RRLAN 2025: An Event Like No Other
Head-to-head, face-to-face
The Hitman Roulette community is known for its creative events and other initiatives, but few were as exciting (or ambitious) as the first-ever roulette LAN tournament, held just before the 2023 World Championship. With five players in attendance and In4Fun taking the win, little evidence remains beyond the results sheet, but for those who were there, it was a very enjoyable week.
Just like with the first event two years ago, Yannini once again took on hosting duties, gauging interest for a Summer 2025 gathering near Berlin, Germany. In the end, 13 community members made the trip, not only making for a fun week in the LAN house, but also allowing for a full three-day double-elimination bracket.
On the Tuesday bracket draw, the 13 players were randomly drawn in their spots on the double-elimination bracket. Three players (In4Fun, Yannini, and ChrisX3) received byes, while the other ten began their journey in Round 1. Alongside regional showdowns like Denmark vs Sweden and the Netherlands vs Belgium, the bracket also delivered a standout matchup: Scruffy vs lukedotpng as the fifth game of Day 1.
The Wednesday Warm-Ups
The three-day RRLAN 2025 tournament kicked off each day at 10 AM, with eight matches scheduled per session, ensuring that everyone would get to play at least once on both of the first two days. Veggerby and Cabben opened the event, and after a tough Colorado and an impressive Haven performance, Veggerby came out on top with a 5–1 win. To help avoid long photo finish ties or drawn-out timeouts, the point limit for RRLAN was changed to First-to-5, shortening a few matches along the way.
Next up, in the battle of F7SC admins, ThatObserver faced off against Some Random Person. While Random wasn’t far behind, a near-flawless performance from Observer led to the first sweep of RRLAN. The next match brought plenty of drama: Pigiero jumped out to a 4–0 lead against Falcon, but a body found late in Whittleton Creek kept Falcon in the game, before a clutch Dubai run pushed the match to a decider. In Sapienza, Pigiero was spotted 12 minutes in, allowing Falcon to complete the reverse sweep and move on to face ChrisX3 later on Day 1.
The final two matches of Round 1 were both tough to call. First, aphro showed up in great form to take Berlin, Hokkaido, and Bangkok from CurryMaker, advancing to Round 2. Then it was time for the day’s most anticipated match, Scruffy vs lukedotpng, and it didn’t disappoint. First, Scruffy stormed through Berlin before Luke equalized on Haven Island. After a rapid, straightforward Chongqing, Scruffy took the lead again and eventually secured the win with an intense Dartmoor photo finish tie.
With Round 1 complete, there was enough time for the last three players to make their debuts, and all three won their only Wednesday match. First, In4Fun defeated Veggerby on a Season 2–only mappool, then ChrisX3 was flawless on both map picks, as well as Alexa Consumed Poison to sweep Falcon.
Finally, Yannini vs ThatObserver brought one of the best matches of the day. After dominant play on Marrakesh and a nail-biting Dartmoor photo finish, Yannini was up 4–0. Observer responded with a win in Dubai and was just a minute away from taking Santa Fortuna when the internet went down for 20 minutes. Keeping the game paused and his poker face on, Obs wasn’t fazed by the break and finished the job, but the back-and-forth Haven decider went Yannini’s way, and he advanced to Round 3.
Despite a few technical hiccups, Day 1 of RRLAN 2025 ran remarkably smoothly, with all eight matches wrapped up in just over eight hours. With no Losers’ Bracket matches scheduled for Wednesday, every player left the day still in the running for the title.
The Thursday Rivalries
RRLAN 2025 continued on Thursday with eight more matches, determining the two Winners’ Bracket finalists and eliminating five players to narrow the field down to eight. The day began with the only LB Round 1 match, where both sleepy players took their own map picks, but lukedotpng eventually pulled through with a 6–2 win to eliminate CurryMaker.
Closing out the Round 2 action that had started late on Wednesday, aphro faced Scruffy next. The four-time champion surged to a quick 4–0 lead with near-record performances on Santa Fortuna and Sapienza. Scruffy did restart in Whittleton Creek, however, allowing aphro to cruise to a map win before ending the match 2-6: Scruffy would advance to play In4Fun as the final match of Day 2.
Thursday was also defined by eliminations, as the tournament played through the entirety of LB Round 2. First up, Cabben swept Falcon with kills ranging from the rapid Nolan Electrocution to the controversial Vanya Drowning. Then, Pigiero and Veggerby battled during peak lunchtime hours, and although Pigiero won 6–2, Veggerby also found success in Haven, as well as with his own pizza:
Before lukedotpng and aphro returned for their second matches of the day, Yannini faced ChrisX3 for a spot in the Winners Final. Though Yannini had the historical edge in Roulette Rivals matchups and the advantage of playing on his own setup, Chris brought his A-game, winning Colorado, Marrakesh, and New York, only losing Ambrose Island along the way.
After a short break, the second half of LB Round 2 got underway. ThatObserver took the lead against lukedotpng with a narrow win in Mumbai, but Luke mounted a full comeback, winning three maps in quick succession to guarantee himself a Top 8 (so not 9th) finish. In the penultimate match, aphro took her Miami pick, while Some Random Person won Isle of Sgàil. On the RNG-heavy maps that followed, aphro kept the match in control, to end yet another match 6-2, the sixth identical scoreline of the day from seven matches.
Ultimately, the most anticipated match of the day was saved for last, and it was the only one to go to all five maps. Scruffy and In4Fun’s first rematch since the RRWC 2024 Semi-Final started in Bangkok and Miami, both played nearly flawlessly by the Irishman for a quick 4–0 lead. Despite the Dartmoor RNG favoring Scruffy, a mistimed item drop gave In4Fun the edge to force a fourth map. Haven Island proved difficult for both, but while Scruffy’s runs all ended prematurely, In4Fun’s lone 13-minute attempt survived, pushing the match to a Hokkaido decider. In the end, a missed emetic dart flipped the map in In4Fun’s favor, completing the reverse sweep. For Scruffy to win RRLAN, he’d have needed to win four matches on the final day.
The Friday Gauntlet
While other days could be scheduled more flexibly, allowing late sleepers to avoid early matches, the final and deciding day of RRLAN 2025 featured an almost fully predetermined lineup, a gauntlet to overcome in order to become the champion. Eight players started the day with a chance to win it all, but the number shrank after almost every match.
The day began with lukedotpng sweeping Cabben, including one of the fastest Chongqing wins of all time, followed by solid gameplay on two Big 5 maps: his reward would be a rematch against Scruffy. Round 3 of the Losers Bracket wrapped up with Pigiero facing aphro: she took an early lead with another impressive Whittleton Creek win against an RR champion, but Pigiero found a way back to win 6–2.
With their RRLAN rematch, Scruffy and lukedotpng have now played twice online and twice in person, and this LB Round 4 encounter may have been their most exciting yet. After Scruffy’s drive-by went wrong, Luke took the lead on Dubai, but the match was tied again after a clean Chongqing. A single rip decided Berlin and put Luke on match point, but Scruffy’s impressive Sierra Fall approach and unmatched New York execution put him over the line to stay in the tournament.
The next two matches were the final ones to end after just three maps. First, Yannini won his LB Round 4 match against Pigiero, with only one rip across the match, and his opponent not being far behind. Then came the Winners Bracket Final between In4Fun and ChrisX3, which ended 5–1 following an Isle of Sgàil photo finish tie and two first-try wins from In4Fun, making him the first finalist.
The owners of seven Roulette Rivals titles clashed for a chance to face ChrisX3 in the LB Final, and Yannini vs Scruffy turned out to be the best match of the entire week. After Yannini won a tricky Chongqing spin, Scruffy had the lead in Mumbai before failing the No Target Pacification complication. A review of his setup revealed he had no way of seeing the red box indicator, so a respin was deemed fairest, which Scruffy won as well. From 2–2, the match progressed to 4–4, but in the most unlikely way: both Bangkok and Sapienza ended in photo finish ties, with the latter ending in two insane virus snipes:
The match finally ended on the fifth map, on the sixth spin: a quick Dubai saw different approaches from both players, but it was Yannini who risked more and ultimately succeeded after just 1:11 of in-game time to eliminate Scruffy.
ChrisX3 and Yannini’s rematch in the LB Final was even closer than their earlier encounter. Berlin came down to a rip by Yannini, but he bounced back to win Sapienza by about 30 seconds. The Hokkaido spin featured the first-ever competitive Overheat the Sauna kill condition, after which, for the first time in the match, Yannini had the lead. ChrisX3 then aced a long Whittleton Creek spin to force a Colorado decider, where the Sean Fire kill made all the difference, completing a strong comeback to play for the title.
A second straight map 5 set the stage for the final: an In4Fun vs ChrisX3 rematch. As with most Grand Finals, the format included a map pool reset and an extended structure, allowing both players to select three maps before a potential untimed decider at 6–6. After a short break and the draft, the final began on Sgàil, where In4Fun took the lead after some detours. The awkward Marrakesh spin took nine minutes to complete, putting In4Fun up 4–0. Hokkaido was quite the opposite, allowing players to take some risks: Chris’s approach was faster, but he was unfortunately caught before his first kill, allowing In4Fun to reach match point. The match would end in Colorado, where Chris couldn’t catch a break while trying to eliminate Maya with a loud explosive, as In4Fun would first try the spin to become the RRLAN 2025 champion.
The Community Wins
RRLAN wasn’t just about the tournament. After three days of competition, the week continued with a trip to Berlin on Saturday and a team trilogy race on Sunday. Players were drafted into teams of two or three to tackle 19 spins in a real-life relay. After 2.5 hours, the team of Yannini, ThatObserver, and CurryMaker took first place, but every team had fun tackling the spins together.
The tournament wouldn’t have been possible without Yannini’s hospitality, CurryMaker’s technical expertise, aphro’s backup internet connection, and the many others who brought their gear to Germany. Thanks to them, and to every player who made the trip, RRLAN 2025 became one of the most memorable weeks in the community’s history.
