded EVO series that has virtually no ties to the Melee scene, at least not in comparison to the Big House series, which is made for Smashers by Smashers. I was in favor of proposing Apex, but we all know where that went, and Genesis isn't close to annual.