Relive Gaming & Esports Events

169 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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AniFest 2026

Jun 6, 2026 Torrance Cultural Arts Center, 333…

AniFest is the convention that remembers what conventions were supposed to feel like. One day at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center, and the whole floor hums with the particular energy of people who found each other through the same shows, the same characters, the same late-night rabbit holes. Over a hundred vendors line the hall — artist prints, plushies, handmade cosplay accessories, imports you cannot find anywhere near here. Twenty-plus celebrity guests rotate through the signing area, close enough to actually talk to. The V-Stage runs an idol performance set. Cosplay showcases. LAN Hero gaming tournaments if you want to compete. A maid cafe if you want to sit down and feel like you are in an episode. Small enough that you do not lose your friends in a crowd of sixty thousand. Large enough to fill the day twice over if you are the kind of person who stops at every table. Twenty dollars at the door. Children under 12 free with a paid adult. This is the convention where people make their first cosplay because the room is safe enough to try. Where the vendor who sells hand-painted Jujutsu Kaisen prints remembers you from last year. Where the community is not performing fandom — it just is fandom, in the same room, for one afternoon in Torrance.

Pokemon TCG League Challenge — TCS Rockets

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5 days away

Pokemon TCG League Challenge — TCS Rockets

Every Saturday · Next Aug 22 $5 entry 7626 Miramar Rd Suite 3900, San Di…

Your list has been sitting in a binder all month getting theoretical. Everyone in the group chat agrees it is good. None of that counts and you know it, which is exactly why you keep checking the shop calendar. A League Challenge is the smallest honest test there is: a structured bracket, real pairings, and a room of players who spent the same weeks refining the same problems, all arriving to find out whose refinement was right. Cheaper than a Regional and far more informative than a night of casuals, it is where theory takes its first bruises. The San Diego scene uses these the way they were designed to be used — repeatable practice that quietly produces the people who go deep when it counts. The shop sits on Miramar Road, entry runs a few dollars, and format details go up on their site. Bring the deck you actually believe in, not the safe one.

Pokemon TCG League Challenge — Game Empire SD

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5 days away

Pokemon TCG League Challenge — Game Empire SD

Every Saturday · Next Aug 22 $5 entry 5037 Shawline St, San Diego, CA 92…

Your deck is fine. Your matchups are the problem, and there is exactly one way to find that out: sit across from somebody who has been testing all month and let them show you. That is what a League Challenge is for. Championship Points are on the line here, the same points that decide who earns a Worlds invite, which means a Saturday at Game Empire is quietly load-bearing on somebody's season. Masters, Seniors, and Juniors run at once, 60-card Standard, Swiss into a top cut, prize support at the end. What regulars will tell you about the Miramar field is that it comes prepared and stays decent about it. Competitive without the hostility, and consistent enough that you watch the same opponents get better month over month while you do the same. Registration opens at 10 AM and rounds start at 11. Bring the list you have been too nervous to sleeve up. Somebody in this room has already beaten it, and afterward they will tell you exactly how.

Pokemon TCG League Challenge — Artificer San Diego

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Pokemon TCG League Challenge — Artificer San Diego

Every Saturday · Next Aug 22 $5 entry 5005 Shawline St Suite B, San Dieg…

Nobody remembers the casual games. You remember the round you lost to your own misplay and then had to sit with until the next pairing went up. That is what a League Challenge is for — sixty cards, Swiss rounds, a top cut, and a room in Linda Vista full of people finding out whether the list they have been testing all month actually holds. Masters, Seniors, Juniors. The points earned here are the same points that stack toward a Worlds invite, which is why this shop's field skews toward players building for something rather than killing a Saturday. Nobody is going to hand you a game because you are new, and nobody is going to be unkind about taking it, either. That combination is rarer than it sounds. Registration in the morning, rounds shortly after, at the shop on Shawline Street. Come with your best sixty and the matchup you are most afraid of already practiced.

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Anime Riverside 2026

May 30 – May 31, 2026 Riverside Convention Center, 3637 …

The Riverside Convention Center hands itself over to anime for the weekend of May 30-31, 2026. Two days, 250-plus vendors and artists, and dozens of guest voice actors including Sean Schemmel, Johnny Yong Bosch, Brianna Knickerbocker, and Kaiji Tang among the confirmed lineup. Professional Anime Wrestling -- which is exactly what it sounds like -- runs alongside a cosplay contest, karaoke lounge, and a free arcade room open all weekend. Now in its fifth year, Anime Riverside has grown from a local idea into one of the most accessible anime conventions in the Inland Empire -- close enough for a day trip from San Diego, Orange County, or Los Angeles without the scale and cost of Anime Expo. The Riverside Convention Center is at 3637 5th Street, Riverside, CA 92501, near downtown Riverside and accessible via the Metrolink 91/Perris Valley Line (Riverside Downtown Station is a short walk away). Parking is available on-site and in surrounding garages. Single-day and weekend badges are available at animeriverside.com. Cosplay is welcome and celebrated throughout both days.

West Coast Card Show — TCG Edition Ontario 2026

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West Coast Card Show — TCG Edition Ontario 2026

May 28 – May 31, 2026 Ontario Convention Center, 2000 E …

Pokémon, One Piece TCG, Magic: The Gathering, and sports cards all in the same building for four days. The West Coast Card Show TCG Edition at the Ontario Convention Center brings live grading services, influencer appearances, competitive tournaments, and a vendor hall drawing sellers from across the West Coast. The Ontario edition is distinct from the larger Anaheim show — it has a sharper TCG identity and a more competition-focused energy. If you are hunting specific singles, looking to grade a collection, or want to compete in open-bracket formats across multiple card games in a single weekend, this is the show that makes the trip worthwhile. The Ontario Convention Center is easy to reach from across the 909, LA, and the South Bay. Free-to-attend areas are available throughout the show floor. Competitive registration varies by game and bracket. Vendor table applications and spectator information available at westcoastcardshow.com.

Pokemon TCG Regional Championship — San Diego

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Pokemon TCG Regional Championship — San Diego

May 30 – May 31, 2026 San Diego Convention Center, 111 W…

San Diego Convention Center, May 30th. The Pokémon TCG Regional Championship — Masters division at the top of the bracket, open age divisions running throughout, and a room that understands what competitive Pokémon actually looks like up close. Regionals draws players from across the Southwest who have been testing this format since the last set dropped. The level of play at the top tables is worth watching even if you're not registered — decks built around specific counters, plays made in the final minutes of a round that determine travel points and World Championship invites. The side event area runs all day for players who dropped from the main or just want reps in the room. Judges in official regalia move through the aisles with practiced calm. There's a specific atmosphere to a TCG Regional: binders and sleeves and the particular tension of a timed round winding down at a critical board state. If you play, register at rk9.gg. If you don't play and want to understand why this game still fills convention halls, come watch the top tables during Day 2. The Pokémon Regional is the proof.

Monthly

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12 days away

GameSync Monthly Open Tournament — May 2026

Every last Saturday · Next Aug 29 $10 entry GameSync San Diego, 2860 Main St, …

The best part of a game store tournament night is the wandering. You came for your own bracket, and then somebody two setups over starts a run in a game you have never touched, and forty minutes later you are standing behind them with everyone else. The Monthly Open at GameSync is built for exactly that: not one title, but whatever the community is actually playing that month. Fighting game players, the card game crowd, the platform fighter bracket — all of it in one building on one evening, which is why the room sounds the way it does. It is the game night that requires no planning. Show up, see what is running, get in. San Diego's competitive scene is real and mostly invisible from outside; this is one of the nights it is all in one place, ten dollars to enter, full title list at gamesync.us. Bring the friend who says they are not good enough yet. Nobody was.

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Triton Gaming Expo 2026

May 30, 2026 Price Center, UCSD, 9500 Gilman Dr…

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.

Magic Meetup — Commander Night at Video Vortex DTLA

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Magic Meetup — Commander Night at Video Vortex DTLA

May 28, 2026 Video Vortex DTLA, Los Angeles, CA

Commander Night at Video Vortex DTLA is a recurring Magic: The Gathering Commander format meetup held at one of downtown Los Angeles's most unique venues — a retro video game bar packed wall-to-wall with playable arcade machines, vintage consoles, and gaming nostalgia. The combination of tabletop card gaming and a retro gaming environment makes this one of the more distinctive Commander nights in the city. Commander is Magic's most popular casual format, played with 100-card singleton decks and typically in four-player pods. The Video Vortex meetup is open to all Commander players regardless of experience level or deck power level. The focus is on fun, creativity, and the kind of game state that produces stories you retell for years. The venue's food and drink service runs throughout the evening — this is a proper bar and restaurant, not just a card shop backroom. Located in downtown LA, the venue is accessible by Metro and has street parking nearby. The May 28 session runs from 7pm. Check the Eventbrite listing for upcoming recurring dates throughout 2026.

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FanimeCon 2026

May 22 – May 25, 2026 Paid - $75-$120 San Jose Convention Center, 150 W …

No corporate booths dominating the floor. The panels, the screenings, the programming — all of it organized by volunteers who have been running this for decades, which gives it an atmosphere that is genuinely hard to replicate. It feels less like a trade show than the largest anime club meetup in California. It has run every Memorial Day weekend since 1994, drawing 25,000 to 30,000 people across four days. Programming runs 24 hours. The Saturday cosplay masquerade is a full theatrical production. The gaming hall is one of the best at any convention — tournaments, free-play consoles, retro arcades running through the night. In the dealer room and artist alley, indie creators outnumber corporate licensors. San Jose Convention Center, 150 W San Carlos St. Four-day badges sell out; single-day passes are sometimes available at the door. If you have done Anime Expo but never this, the culture is meaningfully different — and the difference is the point.

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Anime Conji 2026 — San Diego

May 22 – May 24, 2026 Handlery Hotel, 950 Hotel Cir N, S…

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.

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Card Party 4 San Diego

May 22 – May 24, 2026 Gaylord Pacific Resort & Conventio…

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.

Pokemon TCG City Championship — San Diego

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Pokemon TCG City Championship — San Diego

May 17, 2026 $20 7626 Miramar Rd Suite 3900, San Di…

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.

The Real Escape Game — SD: Gaming Edition

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The Real Escape Game — SD: Gaming Edition

May 9, 2026 From $38 The Real Escape Game, 550 W B St, …

A gaming-themed escape room event in San Diego — puzzles designed around video game logic, pop culture references layered into every room, and the satisfaction of solving something that's actually hard. Groups of 2-6. Book your time slot in advance.

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Pokemon TCG League Challenge — TCS Rockets

May 2, 2026 $5 entry 7626 Miramar Rd Suite 3900, San Di…

Monthly Pokemon TCG League Challenge — the competitive stepping stone before Regional Championships. Earn Championship Points toward the World Championship invite. Masters, Seniors, and Juniors divisions. Bring your best 60-card deck and your game face. Registration opens at 10 AM, rounds begin at 11 AM.

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Pokemon TCG League Challenge — Game Empire SD

May 2, 2026 $5 entry 5037 Shawline St, San Diego, CA 92…

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Pokemon TCG League Challenge — Artificer San Diego

May 2, 2026 $5 entry 5005 Shawline St Suite B, San Dieg…

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