In 1923 student organizations of Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania established an extensive co-operation agreement, which resulted in first regional student competition for the university students of the respective countries in Tartu, Estonia. The games became known as SELL Games according to first letters of the hosting countries (Suomi, Eesti, Latvija, Lietuva) in their respective languages. The competitions lasted until 1940 when the last winter games were held before the ties between Baltic States were severed by the World War II.

After Baltic States became independent again the tradition of competition was restored and the SELL Games were organized in 1998 in Tartu. The competition has been open to all university students around the world since then. The previous SELL Games in Finland were held 2004 in Tampere and 2008 in Espoo hosted the competition. After that the Games has been organized in Riga, Latvia (2005), in Tartu, Estonia (2006) and this year in Kaunas, Lithuania. Finland is the hosting country in 2012 and the event will be held again in Otaniemi in Espoo. The hosts are Aalto University Sports Club and Student Union of Aalto University.