What is a Learn to Play event?

Of all the events a local game store can hold for Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game, the Learn to Play event is the one made for people who have never played. Staff or experienced players at the store explain how the game works, then sit down and play with you or pair you with another new player. You do not need to own a single card, because the store lends you a deck for the event.

Riot counts Learn to Play among the local events that stores run, next to Nexus Nights, Open Play and Pre-Rift events. Each store decides when to hold one and how to run it, and Learn to Play events are far rarer than Nexus Nights.

What happens at a Learn to Play event?

The store teaches you the basics first and then lets you play. The basics are what any first game needs: how to lay out your Legend, your runes and your battlefields, how a turn runs, and how you score a point by conquering a battlefield and another by holding it at the start of your turn, until one player reaches 8 points.

After that, every store runs the event its own way. Some keep it to a lesson and a first game with a member of staff, and a store may even teach you by appointment, at a time that suits you. Other stores end the event with a mini-tournament against the other new players. When the event page does not say which kind the store has planned, ask the store.

Do you need your own cards for a Learn to Play event?

You need no cards of your own, because a store that holds a Learn to Play event lends decks to the players who come, so you can arrive with nothing. Stores call them starter decks or demo decks, and they are ready-made decks built to be played as they come, without any changes. The rule booklet of Proving Grounds, the starter box for two to four players, gives the same advice: preconstructed decks are a good place to start.

The four decks of Proving Grounds show what such a deck looks like. Each one is led by a Legend with a plain plan. Might of Demacia, the Legend of Garen, draws two cards when you conquer a battlefield with four or more of your units there. Wuju Bladesman, the Legend of Master Yi, gives a unit +2 Might while it defends a battlefield alone. Dark Child, the Legend of Annie, readies up to two runes at the end of your turn, and Lady of Luminosity, the Legend of Lux, draws a card when you play a spell that costs 5 Energy or more.

If you already have a ready-made deck, such as a Champion Deck with a launch price of $19.99, take it along, since you learn fastest with the deck you will keep playing.

What does a Learn to Play event cost?

Most Learn to Play events are free, and a few stores ask a small fee. Some events give every player a booster pack or a promo card for coming, and the event page says so when they do.

These gifts come from the store, not from Riot. UVS Games, which manufactures Riftbound and gets it to stores, published a guide for stores on the Radiance season. It names event kits and promo packs for Pre-Rift events, Summoner Skirmishes and Nexus Nights, and no kit or promo pack for Learn to Play events. Whether a Learn to Play event comes with anything to take home is up to each store.

How strict are the rules at a Learn to Play event?

A Learn to Play event is as relaxed as Riftbound gets. In the terms of Riot's Tournament Rules, which Riot publishes on its Rules Hub, it is a local event, which means it is neither a premier event nor a qualifier (rule 201.3) and gives no invitation or other advantage at the big tournaments. The Tournament Rules say that most competitions are casual. At the Casual level the focus of judges and officials is on education and sportsmanship, and technically precise play has no priority (rule 205.2). At an event made for teaching, mistakes are expected and questions are the point.

The Tournament Rules let anyone take part as a player, with a few exceptions (rule 301). A player under 13 needs the permission of a parent or guardian (rule 301.4), so a parent who brings a young player should be ready to give it. An event may also be limited by age, as long as the organizer says so ahead of time (rule 301.6).

How is a Learn to Play event different from the other store events?

A Learn to Play event is the only store event where teaching is the whole point and the store lends the decks.

• Nexus Night is the weekly casual event of a store. At most Nexus Nights you bring your own deck, play rounds against the store's regulars and should get a Nexus Night promo pack while the store's supply lasts. Riot's page for new players calls Nexus Nights a good way to learn the game, which makes them the natural next step.
• Pre-Rift events come in the week before a set releases. Every player opens a kit with a small ready-made deck, five booster packs of the new set and a promo card, and builds a deck from it at the table, for an entry fee.
• Open Play is the casual event where the store keeps its tables free and players bring their own decks to play whoever is there, so it suits a player who already has a deck.

How do you find a Learn to Play event near you?

The event finder can show Learn to Play events alone. Few stores hold them, so the list near you may be short or empty. Read the event page before you go: a few stores file other events under Learn to Play, such as their Pre-Rift event with its full entry fee.

If no Learn to Play event is near you, there are other ways in. Ask a store that runs a weekly Nexus Night whether someone can teach you before the rounds start. Riot also brings Riftbound to games conventions, and its list for Paris Games Week, from 22 to 25 October 2026, names demos and a free play area. At home, the booklet in a ready-made deck and Riot's Learn To Play video are enough to start, although the quickest way to learn the rules is still a first game with a friend who knows them.

Official events take sign-ups on playriftbound.com with a Riot account, and the step-by-step guide to finding a Riftbound event near you shows how to filter the finder by kind of event. The list of what to bring to your first Riftbound event covers the rest of the day.