This week’s CEO fighting game tournament kicked off, being the first in-person tournament open to the public and introducing a new star of the FGC – Tinker, also referred to as the FGC Grandma.

(Tinker’s match starts at around the 31-minute mark).

Tinker, real name Kimberley Cutchins, and her husband both showed up for the tournament, with one of Tinker’s matches in pools making it to the livestream, where the FGC crowd fell in love with the wholesomeness of someone old enough to be their grandma competing in one of the most beloved fighting games of all time, possibly only behind Marvel Vs Capcom 2.

Tinker debuted on the scene with a team makeup of Sentinel, MODOK and Spider-Man, with Spider-Man acting as her anchor. At the end of the tournament, she was ranked 97th thanks to her 1-2 record (her first opponent DQ-ed).

While she never made it out of pools, there’s no doubt the FGC loves a good underdog story. During the live event, you could hear the crowd cheering for Tinker, even jokingly booing her opponent, RamBam.

You could even hear the loud screams of the cloud proclaiming “No!!” every time she got hit, as RamBam played some great Marvel even in the face of laughably stiff opposition from the crowd.

“The worst part is [RamBam] is one of the nicest guys on the planet”, says one of the commentators as the camera cuts to him looking awfully distraught for someone who just won their first game.

Even Tong Lee, the Chief of Staff and Tournament Organizer at CEO took a photo with Tinker, congratulating her on coming out to the tournament and competing.

“Getting to watch her play made me so happy that it brought me to tears. Our community is so great. I love Marvel so much. I hope we never have to stop playing”, he said in a tweet.

A Good Underdog

Part of the reason the fighting game community allows for moments like these is its focus on open tournaments. Unlike other esports which are per-invitation basis, the biggest fighting game tournaments in the world encourage anyone to join- and they mean anyone.

That combined with the streaming of Pools means everyone gets their 5 minutes of fame- allowing for even more heartwarming stories like this one to be told.

Of course, credit needs to be given to RamBam too- despite pressure from the crowd, he respected his opponent enough to play at full force. He even finishes the final game with a perfect, playing an excellent Zero.