Photos by Michael Garcia.

The Long Beach Convention Center was covered in purple inside and out this past weekend as people from across the country and all over the world made their pilgrimage to TwitchCon. For those unfamiliar with Twitch, it’s a free video streaming service with a big focus on the video game community. Events and competitions are also broadcast and people can stream themselves playing their favorite video games from their homes, interacting with their audience through chat.

TwitchCon is a celebration of all things Twitch, video games, Twitch memes and streams, where attendees were able to meet their favorite streamers and check out everything the convention had to offer. Here are some of the highlights of this year’s TwitchCon.

Kaiju Big Battel

Giant monsters battled it out in the fiercest of competitions, a pro wrestling match. Monsters performing wrestling maneuvers off the top of ropes to the cheers of the crowd who chanted and yelled things like “This is Awesome!” and “Holy S***!”. They even took the fight outside of the ring, occasionally smacking each other upside the head with foreign objects.

Esports Arena

Gamers competed on the big stage in games like H1Z1, Hearthstone and Power Rangers Legacy Wars, while the crowd witnessed as they fought for glory and a chance to take home some cash prizes.

Panels

Attendees interested in learning streaming and growing their audience could join in on one of the many panels held throughout the weekend. New game and product announcements were made and workshops on voice acting and a “Paint Like Bob Ross” helped those interested improve their skills (Bob Ross has become a sort of meme within the Twitch community after a 24-hour “Painting with Bob Ross” marathon was broadcast on Twitch).

---

---

Twitch Arcade

Courtesy of the charity organization Child’s Play, a plethora of arcade machines like Street Fighter, Pac-Man, Daytona 500, Dance Dance Revolution, air hockey and plenty of pinball machines were available to indulge in. The charity seeks to improve the lives of children in hospitals by using gaming to help them with the healing process.

Twitch Pop-Up Shop

Exclusive merchandise and apparel in signature Twitch purple were available while supplies lasted for those eagerly waiting in line. This year’s featured items were full head-to-toe zip up pajamas with the Twitch glitch logo and an exclusive pin set that is only available at TwitchCon.

Community and Streamer Meet and Greets

Streamers and members of the Twitch community could meet face-to-face on the expo floor or at specific times throughout the weekend. Streamers were available for photos and autographs, streaming tips, receiving handshakes and thank you’s from their fans.

Creative Corner

Artists displayed their video game-related and original artwork at the Creative Corner exhibit showcasing their skills.

Exhibitors

There was no shortage of exhibitors selling their artwork, t-shirts and retro video games. One of the vendors had a GlucoBoy on display, a retro game cartridge that tested small amounts of blood for glucose levels and encouraged diabetic children to check their glucose levels.