The Nintendo World Championships (NWC) are returning after a year hiatus, giving players of all ages the chance to compete for prizes.
NWC is a video game competition series, organized by Nintendo, with players competing in different Nintendo games for a faster time, highest score, or winning in multiplayer for a chance to be crowned the champion.
Starting on Aug. 19, select Best Buy stores across the United States will host qualifying events in eight locations around the country. The first event starts on Aug. 19 to 20 in New York and California before moving to Chicago and Los Angeles on Aug. 26 to 27, Minneapolis and Dallas on Sept. 2 to 3, and Seattle and Miami on Sept. 9 to 10.
Players will be divided into two groups based on their age, and will take part in select time trials for the Nintendo 3DS game Mario Kart 7. The two players with the best time at the end of the eight events will qualify for the final, which will be held in New York on an unannounced date.
The last NWC finals were held at E3 2015. Contestants competed at different locations around the United States for a chance to take part at the live event. They had to play a mixture of single-player and multiplayer-themed games, with the two finalists competing in a speedrun contest on custom Super Mario Maker levels.
Related: One of the rarest NWC cartridges was on sale for nearly $100,000
The first NWC was held in 1990 in 29 cities across the United States. Winners of the 29 events won tickets to the finals of the tournament, which was held in Los Angeles later that year. The winner of the grand final event won $10,000 in savings bonds, a Mario-themed trophy, and a host of Nintendo prizes like consoles and games.
The prizes and details for this year’s finals are still currently unknown and are expected to be revealed in the coming weeks.
