Gotta Catch 'Em All! Pokemon Tournament @ Comic Con 2009 Kids' Day

As the fun and excitement of Comic Con comes to an end, Sunday is dedicated Kids' Day with programming for younger fans.

Kids' Day includes panels with creators of favorite movies like Pixar's Cars, Nickelodeon showing new episodes of The Penguins of Madagascar, Fairly OddParents, and SpongeBob SquarePants, with special events like the Star Wars Trivia Game hosted by the San Diego Star Wars Society.


(Young bounty hunters and Jedi Padawan)

One of the most popular events at the Comic Con each year is the Pokémon Tournament. Hundreds of kids compete during the week for prizes and the last chance to “catch ‘em all” is the Kids’ Day Tournament which draws quite a crowd.

(Pokemon Tournament Hall)

Note to parents: If you’re looking for an oasis of calm in the chaos that is the Comic Con, check out the Pokémon Hall. It’s quiet by comparison, air-conditioned, supervised by judges, with seating available in the “parents’ area” and patio to rest your feet. Shhh, keep it a secret!

On this last tournament it was a sealed deck competition. Each player is given 6 free booster packs (10 cards each) to build a 40 card deck. One “Pokémon Trainer” had been going to 3 tournaments a day for 3 days resulting in 540 free cards plus the cards he won as prizes.

(Pokemon Trainers prepare to battle)

Each player is given 30min to create a deck before the battles begin. Each battle is 20min. and players are broken up into 3 age groups: Junior, Senior, and Master levels. 1st prize is 36 booster packs, 2nd prize 24 booster packs, and 3rd place gets 12 booster packs.

Just before the tournament starts, it becomes strangely quiet considering it’s a room full of young people, and all you hear is the shuffling of cards. Once the action gets going there’s quite a bit of banter about “Snorlax, Exercise!” “Gardenia, Overgrow!” “Shiftry, Unlucky Wind!”

(Sohan, Pokemon Trainer)

As the tournament goes on and trainers drop out of the competition, the action continues on the sidelines. Trainers have fun and challenge each other regardless of age using their own specialty decks. Also, some Trainers become “Traders.” After all, Pokémon is a trading card game. One highly sought after card is the “Flygon level EX” and trading is furious for this card. It’s impressive to see these young kids negotiate deals that would make Wall Street take notice as they trade for the best cards.

It’s amazing to see a new generation of young people so enthusiastic about Pokémon. Pokémon (“Pocket” + “Monster”) has continued to grow in popularity since it was first released as a Nintendo video game in 1995. It is recognized worldwide and has generated several new video game titles, comic books, cartoons, 12 movies, toys, and the wildly popular trading card game.

In addition to the Pokémon Tournament, the Pokémon Pavilion was a favorite stop showcasing the latest game – Pokémon Platinum – on the Nintendo DSi. Pikachu and friends continue to be a major attraction at Comic Con to the delight of the young and the young at heart.

(#1 Pokemon Pikachu and Comic Con fan Jenna Woo)

See you next year!

On with the show,
RedJester