Where can you play Riftbound with other people?

Riftbound: the League of Legends trading card game is played face to face, with real cards on a shared table, so playing with new people starts with finding that table. For most players it stands in a local game store. Thousands of stores run official Riftbound events, from a casual evening every week to the store tournaments of each set, and most of those events are open to anyone who signs up. Games among friends, open tournaments and games conventions are the other places where the game is played.

Which stores run Riftbound events?

Riftbound events are run by game stores that take part in Riot's organized play program for the game. A store joins the program to schedule official events and to receive the promo cards and event kits that come with them. Not every store that sells Riftbound packs has joined, so a store's event calendar tells you more than its shelves do.

Each store keeps its own calendar and sets its own entry fees. One store may hold its weekly event on a Tuesday evening and another on a Saturday afternoon. Riot's plans for 2027 call the weekly Nexus Nights the heart of its local organized play, and a Nexus Night is the event you are most likely to find near you.

Which store events can you join?

Stores run several kinds of Riftbound events, and each kind suits a different player.

• Learn to Play events are for people who have never played. The store teaches the game and lends you a deck, so you need no cards of your own, and some stores end the event with a few rounds against the other new players. Most Learn to Play events are free, but they are much rarer than Nexus Nights.
• Nexus Night is the weekly casual event of a store. The store picks the format: Constructed with your own deck, Sealed with packs opened at the table, or a format built on the ready-made Champion Decks. Most stores ask between 5 and 10 US dollars or euros, and some hold their Nexus Night for free.
• Open Play is the name stores give their other Riftbound gatherings, from casual afternoons to trade nights and small leagues. Most Open Play events are free.
• Pre-Rift events come once per set, in the week before it is released. Each player receives a kit with a small ready-made deck of 15 cards, five booster packs of the new set and a promo card, and builds a deck from it. For the Radiance Pre-Rift events, from 16 to 22 October 2026, most stores in the United States and Europe ask 30 to 35 dollars, euros or pounds for a seat, kit included.
• Summoner Skirmish is the competitive store tournament. A store can hold up to two in each set season, played one on one with your own deck in best of three matches. The two Radiance windows are 9 November to 13 December 2026 and 14 December 2026 to 17 January 2027.

After Radiance, Riot changes the competitive step. In 2027 the Riftbound Challenge Series takes the place of Summoner Skirmish as the way into competitive play, and a new monthly store tournament, the Nexus Cup, crowns a local champion without leading into the competitive circuit.

Store events also hand out promo printings that never come in booster packs. Every player at a Nexus Night should get a promo pack of three cards while the store's supply lasts, and its cards change each season: the Origins packs held a new Teemo, Scout and foil printings such as Pouty Poro, the Spiritforged packs held runes with spirit blossom art such as the Mind Rune, and the Vendetta packs a new Mel, Newly Awakened.

How do you find a store and sign up for an event?

The event finder shows the Riftbound events near a city or near your own location, day by day, and the article on finding a Riftbound event near you goes through it step by step. You can narrow it to one kind of event, a format, a day of the week, a time of day or free events only, and hide the events that are already full. Each country has a page of its own as well, such as the page of Riftbound events in Germany.

You sign up for an event in the event search on playriftbound.com, Riot's own Riftbound site, with a Riot account, and every event page in the finder has a button that takes you to the event's page there. Make the Riot account before you need it, because Pre-Rift seats are limited by the number of kits each store receives. At the event itself, you check your pairings and record your results on your phone. The Tournament Rules allow no proxies at any event, so every card you bring must be real, and the article on what to bring to your first event has the rest of the list.

Can you play with other people outside a store?

Yes. A game needs nothing more than a deck for each player and a table, so a game at home with a friend follows the same rules as a game in a store. A Showdown box holds two decks made to face each other and Proving Grounds holds four, so one box is enough for a first evening with friends, and Riftbound has modes for three and four players as well.

If no store near you runs Riftbound events, ask a game store that runs other card games: a store that wants to host official events applies to join the Riftbound Gaming Network, where every application is reviewed. Riot offers no official way to play Riftbound over the internet, so friends who live far apart play with their own cards over a video call, as the article on playing Riftbound online describes.

Where are the bigger Riftbound events held?

Above the stores, Riftbound has large tournaments that travel from city to city. The Showdown Series is a run of open tournaments hosted by partnered event organizers, each made for hundreds of players, and in 2026 it visited North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The main tournament of a Regional Championship needs an invitation, which comes from a Top 64 finish at a Regional Qualifier or a top finish at a Showdown Series event.

A big event can still be worth a visit without an invitation. Riot announced side events and on-demand events next to the European Regional Championship in Stuttgart, from 6 to 8 November 2026, and the North American Regional Championship is part of Convergence Fest in Las Vegas, from 11 to 13 December 2026. In 2027 the Regional Qualifiers become Riftbound Regionals, and the Regional Championships become Continentals, three-day events whose first day is open to every player as a qualifier.

Riot also brings Riftbound to games conventions. Its list for Paris Games Week, from 22 to 25 October 2026, named demos, a free play area and the finals of Le Rift Tour, the first official Riftbound tournament circuit in France. The major events page gives the dates of what is coming, and the article on the kinds of Riftbound tournament explains how the tournaments fit together, up to the World Championship.

Where should a new player start?

The quickest way by far to learn Riftbound is to have a friend or someone you know who already plays teach you during a real first game, explaining each step as you go. A teacher at the table answers every question the moment it comes up, which no booklet or video can do.

Without such a friend, a new player is best served by a Learn to Play event or a Nexus Night. If a store near you holds a Learn to Play event, go to that first, since you need no cards at all. Otherwise, pick a Constructed Nexus Night, bring a ready-made deck such as a Champion Deck, and tell the organizer that it is your first time. Nexus Night is played at the Casual level of the Tournament Rules, where organizers and judges care about teaching and good manners more than about penalties, so questions are welcome.

A Pre-Rift event makes a good second step. Every player builds a deck from a kit opened at the table, so a large collection gives nobody an advantage, and UVS Games describes the event as beginner-friendly. Summoner Skirmish and the large tournaments can wait until you know your deck well.

The products guide shows the ready-made decks you can bring to a Constructed Nexus Night. A Champion Deck had a launch price of $19.99, and the Vi deck of Unleashed sells for $15.60 today. Entry fees come on top of the deck, and the article on how much it costs to start playing Riftbound adds them up.