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Worlds 2024 Info Guide

This page will be updated often, bookmark it to stay up to date on frequently asked questions and follow the #announcements channel in the Worlds 2024 Discord.

Worlds 2024 Venue

All official events will be at

Hyatt Regency San Francisco
5 Embarcadero Ctr
San Francisco, CA 94111, USA

Worlds 2024 Itinerary

Friday October 18

Crown of Servers

Registration starts: 08:30 (local time)
Tournament starts: 09:30 (local time)

Saturday October 19

Standard Main Event

Decklists are mandatory!

Registration starts: 08:30 (local time)
Tournament starts: 09:30 (local time)

Sunday October 20

Standard Main Event – Top Cut

Tournament starts: TBA

Startup Event

Decklists are mandatory!

Registration starts: 11:30 (local time)
Tournament starts: 12:30 (local time)

Register for Events

Crown of Servers
Standard Main Event
Startup
Side Events

How to Prepare Your Decklist for Submission

TBA

Everything you need to know about getting to and navigating San Francisco during the Netrunner World Championship 2024.

Credit to @wentagon, @millenomi, @tak (syeoryn), 

@tzeentchling, @sleepinginbio

Airports

There are two major airports in the Bay Area that you can fly to, with pros and cons for each:

SFO

  • SFO is the larger airport serving the Bay Area, and is located south of SF. 
  • You can expect it to take ~1 hour and ~$11 USD using public transit (BART) to get to the venue. There is a connection to the transit system directly within the airport terminal.
  • Pretty good food options within the terminal, and a pretty easy to navigate terminal as well.

OAK

  • OAK is located in Oakland, which is another city in the Bay Area located east of SF across the bay.
  • You can expect it to take ~50 minutes and ~$12 USD using public transit (BART) to get to the venue. This airport also has a connection directly to the public transit system within the airport terminal.

Other

  • There are other airports in the region (Palo Alto, San Jose), but these are much further from the SF transit network so unless you are getting an insanely good deal, it’s better to go with SFO or OAK. Assume that you will need at least ~1h30 of BART or to take a cab, Uber or Lyft from these airports to get to SF.

Getting Around

BART

The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system is one of the major ways to get around and is the easiest way to get to the venue from either of the two airports. The particular stop you want is Embarcadero, which is served by the red and yellow lines from SFO, and the green and blue lines from the connection to OAK.

To ride BART, you need a Clipper Card. Clipper is refillable, works not just on BART but also on all of the major transit systems in the Bay Area.

A physical card can be purchased at every BART station for $3. Alternatively, you can set up a free digital card on your phone. (Setting it up on your phone will require you to have Internet access in the moment, but once it’s set up it will work even without phone data anywhere.)

⚠️ Important! — BART STOPS RUNNING AT MIDNIGHT and does not resume until 6-7 am the next day. Plan accordingly.

⚠️ Important! — Before boarding a train, double-check that the destination sign on the track says “SF”, even if it’s on the right line. Make sure also to follow instructions from the recorded messages in the station, as you may sometimes need to change trains. (This is especially true if you’re coming from Berkeley and the East Bay, where you may need to switch at MacArthur station.)

Muni

Muni refers to the other trains, buses, and cable cars that serve the city of San Francisco proper. The aforementioned Clipper Card does work with Muni. For finding routes to specific places, Google Maps is your friend. A trip (on buses and/or subway lines, for up to 2h of travel, including transfers) costs $2.50 on Clipper or $3 in cash. Day passes are available for $5, but they are only available on Muni’s own app. 

If you want to find a place to stay in SF, check if it is close to a Muni subway line. All subway lines except the T will reach the same Embarcadero station as BART, and they are the absolute fastest way to get to the venue with Muni by at least an order of magnitude. If your place is near the T, use Google Maps and it will route to the right transfer station for you.

Note that subway lines run underground near Downtown and the Embarcadero, but if you’re staying farther from there, they will exit the underground and run as tramway lines over ground.

Uber/Lyft

San Francisco has many Uber and Lyft drivers if you need to get from somewhere that is poorly serviced by the transit network, but note that traffic can be congested and these options tend to be rather expensive. Depending on time of day and distance, expect to pay anywhere from $15 to $40 for a single ride within city limits, before tip. Most cross-city trips will take 20-40 min at the worst.

On top of these estimates, and especially on the Friday of the event, you should expect very heavy commuter traffic around 6-9 am and 3-6 pm, both around the venue and in general in the nearby Financial District and Downtown areas. Firms downtown can work on either Eastern or Pacific time, and the Bay Bridge only has so much capacity, which makes the commute congestion window very long. A tip, if that’s possible for you to do, is ending the ride before the Financial District and taking Muni (e.g., at Powell station) or walking to the venue from there. Ultimately, Uber/Lyft should be a backup rather than your main means of getting around.

Fun fact: There’s another service called Waymo which operates fully self-driving cars within the city (yes, really.) There’s a long waitlist, but it’s pretty cool to see them in action. Keep a look out while you’re wandering around and you’re sure to see a few here and there.

Bicycles

Lyft also has many Bay Wheels stations that you can use for ride share bicycles – many of which are electric as well. (While the area around the venue is on flat terrain, if your place is further inland, keep in mind that SF hills are absolutely no joke.)

To use these stands, you will need to sign up at the Bay Wheels website. Once signed up, you can use your phone or your Clipper card to unlock and rent the bikes.

Cars

In general, you don’t need to rent or use a car to move around SF and most of the area served by BART. However, if your location is closer to the South Bay and far from BART, it may work out better to set up a car rental, as using South Bay transit (VTA, Caltrain) may be several times slower than just driving north on US-101 or I-280 unless you plan carefully.

Even with a car, consider if it’s perhaps worth it for you to drive (or take Uber/Lyft) to a BART station, and then take public transit into the city. Millbrae station offers a day pass parking that is $3 on Fridays and free on weekends, and several other BART stations outside SF have similar setups.

Using cars in SF will complicate your travel, and you will have to deal with the same congestion issues as Uber/Lyft. Parking is also very scarce (and expensive!) in SF, especially in the Downtown area and near the event venue. Using indoor/paid parking is a better idea than leaving the car on the street, due to the prevalence of car break-ins in the city. (See: Safety.)

Weather

San Francisco has a very gentle climate year-round, and October is possibly the most beautiful month of the year. The temperatures downtown are usually in the 70s (around and above 20 ℃), but don’t let it fool you just because we’re in California. The weather here is fickle, and there’s never a day you want to leave home without a layer. It’s very common to have beautiful sunny days until ~3:30 pm, then for the fog to roll in and the temperature to drop to the 50s or 60s (10-15 ℃). October is technically part of the “dry season”, but it’s still a good idea to pack a light rain jacket or umbrella as well. “Shorts and t-shirt” days are very rare; this is how the locals can tell who the tourists are.

On top of that, the weather can change significantly from one side of town to the other, thanks to all the hills and micro-climates. Weather nerds: head here for more info.

Note that at times, in October, the city may see a short but intense heat wave. Layers you can combine or shed on the fly are recommended, just in case.

Lodging

The Venue Hotel

No mincing words here; this is an expensive hotel to stay at. As of February 2024, rooms with 2 queen beds (i.e. sleeping 4) run around $450 a night; you can try sites like Expedia or Booking.com to get discounts that will save around $50/night, but it’s still on the pricey side. The upshot is you are right upstairs from the event. If staying right at the venue is important to you, consider looking for buddies to split rooms with – all the more time to get last minute reps and deck changes in.

Other SF Hotels

There are a lot of other options nearby, particularly around Union Square (which is about a 20- minute walk or 12-minute ride on public transit away from the tournament venue), that won’t be quite as expensive. Expect around $150-200 a night for a two-bed hotel room, though some boutique hotels with small rooms may have discounted rates.  Be advised that some of the cheapest options will also be in some of the grittier neighborhoods (Tenderloin, SoMa; see Safety).

Berkeley/Oakland

Staying across the Bay is definitely doable, but be sure to budget extra time for getting to the venue; depending on where you stay, it can be around 45 minutes to an hour to cross over and will cost somewhere around $5 one way. There’s not really a significant difference in the price of hotels compared to options in SF that are closer to the venue anyway. 

For hotels and other options across the Bay, a car is definitely not needed as the Clipper Card works with the local bus system as well as of course the BART. A unique and fun option to get to the venue, if you are staying near Jack London Square in Oakland, is to take the San Francisco Bay Ferry across the Bay. It takes about 25 minutes and costs under $5 one-way, and drops you off right at the Embarcadero. Check here for up-to-date schedule information.   

AirBnB

Provided you book far enough in advance, you can find AirBnB listings in the Bay Area that are comparable to if not cheaper than hotels in SF, before fees and taxes. This is especially true for Berkeley and Oakland.

If you find a location in the South Bay, make sure it’s close to a BART station or at least to Caltrain. Note that for those locations, renting a car can work out better than transit options. (See: Cars.)

Food

There are acceptable-to-great versions of many world cuisines to be found all over in San Francisco, and the city is renowned for its vast restaurant scene. Many of these places are available downtown, with a good selection even just on the block of the event venue. And, just one street crossing away from it, the iconic Ferry Building also hosts many sit-down and fast-food places of excellent quality, and, with fair weather, a farmer’s market with street food stands will also be available on the Saturday of the event, October 19th, at the open area south and east of the Building.

The flip side is that San Francisco is notorious for its record-high cost of living, and this reflects in food prices. Downtown (around the event venue), it can be difficult to find a meal for under $15-$20. Nicer restaurants are easily ~$30+ per person before taxes and tip. If you don’t want to break the bank, SF has multiple fast food chains and local supermarkets at okay prices, including Subway, Chipotle, McDonalds, Starbucks, Taco Bell, and so on; local chains like Super Duper or The Melt; or spots like Target, Safeway and Whole Foods. Many of them have locations just a short walk away from the event venue.

If your budget allows, you can walk a little more from the Embarcadero to reach North Beach (SF’s Little Italy) or Chinatown, or take public transit to any number of good food places in the city. Some recommendations are below!

Despite being a major city, most restaurants close around 9 pm, and bars even stop serving food by 9:30-10 pm on the weekends, earlier on weekdays. Make sure to plan accordingly and check open hours before heading over.

Recommendations

You can also view our recommendations in map form, here.

Event Area (Embarcadero, Financial District/South FiDi & Downtown)

North Beach

Chinatown

Mission

Late-Open Diners

  • ‘50s-throwback Mel’s (multiple locations incl. Downtown, closes 3 am on Fri-Sat);
  • Downtown mainstays Lori’s and Pinecrest (24 hours always and on weekends, resp.);
  • Grubstake, a wonderful little corner (near Nob Hill, 6.30 pm-4 am);
  • Castro nightlife mainstay Orphan Andy’s (24 hours).

More Vegan

  • Eater has a list of preferred vegan restaurants in SF – Señor Sisig is quite close to the venue, though other specialized restaurants will be further afield. 

For more recommendations at all budget levels, check out e.g. The Infatuation.

Attractions and Sight-Seeing

San Francisco has something to offer everyone if you have a little extra time to explore. There’s lots of city things, and easy access to nature and even a national park within the city.

The following attractions are also included in our google map.

Nearby attractions

  1. The Exploratorium – big science museum with hands-on exhibits.
  2. Fisherman’s Wharf – definitely touristy, but it’s fun to watch the sea lions. The Mirror Maze and Musée Mécanique are definitely worth a visit.
  3. Ferry Building and Pier 14 – mentioned above in the food section, the Ferry Building is a fun place to take a stroll and pick up a snack. Just east of the Ferry Building is a Pier with great views of the city, day and night.

Nearby neighborhoods

  1. Chinatown – the first ever established Chinatown in the United States. Lots of history, not to mention cheap food and good bars. Also a fortune cookie factory (if you didn’t know, fortune cookies were invented in SF!). 15 minute walk from the hotel venue.
  2. North Beach, aka “Little Italy” – amazing food, amazing nightlife. North Beach is about a 20 minute walk from the hotel. This neighborhood is packed with things, but some favorite spots include: City Lights Bookstore, Vesuvio, Il Casaro and Tony’s Pizza.
  3. The Mission – 15 minutes by BART (16th or 24th street station), the Mission is a trendy neighborhood full of street art, local shops, taquerias, coffee, cocktails, and bakeries. Also home to Dolores Park.  Some favorite spots include: Grand Coffee, Laszlo, Taqueria El Farolito, Dandelion Chocolate, and Tartine Bakery.
  4. South of Market (SoMA) – A mixed bag of a neighborhood, including multiple museums, theaters, art spaces, bars and night clubs, warehouses, residential hotels, art spaces, loft apartments, and technology companies. Significant LGBTQ and Filipino communities thrive here. Restaurants are mostly closer to Market Street than further south in the district, which can be a bit more of a rough area. 

Other noteworthy neighborhoods

These are a little farther away and can be reached with Muni and a little walking.

  1. The Castro – the LGBTQ+ neighborhood in SF.
  2. Haight-Ashbury – Classic San Francisco near Hippie Hill and the historical Summer of Love area.
  3. The Marina – upscale neighborhood with views of the Golden Gate Bridge and big bar nightlife.
  4. Japantown – one of three Japantowns left in the US, an excellent place for Japanese food, shops, art, and cultural events.
  5. Fisherman’s Wharf – Good (if maybe overpriced) seafood, lots of shopping options, a chance to see sea lions lounging on the docks, boat and harbor tours (and the launching point for Alcatraz tours; see below), an aquarium, and some interesting museums including a Madame Tussauds and the Musée Méchanique. 

Other things to do

  1. Rent a bike and bike across the Golden Gate Bridge! There is an excellent area of protected bike path on and preceding the golden gate bridge. Be advised that while you are on the bridge, it is WINDY.
  2. Visit Alcatraz Island, which has a complicated but very interesting history and is now a national park. Be sure to purchase tickets at least a few weeks in advance. 
  3. Museums SF is home to some of the world’s best museums!  The Legion of Honor and the de Young Museum are excellent fine-arts museums, the SF Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the United States, the Exploratorium is a fantastic hands-on science museum on the Embarcadero, and the Asian Art Museum contains one of the most extensive collections of Asian art in the world.  Smaller museums like the Contemporary Jewish Museum, the Walt Disney Family Museum, or the Museum of the African Diaspora may be more niche but are no less impressive in their collections.  
  4. Walking Tour with SF City Guides. SF City Guides is a program sponsored by the SF Public Library where volunteer guides give tours organized around different neighborhoods or topics. Many of the guides are long-time locals and passionate about the city. The tours are free with a suggested donation.
  5. Ride the Cable Car! It is a classic SF tradition to take a ride on these national landmarks, which are also the world’s last manually operated cable car system. There’s three lines you can take that go up and down the hills of the city and through multiple neighborhoods. Tickets are $8 and you can use your Clipper Card same as for the other SF public transit.
  6. Catch a game – SF is home to multiple professional sports teams, including the Giants, the 49ers, and the Golden State Warriors. Additionally, the Oakland A’s will still be playing in Oakland next season, pending their move to Las Vegas. Oracle Park is close to the main venue and does tours even when the Giants aren’t playing, while the Warriors play in the Chase Center, also relatively close to the venue. Getting to Levi’s Stadium (which is actually south of SF in Santa Clara) to see the 9ers play is a bit more involved but as one of the newer stadiums in the NFL it’s rather nice.

Nature

  1. The Filbert Steps – famous SF staircase, leading through neighborhood gardens to Coit Tower, at the top of North Beach.
  2. Golden Gate Park – “Central Park” of San Francisco. The park stretches from the center of SF out to the ocean, and contains the California Academy of Sciences, the deYoung Museum, the Conservatory of Flowers, Botanical Gardens, Japanese Tea Garden, and a Bison paddock, to name a few.
  3. The Presidio – A national park with hiking trails and beautiful views of the Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Pacific Ocean.
  4. Twin Peaks – Not exactly nature, but there are some trails and a vista point on top of the tallest hill in San Francisco, with great views of downtown.
  5. The Marin Headlands – Just north of Golden Gate Bridge, this is a local hotspot for hikers, cyclists, and sightseers with miles of hiking trails and coastal views.  
  6. Beaches! The water might be cold, but we are right by the Pacific Ocean and if the weather is nice then time at the beach can be time well spent.  Ocean Beach is the biggest, most-westernly beach in the city right at the end of Golden Gate Park and oft-frequented by surfers.  Baker Beach, on the northern side of the city by the Presidio, is a bit smaller but lovely and popular and has a killer view of the Golden Gate bridge.
  7. Muir Woods National Monument – go see the truly massive California Redwood and Sequoia trees in this popular park with lots of hiking trails. More of a day trip before or after the tournament, a rental car may be needed to get there, though there is a shuttle from ferry locations just north of SF.

Local Game Stores

It’s not fun to get across a continent, only to find out that your deck needs a last-second re-sleeving and you’re out of sleeves. The Bay Area has several local game stores you can visit for supplies and to meet the local community. Only some of these stores run Netrunner events; for more info on Netrunner events in the Bay, check out sansan.cards.

In order of distance from the venue, in SF:

If you are staying in the East Bay, there is Victory Point Cafe (limited options but they do stock NSG cards) and Games of Berkeley (many options, slightly harder to get to on public transit), both in Berkeley; It’s Your Move in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland; and D20 Games in Alameda.

Local Netrunner Meetups

If you happen to be in San Francisco early or if you’re staying late, we’d love for you to visit our local meetups:

  • On Tuesday nights we meet in Berkeley at Victory Point Cafe (see the AlwaysBeRunning link for details);
  • On Thursday nights there is a meetup SF meetup, but the current location is in flux; check back later for location details (AlwaysBeRunning link).

Safety

Like many major cities in the US and worldwide, San Francisco is not free of small crime, nor does it adequately serve its unhoused population. Residents will tell you that often news depictions of SF tend to over-exaggerate the issues it faces to serve specific, charged messages. Yay US-flavored politics 🙃.

Really the only concern for visitors should be car break-ins, and most likely those coming to worlds will not have to deal with this because they will not have cars. If you are renting a car, take care not to leave any valuables behind as a precaution, and prefer using paid indoor parking if possible.

With that said, there are certain areas of the city or the Bay where you may feel less comfortable navigating alone or later in the evening:

  • The “Tenderloin”;
  • Market Street and South of Market (SoMa) around the Tenderloin;
  • Oakland (across the bay) also has a reputation for a higher rate of petty crime, though the risk varies depending on which part of the town you stay in.

More Questions?

If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out to us on Discord!  We try to keep an eye on GLC, or you can DM any of the authors of this doc.