Today we’d like to introduce you to Summoner’s Stories. They and their team shared their story with us below:
Summoner’s Stories is a volunteer, not-for-profit organization based in Southern California that creates memorable anime and video game-themed events. Seeing as all our events have a cosplay element, we like to think of ourselves as a “Cosplaying Event Planner”!
Summoner’s Stories initially started off as a fan project that combined a love of Japanese maid café culture and League of Legends to become the premier video game-themed maid café in Southern California. As a League of Legends-inspired maid cafe, we hosted numerous viewing parties and staffed various esports events working with brands such as GAMDIAS, Mad Catz, Azubu, Tespa, and the Downtown Grand Hotel.
Shifting from our maid cafe roots, we can now be summoned to create a variety of different types of events such as scavenger hunts and escape rooms!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
During our beginnings as a maid café, one of the challenges we overcame was adapting maid café culture for a Western audience in 2013, where it wasn’t too prevalent. Providing an experience that would stay true to our inspirations but welcoming to first-timers was something we strived for.
While we enjoyed our maid café activities, we found ourselves wanting to expand beyond them. Operating with COVID restrictions during 2020, we created online events such as maid-themed virtual escape rooms. As conventions started up again in 2022, we continued with other types of event formats such as live adventure games and photo-op experiences. We had taken a liking to this new way of doing things that we’ve decided to pursue them fully with the name “Summoner’s Stories” reflecting the “stories” we would tell through the different themes and events we would create.
Our rebranding also meant that while we’d need to move past our focus in League of Legends, we could still honor the impact it had on our journey. Our original name, “Summoner’s Café,” came from what the players are called in League of Legends, Summoners. Many of our staff over the years joined us for their love of League of Legends and similarly, our attendees came to our events for the same reason. Some of our current staff still are into League of Legends to this day! We wanted to honor the hard work of our predecessors and keep Summoners in our name. Plus, you can think of us as now “summoning” and embodying whatever anime, game, or theme we’re doing for a certain event.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
As a “Cosplaying Event Planner,” we create immersive events. Our events make use of cosplay, props, photo backdrops, prizes, performances, and mini-games. Besides the maid cafes of our past, we’ve put together scavenger hunts, cosplay gatherings, photo op experiences, escape rooms, and more.
Summoner’s Stories is proud to be “By Fans, for Fans”! We recruit and specially train our staff to help create our events which feature performances, trivia games, and other fun and creative activities. We’re a volunteer organization so everything we do is on a volunteer budget. We simply love giving back to our community through creating fun experiences.
Everything is carefully curated – we are always excited to bring the themes of our event to life through the details. As fans of the series that we draw inspiration from for our events, we want to recreate the magic of what we enjoy about them to our attendees.
Some of our latest events and themes include:
Gotta Summon Them All: A Pokémon-themed event collaborating with a local Pokémon GO community and a member of the game’s Community Ambassador Program, POGO OC
Magical Girl Mayhem: An event inspired by beloved magical girl series such as Sailor Moon, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and Cardcaptor Sakura.
Idol Showcase: A showcase with performances from amazing idol groups in SoCal
While we’ve put on numerous stand-alone events, we’ve also provided our event planning services to dozens of conventions, such as Ronin-Expo, Anime Night Mart, Pacific Media Expo, and MomoCon.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Some of our members have found mentors among our ranks, including our founders. Summoner’s Stories was formed out of our members’ mutual love of video games, anime, and cosplay. For us, finding mentors and networking was made easier by having shared interests that we could bond over and even grow our careers in. Through our events, we have met many individuals who share our interests and whom we are able to learn from working alongside.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://summoners-stories.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/summoners.stories
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/summonersstories
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/summonerscafe
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SummonersStories
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/summoners-stories-los-angeles
- Other: https://twitch.tv/summonersstories
