Shishiro Botan Announces Third Christmas Tonight Fighting-Game Event for Dec. 24 in Ueno

HOLOLIVE — Hololive’s Shishiro Botan announced on Saturday that her Christmas fighting-game event will return for a third year. Shishiro Botan and Christmas Tonight 3 is set for Thursday, Dec. 24, with doors at 8 p.m., a 9 p.m. start and an end listed as 29:00, or 5 a.m. Botan said that means no one has to worry about the last train, since the first trains will be running by the time it ends.

The venue is eSports Style Ueno in Tokyo, the same as last year. Last time the event used the first and third floors and, Botan said, got crowded. This year it adds the second floor to make room. Entry is 1,000 yen, unchanged. She said the previous two editions included light food and snacks, and described the event as worth more than the price.

The program opens with the Holy Night Street Fight Royale, in which participants play one another freely for coins and the top coin-earners move on to a special area. Botan said beginners are covered: in offline play, handicaps are used to even out differences in rank. Other items are a talk segment, a tag-team tournament whose top eight will play on the giant arcade controller from last year’s East-versus-West match, and a bingo with prizes. Botan said she will bring the controller to the venue and set up a booth where visitors can try it. New this year are an exhibition match between a cast member and a participant that she picks on the spot, and a special area where participants can take on cast members in a 100-opponent challenge. Botan decided on the stream that she would personally prepare prizes for win streaks of 10 and 20 games and for a 100-game streak.

Membership tickets go on sale first, on a first-come basis, at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8, through the Hololive official shop. Botan said buyers should link their shop and YouTube membership accounts beforehand, and that both attendance and spectator-only tickets are offered. General tickets are for participants only and are by lottery, with applications open from 9 p.m. on Nov. 9 to 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 16. She said last time’s capacity, which she put at roughly 100 people, filled almost at once, and that this time membership tickets are sold first, a change from last time. Friends of hers are welcome to drop in by asking her directly, outside the lottery.

Botan also showed event merchandise made with the apparel maker Graft, including an ugly Christmas sweater in pink, with pre-orders open that day, and played footage from last year’s event, including the bingo prizes and a Christmas Eve opening match. Further details, she said, will be posted on X and in the video description.