Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Maccabi Games’ New Esports Tournament Lets Jewish Teens Compete In Super Smash Bros, FIFA

The JCC Maccabi Games have added video game tournaments to the Olympic-style competition.

Three-thousand Jewish teenagers are due to compete in various athletic events at the upcoming Maccabi Games, in Atlanta from July 28 to August 2, and Detroit from August 4 to 9. This year, esports are joining the lineup of events.

Esports are competitions on video games. Lost Tribe Esports will host eight tournaments over the Maccabi Games. There will be a 21-station gaming center, where 56 teens can play two-on-two at any time. The video games include Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Rocket League, NBA 2K19 and Madden NFL 19.

All athletes can play esports on their free time and also participate in the tournament. It presents a new way to compete, connect and forge friendships, according to Samantha Cohen, vice president of JCC Maccabi and the JCC Association of North America.

After the Maccabi Games, Lost Tribe Esports is moving forward with online tournaments open to the athletes and other Jewish teens around North America. It will eventually be a global, year-round activity.

Alyssa Fisher is a writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.