The event was held at the Scratch DJ Academy, which is a school for DJ's. So that's why you'll see in the pictures that the center of the room was full of turntables all in a row. In the very center, however, were DS demo stations all set up to play Rhythm Heaven. We also all got an awesome Rhythm Heaven T-shirt on the way in, complete with "scratch-o hey!" below the cartoon DJ's! After partaking of some food and drink, I passed some time playing the game, but since I already had it, I didn't want to take away from people who might want to try it for the first time. DJay Jung was at the turntables, providing some great tunes throughout the evening and keeping things hopping.

Marc Franklin, Nintendo of America's director of public relations, took to the mic to welcome us and introduce the game that we'd all been enjoying for a while already, and then the "game expert" for the evening, Nintendo's Krysta Yang, demonstrated the DJ mini-game in Rhythm Heaven. That should've been clue one that this was the game to be practicing all night...

Eventually, DJ Daddy Dog took control of the proceedings and had us all line up at the turntables. There weren't quite enough for everyone, but we were all polite enough to take turns. With DJay Jung providing the beats, and helpful TA's to help those of us struggling with the equipment, DJ Daddy Dog talked us through a few basic scratching techniques. Sadly, while we learned four or five different scratches, I can only recall a few. I think the basic move was the "baby scratch", I think, and I remember the "scribble" scratch, which was the really fast paced one. The "whip" was where you let the disc spin up a bit, then whip it back real fast so it screeches. And the "transformer" was where you scratch slowly, but flick the crossfader back and forth so the sound flutters. I kind of sucked at that one. Hm. I guess I remembered more than I thought. Anyway, it didn't help that with everyone doing the same thing, it was hard to tell what noise was coming out of your speaker. Then with the in-game pop music providing a backbeat, we all played Simon Says with DJay Jung, trying to mimic the exact scratches he was giving us.

Finally, it came time for the Rhythm Heaven tournament. I'd signed up, thinking that having played the game since it had come out, I might have an advantage. Unfortunately, the game was only half the competition — actual scratching would be involved. And on top of that, to sign up, you put your name in a basket, and only four names were drawn to compete. By some bizarre stroke of luck, I was chosen as one half of one of the teams. And I never win anything. It was really hilarious, because each team had one guy who had totally done some DJ-ing before (my teammate), and one gaming geek (me). So while we geeks were perfecty happy to let our partners take the real turntables in favor of the virtual ones in the DJ School mini-game, they were both too good, so DJ Daddy Dog decided that we geeks would have to take a turn as well. So with fear in my heart, I christened myself DJ Doomed and put the needle on the record. I couldn't even tell you how I thought I did besides the fact that halfway through my bit, I remembered the scribble scratch, and I think that saved me with the crowd.

Eventually, it was time to play the DJ School mini-game, which was being broadcast onto a large HD screen, and I was a little more confident. With the noise of the crowd and all, it was a little hard to focus, but I went into my zen gaming space and totally pulled off a "superb," with only a couple of boo-boos. I practically held my breath while my competition took his turn, and with every mistake he made, my hope grew. Eventually, DJ Daddy Dog had the crowd vote with their applause, and while the first time I thought we were only a smidge ahead, when he had them cheer again, we clearly had the crowd on our side. So with that, the winners were declared, and it am us! Marc Franklin presented us each with our prize pack which consisted of a free introductory lesson at the DJ Scratch Academy (which I am so totally going to take at some point because, hell, why not?), a copy of Rhythm Heaven, a pair of Bose headphones emblazoned with the Rhythm Heaven logo, and best of all, a smexy black DSi! I couldn't believe my luck! It was so surreal!

Someone offered to but the DSi from me, but there was no way that was gonna happen. I kind of wanted one anyway, but couldn't figure out a way to justify spending the money when my DS Lite is still in perfect working order. I tried taking a picture of myself in the mirror wearing my Rhythm Heaven T-shirt with it, but it kind of came out crappy and fuzzy, and you couldn't see the detail on the shirt. The camera's not actually half-bad, though, much to my surprise. The only thing is now I'm going to spend so much time tinkering with the rest of the DSi features that I'm going to forget to play Rhythm Heaven!