Relive Gaming & Esports Events

203 gaming & esports events the community showed up for — relive the night, then catch the next one.

Anime & Manga Events Gaming & Esports Events Concert & Music Events Movie & Film Events Sports Events Comic & Superhero Events Convention & Expo Events Fashion & Streetwear Events Family & Community Events Comedy Events Theater & Dance Events Art & Culture Events Nation's Best

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117 Gathered

🌎 Nation's Best

117

SacAnime Summer 2026 – Sacramento

Sep 4 – Sep 6, 2026 SAFE Credit Union Convention Cente…

Between Anime Expo in July and the fall circuit in October, there is a gap in the West Coast calendar - and this is the con that fills it, the reason SoCal fans make the road trip north over Labor Day weekend. Consistently one of the best-organized regional anime conventions on the coast, it has built its name on accessible, community-first programming. It runs three days across multiple spaces including the main convention hall, Memorial Auditorium, and the Hyatt Ballroom: guest panels, voice actor signings, cosplay competitions, gaming rooms, a dealer hall, an artist alley, and late-night programming that runs well past midnight. Guest lineups typically include English and Japanese voice actors, animation industry professionals, and cosplay celebrities. Sacramento is about six hours from San Diego and five and a half from Los Angeles - a realistic Labor Day road trip. The convention center sits downtown, walkable from hotels along the K Street corridor, and for SoCal fans who already do Anime Expo and FanimeCon, this typically offers more accessible crowds and shorter signing lines than the larger cons. SAFE Credit Union Convention Center, Sacramento, September 4-6, 2026.

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58 Gathered

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LAcon V / Worldcon 2026

Aug 27 – Aug 31, 2026 From $125 Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim…

The conversation that starts at a panel and is still going two hours later in a hotel lobby - between a first-timer and someone who has come every year since the 1970s - is the part of Worldcon nobody photographs, and it is the reason people build their August around it. If science fiction has genuinely shaped how you think, this is the room where the people who built the genre gather to decide what it becomes next. This is the 84th World Science Fiction Convention, founded in 1939, and it is where the Hugo Awards - the genre's highest honor - are presented. Five days of programming dense enough to require a spreadsheet: panels with authors whose books shaped how you see the world, an Art Show of original science fiction and fantasy illustration available for purchase, a Film Festival, and the Masquerade, one of the world's most ambitious costume competitions, where attendees spend months building a creation for a single stage walk. But the truest texture lives in the hallways, and the community here is multigenerational in a way almost no other genre event is. Every attending member votes on the Hugo ballot, which gives you a reason to read widely before you even arrive. If you have opinions about where the genre is going and want to be in the room where those conversations happen, this is that room - not a pop-culture spectacle but a literary gathering with the scale to match. This is worth every dollar for the reader for whom the genre is a frame for understanding the world, not casual entertainment. A few practical notes. First-time attendees qualify for a $200 membership rate instead of the standard $250 adult price - register explicitly as a first-timer at lacon.org to save fifty dollars. The Hugo ceremony is a formal evening event; bring something nicer than a convention T-shirt. Programming is community-generated: attendees propose and vote on panels, so the schedule reflects genuine fan priorities rather than a corporate team. Book the Hilton Anaheim or Anaheim Marriott to stay in the convention hotels and maximize hallway time. The Art Show sells original work, so budget separately for it. Worldcon returns to Los Angeles for the first time since 2006, at a moment when science fiction's reach - through streaming, gaming, and AI - has never been broader while the literary community that seeded all of it has never been more visible. The writers in those panel rooms are the ones shaping how space travel, artificial intelligence, and social change will feel to readers a generation from now. That conversation happens August 27-31 at the Anaheim Convention Center.

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99 Gathered

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Pokémon World Championships 2026

Aug 28 – Aug 30, 2026 Moscone Center, 747 Howard St, San…

Somewhere out there is a person who spent an entire year grinding regional qualifiers just for the chance to sit down at one table and find out, over a best-of-three, whether they are the best on the planet. Once a year those people all converge on a single city. In 2026, that city is San Francisco. The Pokemon World Championships is the culmination of a full competitive season across four formats: the Trading Card Game, Pokemon video games, Pokemon GO, and Pokemon Unite. Players from dozens of countries arrive having earned their invitation through a year of regional qualifications, international championships, and ranking points, all of it chasing a single title - World Champion. The 2026 event runs August 28-30 at San Francisco's Moscone Center, with the championship finals taking place at Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors. That separation matters. Moscone is where the tournament lives: thousands of players at tables, a lifetime of preparation compressed into a best-of-three, and the focused silence that only happens when everything is on the line. Chase Center is where it becomes spectacle - loud finals crowd, polished production, two players making decisions at the absolute ceiling of what the game allows. PokemonXP, the fan event running alongside the main championship, is the part that turns spectators into believers: Artist Alley, exclusive merchandise drops, side events, content creators, mascots, and spaces built for people who love this franchise without necessarily knowing the meta. For competitive players, Worlds is the Super Bowl. For fans, it is the weekend the hobby becomes a cultural event - and it is worth going even if you are not competing, as long as you plan ahead. Single-day passes are limited and distributed through an interest list at pokemon.com, with registration closing mid-June, and hotels in SoMa fill within days of registration windows opening. The Moscone district and nearby Japantown spend the whole weekend in Pokemon energy; the fan ecosystem extends well past the official venue. A day-trip from SoCal is realistic - San Francisco is a short flight or a 6-hour drive from Los Angeles. Pokemon is 30 years old and still generating its most competitive, most watched, most globally contested meta, and knowing that someone out there spent a year grinding regionals to earn their shot at this is the kind of thing that briefly makes you love the hobby again even if you have not played since you were ten.

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LEGO Festival 2026 at LEGOLAND California Resort

Aug 30, 2026 $79 LEGOLAND California Resort, 1 Lego…

There is still a bin of bricks in the back of a closet in your house. Not because it is worth anything. Because every time you open the lid you are nine years old and the bedroom floor is a city only you understand. Five zones take over the park for six weeks — Music, Creative, Chill-Out, a new Thrill zone, and a Play Zone built around LEGO Pokemon, the crossover that finally puts two entire childhoods on the same table. Kids build. Parents remember. Everyone disappears into something that requires no screen and no explanation. The detail that gets parents: all of it is included with regular admission or an eligible annual pass. No upcharge, no premium tier, no wristband hustle. You walk in and the whole park is the festival. Bring the grandparents. They will build something and be unreasonably proud of it, and you will keep that photograph forever.

Pokemon World Championships 2026 — San Francisco, CA

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19 Gathered

🌎 Nation's Best

Pokemon World Championships 2026 — San Francisco, CA

Aug 28 – Aug 30, 2026 0.0 Moscone Center, 747 Howard St, San…

This Happened

67 Gathered

🌎 Nation's Best

Gamescom 2026

Aug 25 – Aug 30, 2026 Koelnmesse, Messeplatz 1, 50679 Co…

Gamescom 2026 opens August 25-30 in Cologne, Germany -- the world's largest gaming trade show and the biggest consumer games event in Europe. Opening Night Live on August 25 streams globally with major first-looks and announcements. Public days follow August 26-30 with hands-on demos, developer reveals, and the kind of scale that makes E3's peak years look modest. Why go: Gamescom is where publishers bring their biggest titles for global reveals. Q4 2026 and early 2027 games get their final showcases here before the holiday season launches. The show floor spans Koelnmesse's full complex at Messeplatz 1 in Cologne -- multiple halls, each dedicated to different segments of the industry and fan experience. For SoCal fans who cannot make the trip to Germany, Opening Night Live streams free online on August 25 and is reliably one of the most-watched gaming broadcasts of the year. For those attending in person, travel tips: book Cologne accommodation at least six months in advance, register early for tickets through gamescom.global, and prioritize the publisher halls for hands-on demos in the first two public days before lines build.

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Los Angeles Angels vs Philadelphia Phillies

Aug 29, 2026 $20+ Angel Stadium of Anaheim, 2000 E G…

The Phillies travel like a traveling circus in the best way, their red-clad fans taking over visiting ballparks and bringing a rowdy, big-league energy wherever they go. When one of the National League's most exciting teams rolls into Anaheim on a late-August Saturday, Angel Stadium gets loud, and the interleague novelty makes it a can't-miss weekend date. Saturday, August 29, 2026, Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Get there early, soak up the atmosphere of two fanbases going back and forth, and enjoy a marquee opponent at honest Angel Stadium prices. Saturday-night baseball in Anaheim with a genuine contender in town is about as good as the regular season gets. Come see the Halos test themselves against one of the NL's best on a big summer night.

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15 Gathered

Collectors Expo Orange County 2026

Aug 22 – Aug 23, 2026 Anaheim Convention Center, 800 Wes…

You know the type. Keeps a separate folder for the cards they will never sell, can tell you what a binder smells like, texts one specific friend the second a set drops. For years that person has driven to a different little shop for every game they love — Pokemon one weekend, One Piece the next, Lorcana somewhere across town. This is the weekend all of it lands in the same building. Pokemon, One Piece, Riftbound, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Lorcana and Magic share one convention floor: vendors deep enough to turn up the card you have been hunting for years, tables to trade and play, and the rare overlap where competitive grinders and vintage collectors finally walk the same aisles. Part flea market, part reunion, part the dig you have been putting off. Anaheim Convention Center, 800 West Katella Avenue. If you already know what a good pull feels like in your chest, nobody has to talk you into this one.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in Concert — Rady Shell San Diego

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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in Concert — Rady Shell San Diego

Aug 21, 2026 Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, 222 Mar…

The first four notes of Hedwig's Theme have never failed to do the thing they do - and hearing them played by a full orchestra, in real time, while the film runs on a screen above the water, is a different order of the feeling entirely. This is not a concert with some Harry Potter branding stapled on; the San Diego Symphony performs John Williams' complete score for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone live, synchronized to the movie, every scene he scored - the quidditch match, the troll in the dungeon, the final confrontation. It plays three nights at the Rady Shell, the waterfront amphitheatre on the Embarcadero, with the San Diego skyline behind the stage. The fandom in this city has been waiting a long time, and three nights is still not enough seats for everyone who wants to go. August 21, 22, and 23, 2026, 7pm. Tickets at theshell.org. Book early.

LFG CON 2026 — Los Angeles Tabletop Gaming Convention

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348 1 saved

LFG CON 2026 — Los Angeles Tabletop Gaming Convention

Aug 13 – Aug 16, 2026 See lfg-con.com for badge options 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91…

The quiet magic of an open gaming convention is that nobody is running anything for you. You walk in, you find a table, and you play what you want with whoever wants to play it. Four days of exactly that. Board games, tabletop RPGs, miniatures, trading card games, and everything in the gaps between them. Community-run, built for people who already know what they want to play before they arrive. The game library stays open throughout — check something out, find a table, go. Organized tournaments run alongside the open gaming rather than replacing it. The RPG schedule carries multi-session campaigns across all four days, with pre-registration for the longer formats. This is not a show floor with demos and a line for a five-minute taste of something. It is a room full of tables where the gaming is the entire point. Marriott Burbank, 2500 Hollywood Way, Burbank. August 13-16, 2026. No spectators. Just games.

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377

IchigoCon 2026 — Gaming + Anime Oxnard

Aug 15, 2026 Oxnard Performing Arts Center, 800…

Ventura County has spent years being the place you leave to find your people — an hour to San Diego, an hour to LA, a drive and a crowd on the other end. IchigoCon is the answer the community built for itself: proof that you don't need to be in a major metro to have a real fandom gathering, just people who care enough to make one. It's run by the nonprofit behind the Oxnard Performing Arts Center, which gives it a genuine arts-and-culture weight most hotel-hall cons never get — a single, packed day of gaming tournaments, anime screenings, voice-actor guests, a vendor hall, and a cosplay competition, all tightly run. For fans from Ventura, Santa Barbara, and the western Valley, this is the home con, the place local fandom actually forms instead of just briefly gathering in someone else's crowd. Oxnard Performing Arts Center, August 15 — a single-day pass, details and cosplay-contest registration at IchigoCon's page as the date nears. The show that deserves more attention than it gets, which is exactly the kind that grows.

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12 Gathered

MTG The Hobbit — Tabletop Release Day

Aug 14, 2026 Local Game Shops — SoCal

Every card in this set reads at two levels at once - the mechanical function, and the character or moment from the books it was pulled from - so opening a favorite is not just a good draw, it is Middle-earth arriving in your hand. Magic: The Gathering's The Hobbit set brings Tolkien's foundational fantasy into Magic's card frame, and the lore is built straight into the design: Gandalf, Bilbo, the dragon, the dwarves. Release Day is the Friday the shelves open and the sealed product is finally there to crack, and the first weekend of a new set is when the community gathers to figure out what everything actually does at the table - the theory meeting the card for the first time. Bring your deck-building instincts and expect the set to surprise you. Find your local SoCal game store and its Release Day events at magic.wizards.com. Local game shops across SoCal, August 14th - the Unexpected Journey begins for real.

California Extreme Pinball & Arcade Show 2026

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206 1 saved

California Extreme Pinball & Arcade Show 2026

Aug 8 – Aug 10, 2026 Santa Clara Convention Center, 500…

You've been in rooms full of pinball machines before. Not like this. Every July, collectors and operators bring their machines to Santa Clara — not for display, not behind velvet rope — but set up on free play for the entire weekend. Five hundred of them. The 1970s electromechanical tables that require a different kind of patience. The golden-age arcade cabinets. The obscure things from the late eighties that haven't been in a room together since the mall they lived in closed down. You pay once to get in, and then you just play. This is California Extreme, July 17-19, 2026 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The people who go every year describe it the same way: they expected to spend an hour and stayed the whole weekend. The machines are part of it. The other people who showed up knowing exactly where they were going — those people are the rest of it. All-weekend pass recommended. You cannot see five hundred machines in a day. Advance tickets at caextreme.org. Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Pkwy, Santa Clara, CA.

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45 Gathered

San Diego Pinball Open 2026

Aug 8 – Aug 9, 2026 Dave & Buster's San Diego, 2931 Ca…

Watching someone play a vintage table well is watching a person understand a machine more intimately than its designer ever intended - specific cabinets with specific quirks that the regulars have mapped across hundreds of games. Competitive pinball is not what most people picture when they hear competitive gaming, and that gap is exactly the reason to come. The players are serious and the machines have histories. Because it is an open format, spectators can watch the tournament tables while playing the surrounding machines - you are inside the event without being required to compete. IFPA sanctioning means the rankings are real and the players traveled to be here, and Dave & Buster's has the floor space and machine selection to run it properly. The open runs across both days; finals are Saturday evening. Show up if you have any curiosity about this at all. Dave & Buster's San Diego, 2931 Camino del Rio North, August 8-9, 2026. Registration at ifpapinball.com.

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35 Gathered

Mortal Kombat 1 Community Night SD

Aug 8, 2026 $10 GameSync San Diego, 2860 Main St, …

The read you had on a character last month falls apart the moment their kameo selection shifts - and the only way to stress-test your adaptation is against opponents who have been doing the same study in parallel. MK1's kameo system changes the calculus of every matchup, and this is the informal bracket that is more honest than ranked online and more competitive than a casual session. Community Night is the laboratory. It is built around one of the most technically demanding fighting game rosters in the current circuit, for players who want more than ranked online can give them. The San Diego MK community is building itself through nights like this - the regulars who have been in the bracket since launch and the players showing up for the first time to see where their game actually stands. Either way, the room has answers. Come find yours. $10 at the door. GameSync San Diego, 2860 Main St, August 8th. Event details and timing at gamesync.us.

Geekin Out Pop Culture Convention — La Mirada August 2026

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Geekin Out Pop Culture Convention — La Mirada August 2026

Aug 8, 2026 Holiday Inn La Mirada, 14299 Fires…

Big conventions sell you an experience. Small ones sell you the thing you actually came for. Nobody drives two hours to stand in a line for a photo op — they drive because one dealer somewhere has the exact figure they have been hunting since the nineties, and in a room this size you can genuinely find it. That is the whole proposition. Focused enough that serious collectors turn up with deep inventory, small enough that a casual browser is not immediately overwhelmed and pushed back out the door. Vendors run from original eighties action figures and vintage board games to modern collectible lines and custom fan art, and Creator Alley gives independent artists their own space to sell original work directly to whoever is standing there. One day in La Mirada, family-friendly, free parking in the hotel lot, cheaper if you buy ahead. Bring the kid who has never seen a wall of loose figures before. Or just bring yourself, at whatever age you are now.

27th Annual All-American Car Show — Seaport Village San Diego

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27th Annual All-American Car Show — Seaport Village San Diego

Aug 8, 2026 Seaport Village Embarcadero North,…

Every year, the harbor fills with chrome. Not the polished-for-a-dealership kind — the kind that somebody spent a Saturday morning with a rag and a can of polish, the kind that reflects the face of a person who knows exactly what year the factory stopped making that particular shade of candy apple red. The 27th Annual All-American Car Show takes over Embarcadero North at Seaport Village for one summer morning. All vehicles welcome — domestic, foreign, exotic, trucks, motorcycles. No era excluded. No make turned away. Registration opens at 7:30 AM and the show runs until 3:00 PM with live music, vendors, food trucks, door prizes, a 50/50 raffle, and enough conversations about engine displacement to last you until next August. Admission is free. 100% of proceeds from registration and auctions benefit veterans' organizations. If you're the kind of person who slows down for a Chevelle in traffic, or who has opinions about split bumpers, or who simply likes watching people light up when they talk about something they built with their hands — this is your Saturday. The harbor. The cars. The people who keep them alive. Free to spectate. Impossible to leave quickly.

This Happened

San Diego Summer Game Jam 2026 — IGDA at Mesa College

Aug 7, 2026 Free San Diego Mesa College, 7250 Mesa …

Forty-eight hours, one theme, and a room full of people who physically cannot stop building things. The theme drops Friday evening. By Sunday night there has to be something a stranger can actually play. There are no panels. No keynote, no networking hour with name tags, no swag table. There is a room, power strips, brunch on Saturday and dinner after, because the organizers know nobody is leaving the building. Teams of up to six, or solo if that is who you are. No pre-built assets and no recycled code, so everything starts from zero the moment the theme lands, which is why the Sunday showcase feels less like a demo reel and more like a group of people showing each other what they survived together. Mesa College, adults only, and free to jam remotely if you cannot be in the room. Bring the friend who has been talking about making a game since college and has never once opened the editor.

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