The best events and tournaments at Localhost in June

June 30, 2023

by Brian Bencomo

Nerd Street’s owned and operated gaming venues, known as Localhosts, are not only places where you can stop by to play your favorite games on high-quality gaming PCs and consoles. Localhosts also are the site of LAN tournaments, private events, activations and content creation. Every month, we’ll be spotlighting some of the best events that have happened at Localhosts around the country, from Philadelphia to Fullerton and everywhere in between. Here’s a look back at some of the fun things that happened at Localhost over the past month.

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Camp Localhost kicks off

Photo credit: Nerd Street

Camp Localhost kicked off in June with summer camps for kids happening across Nerd Street’s network of Localhost venues. The camps provide both on-screen and off-screen activities for kids aged 9 to 15, including video game trivia, relay race style physical activities, friendly staff-led tournaments and in-game challenges. The week-long summer experiences are meant to help foster team building, communication, leadership and critical thinking skills.

Camp attendance has started off strong this summer with record numbers in Denver and the first-ever camps at the newest Localhost at Rowan University.

In Philly, the Uncommon Individual Foundation has been running an introductory game design program camp. Each camper has been customizing their own 2D platformer level, similar to the Mario and Sonic games.

Across the country in Fullerton, campers got to play in a custom Minecraft server.

Photo credit: Nerd Street

Philly plays host to a variety of meetups

Localhost in Philly kicked off the month by hosting the Philadelphia Commerce Department for their kickoff to summer happy hour party. Classic games were available to play in retro alley and the afternoon was capped off with a 2v2 Rocket League tournament.

Photo credit: Nerd Street

The Philadelphia Office of Black Male Engagement also came through in early June for a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament along with a community resource fair to connect families with agencies and offices advocating for non-violence, conflict resolution, counseling services and community mental and physical health organizations. This event took place alongside the Office of Youth Engagement's Unity Walk for Peace.

LFG Philly held their first-ever in-person meetup at Localhost. With June being Pride Month, Queer Gaming Night was the kickoff event for the group. Nearly 20 people came out for a night of playing Fall Guys, Fortnite and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. LFG Philly is a Philadelphia organization that aims to connect the LGBTQ+ community through gaming and hosting meetups throughout the city.

Photo credit: LFG Philly

With the International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) conference happening in the city, Localhost Philly held a happy hour event hosted by the Soniqs esports organization in partnership with Intel. The event featured a panel of guests from the Soniqs, Harrisburg University's esports program and Intel's global education coordinator. Guests were invited to enjoy a night of food, drinks and gaming, including a Rocket League pro-am tournament in which attendees took on the Soniqs’ very own players in a 3v3 exhibition match.

Near the end of the month, Localhost Philly also welcomed back the law firm Saul Ewing LLP for their second annual staff retreat, which featured PC and console gaming alongside a Mario Kart 8 tournament.

Celebrating fandom and nerd culture

Photo credit: Nerd Street

H.A.G Entertainment, a company dedicated to celebrating hip-hop, anime and gaming took over Localhost Philly for their second Blerd Bash event. Cosplay, Smash and Tekken tournaments were the highlights of the daytime portion of the event, and a cosplay dance party capped off the night.

Localhost also was the host of an after-party for Fan Expo Philly, a celebration of a wide variety of fandoms, including movies, tv, comics and anime. Some expo attendees dropped by Localhost after the convention for a night of gaming and socializing.

Localhost had a presence at Denver’s Fan Expo later in the month too, with a booth to teach people how to build a PC and to lead a panel on the positive impacts of esports in education.

Tournament takeover: Street Fighter 6 debuts

There’s been a lot of excitement for Street Fighter 6 across Localhost. Iron Phist Philly was in the house the day SF6 launched for Gulag 18 and again in the middle of the month for Gulag 19. Nerd Street’s own Matthew “Emjay” Johnson won Gulag 19.

Later in the month, Localhost Philly’s FGC Monthly, Go For Broke, featured SF6 for the first time. The tournament had over 40 attendees and 31 competitors in not only SF6 but also King of Fighters XV and Guilty Gear Strive.

St. Louis’ FGC monthly brought in 45 entrants just for Street Fighter 6. North Brunswick also has been boasting large numbers for SF6, and in Southern New Jersey, FGC weeklies also got underway at Rowan University.

North Brunswick also hosted another Pokemon tournament this month with over 35 attendees. North Brunswick has quickly become a hub for Pokemon tournaments in Northern New Jersey.

Fullerton Fights brought in 77 attendees in June, mostly again as a result of excitement over Street Fighter 6. Among the competitors, 47 competed in a stacked SF6 bracket that was won by NBNHMR, the Guilty Gear Strive winner at last year’s CEOtaku and a rising player to watch in the FGC.

Fullerton Fights even had a special guest, Lord Grimulus, a tournament operator, competitor and caster from the UK, who teamed up with Doctor No to cast the event.

Fullerton also played host to a Splatoon 3 LAN tournament called SoCallie, which had 61 attendees and lasted until the early morning hours. A third-party tournament operator made an OBS package and ran the broadcast. She had always dreamed of hosting a Splatoon 3 LAN, so it was a dream come true. The event also included vendors for Fullerton’s very first first artist alley.

Lead photo credit: Nerd Street