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StarCraft Invades Bars Across The Country
Couldn't give two craps about baseball or football? Still like to hang out with people and down a few choice beverages? You may have a reason to get out of the house sooner than later if the Barcraft movement touches down in your town.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the wave of sports bars setting up StarCraft II streams on big-screen TVs in order to bring in patrons who traditionally don't frequent such establishments started with the Chao Bistro in Seattle.
Seattle is not only home to Amazon, Microsoft, and more geek-staffed companies, but is mired in the worst sports abyss in the country. Their basketball team moved to Oklahoma City, of all places, just when it was finally getting good. The Mariners (baseball) are terrible, even worse than the godawful Twins. The Seahawks (football) just signed Tarvaris Freaking Jackson to start at QB for them and are still the city's best chance to have a decent season solely because of their crappy division.
With such an awful lineup of traditional spectator sports, StarCraft has filled in the gap. Chao Bistro owner Hyung Chung told the Journal that his twice-weekly StarCraft events bring in 40-50 patrons each, a welcome boost to any restaurant's evening crowd. The Barcraft scene has moved beyond Seattle since the Chao Bistro's initial success. Pubs from Oregon to Florida are organizing their own Barcraft events, seeing significant increases in patronage as well.
Would you watch Korean teenagers Zerg each other on a big screen and cheer alongside fifty other nerds for a quality base defense, or would you rather catch a hockey game at the bar and keep your livestream watching at home?
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