OUR HISTORY
eBash is one of the Midwest’s oldest LAN centers. What is a LAN center? Picture you and your friends bringing your favorite gaming systems over to your house and playing all together, now picture having that same experience without having to take all your gaming gear with you. Not only can you game at eBash with your friends just like an old school gaming party but also get experiences you wouldn’t normally have in your basement. Think you’re the best at a game? eBash hosts tournaments every weekend to find out who is the best in the Midwest! Whether your a Sony or Microsoft fan or think that PC is master race we’ve got something for you!
2004
The doors opened for eBash in December of 2004 after months of hard work and planning by many people. Founder Zack Johnson along with many other volunteers remodeled an old warehouse and office space to initially provide 18 Xbox stations and 14 gaming computers. The grand opening on December 10th, 2004 weekend featured a 48-straight party, meaning 48 hours of non-stop gaming which has become a bi-annual tradition for us. eBash was host to several tournaments for titles like Halo 2 and Counter-Strike 1.6 during our first year.
2005
Continuing our momentum eBash ran local and regional qualifiers for World Cyber Games (WCG) for Samsung, hosted local qualifiers for Major League Gaming (MLG),and continued to host tournaments all year for Halo 2, CS 1.6 and many other casual games. eBash sponsored a Halo 2 team to MLG St. Louis, an event where Zack participated as an admin.
2006
eBash moved into brand new 4000 sq ft facility in Terre Haute, IN.This was the first full year of the Xbox 360 and the famous RROD plagued gamers at home and at game centers. However the move to HDTV was a sizable cost at home so this was one of the best years at eBash. We were lucky enough to again run local and regional qualifiers for World Cyber Games (WCG) & Major League Gaming (MLG). Gears of War is released in the fall, first 16 team free tournament with passes from GameStop with a $500 prize pool fills up instantly at eBash.
2007
Zack and the eBash team traveled with World Series of Video Games (WSVG) for their circuit sponsored by Intel and CBS Sports. Opening a franchise location in Evansville and a second location in Bloomington. eBash begins to run events between all 3 locations. Attendance averaging 200-300 players and 30-50 teams. Gears of War and Halo 2-3 were huge boons for our competitive scene. eBash brought in a competitive Gears of War MLG pro team to help run Bloomington location. This is also the year we began working on global esports software idea with UK based company which operated 17 LAN Centers.
2008
ggCircuit is founded by Zack with a primary goal in mind, to organize local stores around the US in active weekend esports competitions. ggCircuit events followed the format of LAN brackets each Saturday to crown the top two teams or players. Those top two would then return on Sunday for the online championship brackets, with prize pools range from $2k to $5k.
2009
eBash Gears of War team finishes first place at the MLG Dallas event. Over the course of the year eBash participated in and ran over 20 ggCircuit weekend events nationwide for nearly $50,000 in prize money.
2010
eBash was selected as one of 45 finalists to tape for Season 2 of Shark Tank out of nearly 10,000 applicants. Filmed and spend 4 days in LA. 33 made it to air, eBash did not because they did not settle on a deal.
2011
Zack was flown to Riot headquarters and interviewed for a position as LAN Center Program Coordinator. eBash hosted MLG qualification matches for Halo Reach and Call of Duty Black Ops 3.
2012
eBash began its first contact with Gen Con to create a gaming zone. Achievement Fest was created, gamers from 17 states and Canada came to Terre Haute for the weekend of unlocking Xbox Achievements.
2013
eBash acquired assets of fellow center Netheads in Carmel, IN and subsequently opened eBash Indianapolis. Create & Play Camps operates it’s first year under eBash leadership, providing technology education through video games for young children. Partnered with Radio Disney and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to provide racing simulators for all IMS events that year (Indy 500, Brickyard 400, Moto GP…). Achievement Fest sets a Guiness World Record at eBash for most Xbox achievements unlocked in 24 hours. RyuLAN 2013 is held at eBash Terre Haute giving away $7,000+ in cash and prizes.
2014
First year of Gen Con with eBash running the eSports area in two rooms next to a previous partner running old-school console games that had been with Gen Con for 19 years. We were full the entire weekend.FAlso the first year at Indy Pop Con, show was brand new but eSports tournaments in eBash zone did fairly well. eBash Indianapolis selected as one of 3 locations in the to host the launch party for NVIDIA’s newest graphic card line. The three locations fielded teams to compete and live stream and our Indianapolis team beat the Chicago and LA teams. Create & Play Camps expands its curriculum for year 2 to include graphic design, video editing, and mobile development. Mobile racing simulators are ran for IMS events for a second year, also appearing at NFL Alumni events. Hypefestation 3, a large Gears of War community ran tournament, is hosted at eBash Indianapolis.
2015
eBash Game Zone at Gen Con expands to 3 rooms and over 100 gaming stations. Indy Pop Con Game Zone gains more attendance this year with Indy Pop Con landing YouTube stars such as Markiplier. Kansas City Comicon is added to the eBash Game Zone tour as our first out of state convention. Partnership with Flat 12 brewery to host racing sim private event with Indycar driver James Hinchcliffe. eBash hosts Madden Bar League event in partnership with NFL Alumni and Drake’s Keystone.
2016
Our Game Zone at Gen Con expands for the second year in a row to 5 rooms, 200 stations, and 10,000+ gamers in 4 days. eBash at Indy Pop Con hosts large convention esports events in the 10,000 square foot arena next to the Indianapolis Convention Center. eBash Indianapolis hosts regional events for Hearthstone welcoming players like JustSaiyan. eBash Terre Haute partners with Eblue to renovate the location.