Ready? Start! brings two days of brackets to St Kilda this weekend

Melbourne's volunteer-run gaming and art weekend, organised by queer and femme gamers, runs FGC tournaments on 24 and 25 October.

Ready? Start! 2026 takes over St Kilda Town Hall in Melbourne on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October. Doors are 12pm to 8pm on Saturday and 12pm to 6pm on Sunday, Melbourne time (11am to 7pm and 11am to 5pm in Brisbane).

It's an annual, not-for-profit event run by volunteers, and its organisers describe themselves as a group of queer and femme gamers who want to open the gaming community up to everyone. Alongside the fighting-game tournaments there's an artist alley of 60-plus independent vendors, live speedrunning, performances and an indie game showcase.

Brackets are run through start.gg, where the event lists Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 among its games. The organisers list a A$20 sign-up fee plus A$5 per game, which they say pays for the AV and FGC team and the equipment.

It's an all-ages event, and under-18s need to be with an adult. The organisers ask everyone to RSVP through Humanitix.