Marshalltown man wins Klask national championship
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Eric Wilson still remembers hearing about a game called Klask, which, to the uninitiated, is something of a hybrid between foosball and air hockey played on a tabletop using magnets to control a piece that looks like a taller version of a pawn in chess, from his brother all the way back in 2018 around Christmas time.
"I looked it up after he had told me about it. I thought it looked like fun and I ordered my own copy in January of 2019," he said. "I didn't really have anybody here at the house to play so I ended up taking it to the office (at Emerson)."
So how does Klask work? Players try to shoot the main ball into each other's goal a la hockey or soccer, but there are also magnets set out in the middle of the board that can be shot at the opponent. If two are stuck to one player, the other player gets a point. The first to six points wins the game, and matches are played best two out of three. Although it's still relatively obscure in the U.S., the game, which was invented in Denmark, enjoys massive popularity in Europe.
"It is a simple game. I think it's a lot of fun. The more I played it, the more I wanted to get better at it," Wilson said. "There are a lot of different strategies, I think, to playing this game. I don't know what to tell you as far as new players because I don't want anybody to be overwhelmed. It's a simple game to learn. A game takes maybe three minutes."
Wilson, an MHS graduate who now works for a company called Copeland in IT, parlayed his skill as a competitive foosball player into the new game and got a couple of his then-coworkers at Emerson hooked on it. They played every day over lunch, and in his words, he started to get "pretty good."
Before long, he felt the itch to test his skills against the best of the best in the area and signed up for a tournament at Dimensional Brewing in Dubuque, which he won. A regional and national tournament were then held in Indianapolis, and Wilson won the regional before he was defeated in the opening round of nationals in a three game thriller by a 6-5 score in the final frame.
Once COVID hit, Wilson said he took a long hiatus from Klask and didn't really start playing again until last year with a new group of coworkers before moving to his current work from home arrangement. He added, however, that he forces his nephew to play him "almost daily."
The competitive itch returned shortly thereafter, and he was ready to get back to nationals. This time, Wilson won a regional tournament in Appleton, Wis., where his cousin resides, where he knew he would have to face the reigning national champion from Illinois.
"I kind of handled business. I got him 6-0 in the second game, so I really won handily," he said.
Fresh off of his regional title -- and with the blessing to miss his father-in-law's wedding the same weekend -- Wilson headed off to Los Angeles for nationals at the end of July and, as fate would have it, ended up with a rematch against the player from Vancouver, Wash., who knocked him out in the opener back in 2019. This time, however, it was in the finals, and this time, he got his revenge.
Now that he's the national champion, Wilson will have the opportunity to travel to the Finnish capital of Helsinki for the world championship on Sept. 9 and represent the stars and stripes as he faces off against 23 other competitors from several European countries, Australia, Canada and Japan.
"I expect there to be some difficult competitors there, but I do think I'm gonna run into some players that I'm surprised they made it," he said.
Wilson is part of a small but passionate group of Klask players in Marshalltown that includes MHS Tennis Coach James Christensen, but he's always trying to grow the game and invite more people into the fold. He's now on his third copy and donated his original one to Game Haven inside the Marshalltown Mall, and he even volunteered to show this reporter the ropes and play him in a game.
It will shock no one to learn that the Klask national champion defeated the novice 6-0.
Anyone who wishes to learn more about Klask or is interested in sponsoring Wilson's trip to Finland can contact him at (641) 485-5140.