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Coming Soon
13 days away
The Triton Gaming Expo at UCSD's Price Center exists because students wanted it to exist. That is the entire origin story — no corporate sponsor, no outside promoter, no venue deal negotiated through a regional events company. A gaming expo organized by people who go to school here, for an audience that actually plays. That is what makes it feel different from the moment you walk in. May 30, 2026 at Price Center, UCSD, La Jolla. Tabletop gaming rooms running open play from the time doors open. Video game setups from current-gen to deep retro. Tournaments with real brackets across multiple titles. The specific atmosphere that exists when a room is organized by people who genuinely care about what they are running — no sponsorship banners every twelve feet, no activation booths, just games and an audience that came to play. Price Center's open layout puts you steps from the coast in La Jolla in late May, which is as good as San Diego gets. If you are in the county and anywhere near the hobby, this is worth your Saturday. One of the best game rooms in San Diego, built for one day. Organized by Triton Gaming at UCSD.
Coming Soon
5 days away
FanimeCon is one of the oldest and largest anime conventions in the United States, running every Memorial Day weekend since 1994 at the San Jose Convention Center. It draws 25,000-30,000 attendees over four days and is the flagship event for the West Coast anime community. Unlike larger conventions, FanimeCon is entirely fan-run. No corporate booths dominating the floor. The panels, screenings, and programming are organized by volunteers who have been running this event for decades. That community ownership gives it an atmosphere that is hard to replicate. It feels less like a trade show and more like the largest anime club meetup in California. Programming runs 24 hours across the weekend. The cosplay masquerade on Saturday is a full theatrical production. The gaming hall is one of the best at any convention, running tournaments, free-play consoles, and retro arcades through the night. The dealer room and artist alley are substantial, with indie creators outnumbering corporate licensors. Bay Area, Sacramento, and Central Valley attendees make up the core, but it draws convention-goers from across the West Coast. Four-day badges sell out. Single-day passes may be available at the door. If you have been to Anime Expo but not FanimeCon, the culture is meaningfully different.
Coming Soon
18m away
Meeples Games, 3821 Ray St, San Diego. May 17th. Free to come in — $5 for the game you want to play if you're pulling from the library. Board Game Night at Meeples is the version of Sunday evening that makes sense if you've been looking for a reason to be somewhere. Meeples is a dedicated game store with a library that covers the full range: gateway games for newcomers, heavy euros for the people who want to spend three hours at one table, co-ops, trick-taking games, drafting games, hidden role games. The staff knows what's on the shelf and can match you to something in five minutes. The people who show up for Board Game Night are regulars and first-timers in about equal measure, which makes the table dynamic friendly in the way that a game store night has that a stranger's house doesn't. Free entry, $5 game rental if you need it. May 17th. meeplesgamessd.com for the full schedule. Ray Street in North Park is worth the trip by itself — good food nearby, the store is walkable from the neighborhood. Show up without a plan and let the library decide.
Coming Soon
16h away
TCS Rockets, 7626 Miramar Rd, San Diego. May 17th, 2026. $20 to enter. The City Championship is where the format gets tested by players who have been preparing since the last Regional — and where your deck either proves it was built correctly or you find out which matchup you forgot to account for. The local tournament circuit is where competitive Pokemon is actually played. Regionals get the coverage; Cities are where the work happens. The players at the top tables have logged the hours, tuned the lists, and know the format well enough to read the matchup before the first coin flip. That level of play is worth watching even if you're not competing — the gap between a list built for theory and a list built for the actual meta becomes visible in about four rounds. $20 entry. May 17th at TCS Rockets, a venue that runs Pokemon events with real tournament infrastructure. Side events run throughout the day. If you've been sitting on a deck you want to test at this level, this is the right room — competitive but accessible, with judges who know the rules and a bracket you can finish in a day. Registration at play.pokemon.com or at the venue.
Coming Soon
5 days away
Anime Conji is San Diego's longest-running fan-organized anime convention, held annually at the Handlery Hotel in Mission Valley for a three-day weekend of anime, manga, gaming, cosplay, and the specific community that has kept this event running for over a decade as an independent, fan-operated alternative to the larger commercial conventions. The convention's fan-run character gives Anime Conji a distinct personality: the programming decisions are made by people who attend because they genuinely love the material, the guest selection reflects real community enthusiasm rather than marketing considerations, and the convention floor has the energy of a community gathering rather than a marketplace. Anime Conji features programming across multiple rooms covering series-specific panels, AMV (anime music video) competitions, voice actor guest Q&As and signings, a dealers room with merchandise from licensed and independent vendors, an artist alley with original work from regional creators, and a cosplay competition with detailed craftsmanship judging. The Handlery Hotel is at 950 Hotel Cir N in Mission Valley, accessible from the I-8 at Hotel Circle. The Mission Valley Trolley stop connects to downtown San Diego. Convention badge holders receive discounted hotel rates at the Handlery when booking through the Anime Conji room block. Weekend and single-day badges available through the Anime Conji website.
Coming Soon
5 days away
Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center, 1000 H St, Chula Vista. May 22nd, 2026. Card Party 4 is the trading card game pop-up market that treats the hobby the way it deserves — a real venue, a serious vendor selection, and the specific energy of a room full of people who know exactly what they're looking at. Card Party is not a casual flea market. The vendors who table here specialize — sealed product, singles, graded cards, vintage sets, and the newer releases that have been moving in the secondary market. Walking the floor is the experience of seeing the full spectrum of what collecting looks like at every level, from the person pulling a specific card for a deck they've been building to the collector sitting on long boxes of raw vintage stock. The Gaylord Pacific Resort gives the event the setting to match its ambitions — a convention-scale resort venue in Chula Vista, accessible from San Diego and across the South Bay. card.party for the full vendor list and ticket details. If you collect cards of any kind — Pokemon, Magic, sports, vintage — this is the show that covers the entire hobby under one roof. Come with a want list. Leave with more than you planned.
Coming Soon
6 days away
GameSync San Diego, May 23rd. Five dollars at the door. Retro Gaming Night is the version of the evening where the game library opens and the default becomes: find something you haven't played since it mattered and play it in a room where someone else remembers it too. The collection runs from NES through the late console generations — cartridges, discs, controllers with the specific weight and resistance you forgot until you pick one up again. The muscle memory is still there. The level layout you thought you'd forgotten comes back by the second room. That recognition — the thing you didn't know your hands remembered — is the event. It happens faster than you expect and it tends to keep you at the machine longer than you planned. GameSync manages the library and the setup. You show up, pick your game, and find the person one station over who chose the same one. Conversations start over this that don't start other ways. $5. 2860 Main Street. May 23rd. The social geometry of a retro gaming night at a real venue is different from anything you can replicate with an emulator alone. Bring someone who grew up playing. Or show up alone and meet someone who did.
Coming Soon
6 days away
GameSync San Diego, 2860 Main St. May 23rd. $10. Dragon Ball Sparking Zero Community Night is the version of the game that ranked matches can't give you — a room, real people, and the specific energy of a fighting game played with an audience watching who has an opinion about every character select. GameSync runs the setup right: real monitors, proper controllers, a bracket that treats the evening like the event it is. Community nights at GameSync have the benefit of regulars — players who come monthly and have history with each other, which produces a level of play and a level of competitive conversation that you don't find at a random online lobby. The Dragon Ball community is vocal. A close match in this room has an audience. $10 at the door. May 23rd. If you've been playing since launch, show up and see where your game stands against the room. If you're new to Sparking Zero, community night is the right entry — you'll lose to players who can explain what you did wrong, which is how you get better. gamesync.us for the full event details and schedule.
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