Grey Goo Tournament Series offers $75,000 prize pool and free trip to PAX South

It's not quite as lucrative as some of top tier esports tournaments, but the makers of the old-time RTS Grey Goo are holding a series of tournaments that will culminate in a championship showdown at PAX South, with a $75,000 prize pool up for grabs.

A "preliminary open tournament" is already underway, pitting registered participants against one another in ranked online matches to earn position on the 1v1 leaderboard, which was reset on September 3. The top 16 players will be invited to take part in the first qualifying event, set for September 26, with the next four locked in as alternates. The preliminary tournament will continue through the following two qualifiers, being held on October 24 and November 21, so anyone who didn't make the cut the first time around can continue fighting for admission.

The top four finishers at each qualifier, as well as eight wild card qualifiers, will be invited to throw down for all the marbles in San Antonio, Texas, the location of PAX South, which runs from January 29-31, 2016. First place prize at the main event is $10,000, followed by $5000 for second, $2500 for third, and $1500 for fourth; the top four finishers in each qualifier will also earn prizes from $200 to $1000. In a nice touch, competitors' travel and lodging costs will be covered by Grey Goo publisher Grey Box and interactive production company Six Foot.

Ten large may be relative peanuts when compared to the $6.6 million earned by the winners [no spoilers!] of The International 2015, but—and I say this with all due respect—I imagine the competition isn't quite as stiff as it is in more established esports, either. And since all pre-PAX qualifiers are being held online, it's not like you've got anything to lose, right? Details, rules, and a signup link for the Grey Goo Tournament Series are up now at greygoo.com.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.