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You cannot have escaped Pokémon, a phenomenon that has been at the forefront of both the video and tabletop gaming for almost three decades. Whether you are a fan of the video games like the latest offerings Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the Pokémon trading card game, the AR mobile game Pokémon GO or the multi-player online battle game Pokémon Unite, chances are you are familiar with the gaming world of Pokémon. Never mind thinking about the animated series, movies and countless lines of toys!
Over my birthday weekend way back in April, I took my 11-year-old son to the Pokémon Championships and thought I would share some of my experiences.
Firstly, you have to consider the cost. For the price of entry, about £25 per person, you get to attend all three days of the championships. So quite a chunk of event for the price. You also got given free Pokémon TCG boosters when collecting your lanyard. However, what is there to do at the event for a spectator?
Game stands. There are a few free to access games stands at the event. There was a Pokémon ring toss game, a fishing game (think hook a duck) and also a daily challenge game, for example taking selfies with different Pokémon in the displays at the event. This earned you entry into a prize draw and produced a nice fun activity to participate in.
Photo booth. I was really impressed that this facility was available completely free of charge. You can get a photograph taken with a variety of custom backgrounds and collect a printout of it. Not too shabby at all as I can imagine this being a paid for service at similar events.
Colouring competitions. There were pages of colouring sheets that could be completed for entry into a colouring competition. This was another activity that served to be a good source of fun for my son, whilst I was simply staggered by the quality of some of the entries. A few talented artists had just used the rear of a page to produce their own drawings with some incredible work in evidence.
Games Table. The event had some Pokémon board games set up for guests to access. These included Labyrinth Pokémon edition, Guess Who and Trading Card Game Battle Academy sets. Another nice opportunity to break from the event and relax at a table having fun.
Stalls. A few traders had got a stall at the event. The majority seemed to be focused around the sale of Pokémon trading cards, this included graded examples as well as limited edition alt-art cards etc. This seemed to be the biggest source of interest for my son as he scoured the stalls for Whooper (his favourite Pokémon) merchandise. In addition to the stalls at the event, guests could book a slot to visit the pop-up Pokémon centre that had a huge variety of goodies for sale from official championship rucksacks and t-shirts to every variety of plush Pokémon you could imagine and everything in between.
Gaming mini-contests. Whilst there were the main championships going on, there were also small events that spectators could buy into and participate to win prize points. My son really enjoyed me entering him for a Pokémon video game dualling contest. He and three others played a series of head-to-head matches with each one picking up prize points and a bonus for winning. He was then able to trade his prize points for boosters, my son loved this in particular; that feeling of success/winning.
Open-access consoles. As you would imagine, there were a number of areas with open-access to consoles that were running a variety of Pokémon games, including Scarlet and Violet and Pokken Tournament.
The championships. What it is all about! Up at the front of the room there are four areas from which you can watch head-to-head battles of Pokémon Go, Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, Pokémon Trading Card Game or Pokémon Unite. When it comes to Pokémon gaming, I am a mostly clueless Dad compared to my son. As such, I am not sure I could fully appreciate the skill on display. There were certainly points where you could appreciate the drama and I noticed this watching the Pokémon go battles, it being the most familiar to me. One issue here was that the sound from each game would blend with the others making it quite difficult to hear unless you were able to get a seat in the middle of the area dedicated to the game you wanted to watch.
Overall, I feel like the Pokémon Championships represented good value for your money. We only spent two sessions there but these probably totalled in excess of ten hours in total. There were plenty of other Pokémon fans there and the atmosphere was insanely friendly. I have to give a shout out to the girl who looked through my son’s trade folder and, finding nothing that she wanted, gave my son a copy of the card that he liked from hers. A really nice gesture. So, if you have been considering giving the 2025 championships a visit you can hopefully now make an informed decision about going. In the meantime, you might want to familiarise yourself with the games being played so that you can give appreciation to the games that you are watching.