Founded in Seattle, Washington in 2003 by Zach Huntting and Kris Moon of the Fourthcity Arts Collective,[1] in collaboration with Steven Ford,[2] and inspired in part by Liz Revision's Laptop Cage Match held in Chicago in 2002,[3] the format caught on quickly and spread worldwide.
Within 5 years, there were chapters in the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Canada and across the US.
US-based chapters spread from Seattle to Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Boston, DC, Miami, Dallas, Atlanta, Austin, LA, San Francisco, Portland and more.
[6] Notable judges have included edIT & Boreta from Glitch Mob, Richard Devine from Warp/Schematic, Robotspeak, Daedelus, Dave Pezzner, Starkey, Mochipet, and Mickey T from the Drum Machine Museum.
Various local and national laptop battles have garnered the attention of electronic music and sound design production sponsors, such as Ableton, Mackie,[7] Rane, M-Audio, Cycling '74, MixMeister Technologies, Vestax, Propellerheads, and Native Instruments, as well as Intel, SXSW, AMODA, Soy Clothing, Digidesign, Decibel Festival, SFSU, Vice Magazine and others..