Can you play Riftbound online?

Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game is played with physical cards on a real table, and Riot Games made it that way on purpose. There is no official app, website or program in which you can play a game of Riftbound against another person. Players who live far apart still find ways to play together, and much of what surrounds a game, from building a deck to finding an event, already happens online.

Is there an official digital version of Riftbound?

No. Riot has not released a digital version of Riftbound and has not announced one. In the State of the Game of 4 February 2026, Executive Producer Chengran Chai said that a digital version would bring real benefits, such as easier tutorials and clearer card interactions. He also said that the in-person, social side of a trading card game is something the team does not want to lose, and that Riot would not rule out an official digital client.

In the State of the Game of 3 August 2026, Game Director Dave Guskin named digital play among the new ways to play the team has in mind, and added: "No, we do not have any announcements, but we are thinking about it."

Legends of Runeterra, the digital card game Riot made before Riftbound, is a different game with its own cards and rules. Riftbound cards and decks cannot be played in it.

How can two friends play Riftbound over a video call?

The simplest way to play at a distance is with your own cards and a camera. Each player needs a complete legal deck, sets up their side of the game at home and points a camera down at the table, and the two of you talk the game through as you would face to face. A few habits keep such a game fair.

• Keep your base, your Legend and the battlefields in view, and keep your hand out of view.
• Lay out both battlefields on each table, with a note standing in for the one your opponent brought, so each of you can place units at either of them.
• Shuffle where the camera can see it, say every card you play aloud and say the score each time someone scores.

Some cards are harder to play at a distance because they reach into the other player's cards. Blind Fury makes your opponent reveal the top card of their Main Deck, and you banish it and play it without paying its cost. You control the card you play this way, but your opponent still owns it and it lies on their table, so they have to move it for you. Drakehound Packmaster, a card of Radiance with its release on 23 October 2026, does the same when it is played. Ashe, Focused makes an opponent reveal their hand and banishes one card from it until that player holds a battlefield. When Scuttle Crab dies, an opponent reveals their hand, and you may look at their facedown cards for the rest of the turn.

Over a camera, each of these effects works only if the other player holds the cards up and plays along honestly, so agree beforehand how you will handle them.

What are fan-made Riftbound simulators?

Fan-made simulators are programs made by players, not by Riot, that put a Riftbound table on a screen. Some run in a web browser, and others are mods for Tabletop Simulator, a paid game on Steam for playing all kinds of board and card games. Two players join the same game from their own computers and play with pictures of the cards, and some simulators let one player play a few turns alone to test a deck.

None of them is made, endorsed or supported by Riot, and Riot's policy, described below, does not allow software that enforces the rules. In Tabletop Simulator you draw, move, exhaust and score by hand, and the program does not stop an illegal play. A browser simulator may take over small chores, such as paying the cost of a card, but knowing the rules and what each card does stays the players' job.

Riot has set out what it accepts in its Digital Tools Policy for Riftbound. Card galleries and deck builders are welcome. Tools in which people play the game are held to strict limits: no software that enforces the rules, no program made for Riftbound alone, no matchmaking by skill, no ranks or ladders, and no money made from the tool apart from optional donations. Riot explains that Riftbound was designed for social play, and it expects tools for manual play to live inside platforms made for many games.

Do online games count at Riftbound events?

No. Riot's Tournament Rules, which cover every Riftbound competition, ask each player to be there in person for the whole competition and ask the organizer to provide a venue for it. Some groups of players run online tournaments of their own on fan-made simulators, but they are not part of Riot's organized play.

The cards have to be real as well. The Tournament Rules allow no proxies, stand-in copies of cards, at any official competition, except one the head judge issues to replace a card that has become unusable. A deck you have only played on a screen has to exist as real cards before you take it to a store event. Single cards come from local game stores and from marketplaces such as Cardmarket in Europe, TCGplayer in the United States and CardTrader on both sides of the Atlantic.

What can you do for Riftbound online?

Almost everything around a game. Riot's site, playriftbound.com, holds the official card gallery and the Rules Hub with the Core Rules and the Tournament Rules. Since September 2026, players sign in there with a Riot ID to find store events and register for them, and during an event they check their pairings and report their results on their phone.

On this site, the deck builder checks a deck against the rules while you build it, the decks page shows the decks other players share, the pack opener opens booster packs on screen and, with an account, your collection keeps track of your cards.

Can you watch Riftbound online?

Yes. Riot has broadcast its Regional Qualifiers live, with commentators, on the Riftbound channels on YouTube and Twitch, from the first English Regional Qualifier, in Houston in December 2025, to the last one of 2026, in Los Angeles from 25 to 27 September 2026. The major events page lists the big events that are coming. The same YouTube channel holds Riot's Learn To Play video, which plays through a whole game so that a new player can see a turn in motion, one of the ways to learn the rules of Riftbound.

Is playing online a good way to learn Riftbound?

It helps once you know the basics, but it is not the best place to start. Because a simulator may not enforce the rules, two new players can learn a mistake together without noticing it. The game is easier to learn at a table with a ready-made deck and its rules booklet, or at a Learn to Play event in a store. Once you know the rules, a video call or a simulator is a handy way to test a new deck or to keep playing with a friend who lives far away.

If your friend lives close by, you can play Riftbound at home with a table and a deck each. To meet other players, the events that stores run are the place to start, and the event finder shows the ones near you.