Rock music could be heard throughout the food court Tuesday night at Northbridge Mall as the best of the best in the “Guitar Hero” finals battled against each other to win a trophy and a flatscreen TV.

The top 10 competitors have been monitored for three weeks, their top scores earning them a place in the finals. Nine men and one woman took the guitar in two rounds.

The first round had each competitor playing individually to the same song. The top eight then advanced to the second round, where two videogame musicians battled against each other. The winner of the battles moved on to be named in the top four and go for the title of champion.

“It’s pretty cool to compete against people,” said competitor Aaron Dempewolf.

Throughout the entire competition, 15-year-old Rob Jacobson was favored to win. He was at the Northbridge Mall on June 10 for the first day of the “Guitar Hero” competition.

That first night, Jacobson said the pressure got to him, but he was excited to compete against someone. Jacobson on Tuesday was in first place until his third round, where he went up against Tanner Fjelstat and lost, taking third place.

The winner turned out to be second-seated Ryan Gebhardt, a 19-year-old from Waltham who won $10,000 at Mystic Lake Casino in a “Guitar Hero” competition. This was Gebhardt’s fifth competition, and he won a 19-inch flatscreen TV and a trophy.

Before the final round in which he won the competition, Gebhardt joked about quitting school — he takes classes at Iowa State University — and taking up “Guitar Hero” as a professional.

“It’s a good competition,” he said. “It draws fans, draws business.”

The “Guitar Hero” contest at Northbridge Mall drew players of all ages, from 10 to 25.

“Guitar Hero” is a video game where music is played on a plastic guitar with colored buttons where frets usually are on the neck. The colored buttons correspond to colored notes on the TV screen. Strumming the fake strings is also required in the game.

All ages were eligible to play, and the cost was $10 for three songs, which could have been played all at once or spaced out through the three-week period. The contests were held three times a week. All competitors had to play on the expert level.

One boy came from as far away as Sleepy Eye to compete. Jon Altmann was in town a few weeks ago to visit family and saw the competition.

“He’s doing pretty good,” said family member Matt Kirckham of Rochester. “He’s pretty gifted at this. You’ve got to be.

“It’s kind of nice to have something for the kids to do. Most kids like this stuff.”

The prize for second place was a mall $100 gift certificate, and third-place prize was a choice of four tickets to Adventure Land, Noah’s Ark, the Minnesota Zoo or the Renaissance Festival. Other prizes included cash, gift certificates, movie tickets and Power 96 T-shirts.

Family and friends watched the contest, almost filing up the tables in the food court.

Amanda Rahn was the only girl in the competition, but that didn’t intimidate her. What made her a little nervous, she said, was the skill of the other players. She said she didn’t think she would get to the top 10, but ended up placing sixth.

“I think she did fairly well,” said David Throlson, a family member of Rahn’s. “It’s good, healthy competition.”