The Coinbox tournament series has long been a key part of competitive Smash, but a new event is taking it to the next level. Dubbed Coinbox IRL, this new event is basically what you’d expect, it’s the Coinbox but in real life.

The long-running online series is getting a new in-person tournament. Running December 17th, Hungrybox’s online series is throwing an end-of-year finale with tons of major names competing. It’s a highlight in competitive fighting games over December, but how will the expanded tournament work? How will it work transitioning to in-person? This is everything you need to know.

Source: @liquidHbox

Coinbox IRL

Taking the online competition in-person, Coinbox IRL will be a blockbuster Smash event. It’s a single-day event, pared down to just an invitational bracket with only the best Smash Bros players competing. These are some of the names confirmed so far.

Riddles
Armadillo
Scend
Shinymark
Sisqui
SkyJay
Sonix
Sparg0

The tournament is going to carry a prize pool living up to its higher stakes. There’s going to be $10,000 at stake at this event. Coinbox IRL will be hosted in Washington DC, but as usual, there will be a stream of the event going on too.

Steve

Coinbox events are hosted by Hungrybox, who has been more decisive than most when it comes to Steve as a tournament character. The controversial pick was banned in Coinbox a while ago. However, for Coinbox IRL the character will not be ruled out. Players are free to select the Minecrafter and compete on a level footing with every other character.

Coinbox IRL Last Chance Qualifier

Source: @liquidHbox

While the Coinbox IRL event is an invitational, players who haven’t got their slot have a chance to earn their invite. They’ll be able to compete in a Last Chance Qualifier. This is an event which takes the last chance pretty literally too, it’s happening on the very same day.

Players will have to attend the event and take their chances with the bracket. Those who do earn their slot at the final will have to play the tournaments in a single stretch! A real marathon for them, but a player taking the win in both would definitely be an impressive achievement. There’s space for 128 players in this qualifier, but only four move through to the final bracket.

That’s how Coinbox IRL is going to work. This is an exciting step forward for Coinbox and might be a nice climax for 2024 quieter year of competitive Smash.