A report written by AjK follows.
Bursa
Day one, Friday
7:00 am
wakeup game, call check my mate prk' who was actually first to check me, if we're up and able to proceed. Packed the remaining stuff according to prk's checklist. Amongst many... sleeping bag (just in case), arcade stick, spare clothes and underwear, psp, tablet, 2 cellphones, some chargers for the shit. We were supposed to meet at Florenc bus station at 8:15-30. Bus to "Prekrasna" Lodz is leaving at 8:40. Did the last round of shopping, drinks, food, biscuits and shiiii. A few confused calls later we met at bus parking lot #7, where Polskibus.com vehicle was waiting and loading junk and junkies. So we checked in, tactically took our seats (we were able drop the back parts without forcing behind passengers kneecaps to pop and have a comfy sleep all the way to Lodz). Shortly after, there was announcement that we have a free internet wifi and will be traveling to Wroclaw, Lodz and final stop is at Warsaw.
8:40 am
The journey physically began at this precise moment. We had talks with prk about plans for next ~10 hours. Also sent messages through IRC and twitter to our czech mates, that were not able to make it. Took us some time to figure out the seat adjustment controls, but since we're both supertalented in all mechanical and technical stuff, we managed to find seat splitter control, which divided seats a bit further from each other. Also devices to lean back the backrests, on prk's side it was codenamed a dildo and on my side I had simple button, which took me few hours to figure out. These things are less intuitive.....
We also tried to sleep, but hopelessly gave up, cause we were quite fresh. Few hours later we scouted our surroundings and found out, that we're still in a bus =)... Meaning, czech signs on the roads and business names started changing from known czech to some mixtures to polish only. We guessed that this is the end of civilisation and we prepared survival tools for the "jungle".
First stop was unexpected and we had 20-30 minutes to stretch our limbs. So I took off and started exploring. We were definitely on a polish ground. Prk changed our first 100PZL banknote to get some beverage. I carried an apocalyptic shitstorm to the (quite needlessly spacious) toilet. We met each other by the bus side and celebrated our "First Contact". Me lighting up a marlboro and prk tasted some ice tea.
Quite a couple, right? =)
Last call to bus, jumped in, took our seats, next stop Wroclaw.
2:xx pm
The time we spent in one bus is getting long. There were merely 20 people traveling with us. So the bus was almost empty. When we stopped at Wroclaw, suddenly polish people everywhere. Another stretch of limbs outside. Another stretch of lungs by marlboro. And the bus almost filled up with people traveling to Lodz, Warsaw. Another advantage, we miraculously discovered, were electricity plugs beneath our seats... Good Job you guys. We did the gangbang plug style (fill ALL the plugs) and continued in cheered/relaxed state of mind. I tried to check-in with foursquare app. And there it was, the point called "magiczne noziczky" (quickly figured as magic scissors) although the pronounciation was quite funny and we decided to take it as a team name for our pairplay times. Since WE ARE THE CZECHARCADE representatives, we tend to repeat some quotes/words quite often in lots of various, seemingly unrelated actions. Yes, we are retarded this way, which will get more intense furthermore.
Few examples follows:
shouting "jimmyyyyy" - as in blanka from sf, meaning a terrible hangover
I'll "tatsumaki/rekka" here/there - this one's easy, just moving from A to B
"Jses curak" - you're a fucking prick, comes from osoha #lidijsoucuraci quote, aka #peoplearefuckingpricks
Evidentne "any word" - obviously "any word"
Prekrasna lod - mutated into Prekrasna Lodz, as for stage in sf4 "beautiful bay" evolved into "beautiful boat"
I'm going momochit - pee time
Let's get some Fuudo - meal time
Raging demon - shitstorm
and so on...
Therefore, we spammed our way through, until we arrived at Lodz. Following footage is quite offensive, but correct to the single word.
6:05 pm, approx
Stopped at Lodz bus station, gathered intel said, that train is few steps away, and so it was. 6:22pm was time of our train departure. Thinking about czech railways, we had just enough of time to get the tickets. Wrong thought. VERY WRONG indeed. We were THE third 2person group in a row/queue for tickets, still about 10 minutes left for departure. We tried to look through what's going on at the cashdesk. After another 10 minutes and 2 pictures, where prk was a phonebooth darth wader and a "WTF" (want taste frytki) french fries vending machine, we managed to get the picture of what's going on. The cashier person was actually writing down the tickets... each one of them... Prk decided 3 minutes before departure to fuck the tickets and go find the platform 5 and given train. Just minutes left...
Invention 1 - escalators (nowhere to be found)
Invention 2 - working ticket printers (cause writing is so last century)
Invention 3 - platform numbers signs (the fuck is that platform number or station name?!?!?)
We stopped first person on a platform and asked "peron pjat?", he knew he stood at #2, and said in english (cudos to you, old man) to ask the railwaymen/crew standing few meters away, almost hiding behind some piece of building. Hey there, experienced guys, you seem to know your job well, ain't you? "Peron pjat?", you should've seen their faces! Few common body expressions for "dunno, bro" later we just try to run the platforms and ask at every train. Luckily we met a guy, who was traveling to Bursa event too, and knew english, he knew his way and we followed. Last second jump in the (well 20's train of plywood and paper and few wheels) transportation box called train car. 2.5 hours ahead in this special vehicle slow train (since fast'er' trains are for extra cash) We introduced each other, exchanged some knowledge and found seats. Later I was on watch over our luggage while prk and the guy went to get the tickets from the conductor (said it was for few extra PZL, since we didn't buy the tickets at the fucking station). Little did I know about negotiation skills of our fellow videogame warrior, he managed to get the ticket for all of us cheaper, than it would cost at the station cashdesk. Good job, sir. The train was holding together by a duct tape, good prayer and will of non-believers. Also the tracks all the way, were zig-zag so we were constantly moving our heavy heads left-right direction. Once we got used to it, another special event occured. "Hmm, what's that, I smell bacon", that was the smell of my ass burning, caused by heating set to optimal 200 degrees celsius. Epic. Old, dry wood/paper and heat don't mix... More prayers. The darkness of night fell upon the country of Poland. Without our new friend and guide in one person, we wouldn't be able to get out at the correct stop. 2.5 hours passed and we jumped off the train almost at Bursa event building. The destination is called Wloclawek and it's kind of in the middle of Poland, so noone could be excused not to come, because of the distance. Few steps later we arrived to a college building and entered the main gaming hall. Silence of lambs is what we heard from the already playing/chatting gathered people. They didn't know, we are the foreign retards =).
9 pm
First known to us faces showed up and we started to advance. Accomodation was dealt quickly thanks to Tejotl and we got the room for 3, just for us. 4th floor, invention 4 - elevators, entered a room. A nice smell of our temporary home invited us. The place was utter shit, but you get, what you paid for. Last inhabitant seemingly didn't check out and died there, was pulled inside the shower and eaten bit by bit by rats from the sewage, which were then eaten by some snakes or hypnotoad. Well, at least we had beds and table+chair combo. Quick unpack, took the most necessary and went downstairs to fight some players to warm up before saturday's main tourneys. After few terrible matches, where we performed like frozen, prk decided to unpack and prepare the shishah and we had a smoke outside. With an applause and attendance of other fellow known people, like Crono, Tejotl, and few others we finished the shishah. They finally recognized us as strangers and switched to english. Tejotl showed us around, where to get beverage, food, kebab and other survival tools, which we promptly bought to our happiness.
Day one, friday, was finished few hours after midnight and we went to bed.
Day two, Saturday
10 am
Wakeup game deep in a strange land... Not buried, but felt and smelled like it =) Had some drink and marlboro to wake myself up. People gathered, Hiryu took control, greetings, explained rules, time schedule and some other things. The main event started. 50 people at one place, 8 consoles with TV's, streaming setup with camera and 2 commentators posts. Wifi internet, so we could inform our internet/social ninjas about the progress and happenings. Played games were following: Mortal Kombat 9, Super Strasse Kampfer Vier arkade edizion, Super Jab Fighter cross Jab, God of Fightan Games mashup, Windjamersow, Guilty Gear jadro prizvuku, Ulevram3. Our outnumbered and outskilled delegation went for ssf4ae, god fightan, crossjab pairplay and prk took even windjammers. Sounds like non-stopping gameplay? Not likely, there were stand-offs, delays, confusions, but I tried to finish my group in ssf4 as good as possible. Greets to Apollon and Van, who let me pass onto a bracket for free. Advancing from 3rd place. Prk did better and advanced from 2nd place. Next on, brackets in Full Double Eliminations system. I got Crono, who beat me and sent me to losers. Prk was quite more superior and beat Tejotl and Crono in a steady corner rape technique. I never saw him play better up to this day. Then a long delay took place thanks to some Mortal Kombat nonsense hypeness, everyone had to be a part of... Both of us didn't even cared to turn towards the MK gang. So we cooled down a lot during these delays and semifinals winners should be streamed. Prk vs Snake was expected on a stream, but misinformation lead to the match being played off-stream. Prk unfortunately lost that one. In between, we had shisha, other tourney games. From my POV, the most awesome battles were at sfxt aka super jab fighter cross jab. Prk picked Rolento-the-cheap and I sticked with Ken-the-random. We played with Moonspell and some other guy. But salt took place and we were fucked verbally for playing "for the win" not just 'for fun'.
Message to MoonSpell: "It's a game, we came to play, the game is based on a matrix, where some win and the others lose, get over it", "GGs, you'll get us the next time, promise we'll be there." The next match was with Hayat/Tejotl duo, where we exchanged some F* words just to proceed to button settings/checks. First round prk prevailed desperate Tejotl, then Hayat simply raped us both. That was it for the super jab fighter cross jab. Long gap between top 4 finals for sf and few other games. Well, out of nowhere some guy came, called himself Sosztak or Szostak. We renamed him later to Soustak - Fucker =), sorry, czech language is weird in relation to polish pronounciations. Well, he surprised me first and won the first match, then I calmed down and steadily took the second match. The third was kind of blackout, cause I lost to counterhited delayed links broken by dragon upperkick. GGs, it won't happen again. It might be related to my universal fear of FeiLong character. There were about 4 of those at the tourney. In between the matches, I played some random guys, some good, some average, some solid, some more open. We also had a chance to make a commentary to the stream for few minutes, so we spammed IRC to at least someone would listen to us. Then it was around midnight, when a lot of guys were drinking and few playing. Prk's turn to face Wacho looked like prk didn't even wake up and the game was over before prk started playing. GGs, prk placed 5th and me, thanks to my inconsistency, 13th. I played with Wacho some time later and his boxer was supersturdy against shotos. I couldn't catch him on any of my mindtraps. Patient, precise consistent. GG also to you Wacho. Clock's hour arms started counting from the lowest number, and the end is nigh. Prk was then eliminated from God of Fightan in some random bullshit. I made it to semi, which turned out to be fraud. I was very tired mentally, so I decided in the final round of the final match of the final game of the semifinal duel to bail out and go to bed. Sorry for that.
Congrats to Crono, who became the God of Fightan. No points for other places. Everything after that went blur.
5 am already in bed, GGs, GN.
P.S.: We managed to eat more kebab and some salty pancake which only prk have had. Anyway, fuudo is cheap and we're fine. Had a shishah too. Juicy, but so little we knew about it's future (non)existence.
Day 3
12 am
Wake up and getup at an instant, both of us have no clue about departures from Wloclawek to Lolodz, since our bus leaves at 20:50 from Lodz. There's plenty of time and guys at the place are helpful to get the guys that could actually help us getting anywhere. Decided to go some shopping we split and prk went for beverages and shiii and I (for previous successes) was sent to kebab place. I met Nevan there. Considered what's the easiest aproach, I asked Nevan to make us an order of moar kebab. Mission accomplished and we headed back to Bursa. We decided not to eat, but first prepare complex logistic plan for our further moves through, recommended was a cab/taxi to Wloclawek main train station and then we're on our own... again. So we packed our stuff, returned keys, took our time to spend some coins on a vending machine. Handshakes, grouphugs, salutes, many thanks, glad to visit you at your soil and exchange salt =) Sayonara our beloved shishah, though. It was missing since 5am sunday. If someone finds it, let us know, but the hopes for rescue are probably gone. Nevan gave us his phone number and a number to his Lodz friends to accomodate us when we arrive to Lodz. We had few hour time gap to fill, but at the end we didn't meet the guys, since we had no stamina to do more talking. Thanks to Hiryu, who ordered us a cab to take us to Wloclawek main train station for uncommon 12PZL + some change we didn't need anyway. Supercheap. Prk managed to buy tickets to Lodz train. We had about 30 minutes to departure. First train arrived, it was the fast one, so conductor sent us to hell with our ticket for slow trains. Great transportation management =) The second train arrived.
2.5 hrs to final and destination station Lodz. No ass burning this time, tracks surprisingly narrow. Batteries in gizmos draining to almost flat. Kebab lunch/dinner at Lodz stairway next to train station. We could shout "ty curaku" at anyone without them even noticing =) But we were too passive to do that. Then we decided to have a little walk around Lodz, cause we had more than 2 hours to spend by doing something. Picked random direction we had a walk of sadness. The city is more industrial, abandoned military barracks, where some random ninja cat attempted to take over the regime. Hijack a tank or a helicopter to lay doom upon average polish citizens. Went past some nicely constructed building and prk said something about "kvetinka v prdeli". It was getting darker. Prk had this attraction to shopping mall chain called Biedronka. Bought some more cookies and returned to bus station. We exchanged some intel about regular life, like buying uberjacket which had invisibility, jetpack and gazlazors from the box. Yeah, usual stuff. Then polskibus.com autocar arrived. I don't know about prk, but I felt like a deltaplane shuttle from startrek just landed to pick us up from this planet. We greeted captain Archer and T'pol to get permission to board the ship. Ship was also almost full of refugees leaving the planet, few were even czech =) Then we half slept, half sent messages to our beloved by subspacial channel. When we woke up for the last time in the bus, we were in Prague. 6 am, sun is rising. Crowds of people waiting for us at the station. Waving their little federation flags, children crying, girls cheering. Ok, that last part is a bit delusional. So was I.
Prk put on his HD remix glasses and we split at the station, tired, but full of new things, some bad, some good. Nothing is straight forward =)
Finally home.
Anyway.... I want to thank prk, for not letting the idea of visiting bursa down. For booking the bus tickets. For being cooperative.
For not being a child when things were serious.
AND FOR SHOWING THE POLISH PLAYERS, THAT CZECH REPUBLIC IS NO LONGER A LAND OF FREE!
Also grateful thanks to Hiryu, for helping us at the place and ofcourse organising the whole event. Without you, we wouldn't meet there.
To players and coorganisers like, the guy from the train (sorry, forgot your nick/name), Crono, Tejotl, Nevan, MoonSpell, Hayat, Van, Wacho.
Thank you, all the rest of the people who were at the place and played games and attended tourneys.
The game I was there for, was mainly SSF4ae and possibly ggac, the level of gameplay, knowledge and overall average skill was stunning.
Keep it up and see you next time. Czecharcade has still a lot to learn and change to have at least something this cool as Bursa is.
Ankieta