Technically Not Tech: Game Time Philly puts Philly on the top of the Madden World

Ron Jackson may be the best football player in Philadelphia you’ve never heard of.
The Mayfair resident is one of the founding members of Game Time Philly, the most successful and respected crew of Madden gamers in the nation and the home of the city’s pseudo-underground training and tournament ground for the popular NFL video game.
If training for a video game sounds bizarre to you, then you haven’t peaked into the world of the professional Madden player. Much like their real-life counterparts, talented Madden gamers can score thousands of dollars by playing a game they love, especially in the burgeoning world of professional video game tournaments.
The Madden world’s most celebrated tournament is the Madden Challenge. The tournament has been the subject of an ESPN reality TV show with the champion often taking home six figures in winnings, and Philly just happens to be the city with the most championships.
“Someone from Philly is always coming home with $100,000,” says Jackson, “All of the Madden Challenge winners except for one or two have come from Philly.”

“Anybody from Game Time is capable of being the best in county,” says Jackson, “The guy who won the Madden Nation tour last year [Anthony “Young Nephew” Brinson] is from NJ. He started training when he was 13, and he won $100,000.”
Game Time Philly was founded in 1997 with eight members in Lynwood Gardens, an apartment complex in Elkins Park.
“We wanted to make it something bigger than the video game,” says Jackson.

Ever since, the group has been holding frequent tournaments at Ball Busters in Southwest Philly while continually producing some of the national Madden circuit’s heavy hitters, including the winners of the 2004 and 2009 Madden Challenge.
“I couldn’t stand guys not sharing strategies,” he says of the reasoning behind the group’s creation. Jackson, a former Safety for Catholic University, also doles out advice on the popular MaddenTips.com forums and as the Defensive Backs coach for The Frankford Chargers, last year’s Pop Warner national champions.

For Game Time, members begin the road to national prominence by showing up on Sunday for their weekly tournaments. If the player proves themselves, an existing member will likely take them under their wing and help develop their game. In the Madden world, this usually means “labbing” with each other and testing out new techniques and strategies.
“So once you get into the tournament is easy, because you have always put that time in with your crew … The speed of the game in person is faster then it is online. Plus, there is always a crowd and a lot of people screaming and yelling at you,” he says adding that, at tournaments, smacktalking and heckling are expected.
“It’s like Cowboys-Eagles every time there is a game of Madden. Only if the Cowboys walked around Philly with no security,” he says.
And while the payday can be high at tournaments, private games amongst players can be just as pressure-packed with some players betting on individual games.
“You would put $1,000 on top of the XBox and PlayStation and that money would start talking to you,” he says.
All of the local collaboration has paid off. According to Game Time’s Web site, seven of the past nine champions have been from Game Time Philly. Game Time is also responsible for more regional championships than any other crew and often has players from other cities flying in to the try their luck with the nation’s best.
While no longer an official member, Jackson still helps in building the Game Time community and often uses his Pop Warner games as an inspiration for Madden strategies and vice-versa.
“All the real life football translates to the game,” he says.
Below: GTP member and Madden Challenge Champion Len “Dynasty” Green talks about the success of Game Time Philly members at a recent tournament:
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