Pokémon: Tenth Anniversary

Pokémon: Tenth Anniversary was a special celebration that took place in 2006 to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the debut of the Pokémon Red and Blue video games, whose introduction in Japan, on February 27, 1996, launched the Pokémon franchise.

Journey Across America

The Journey Across America was a weekly 24-city tour from February 25 to July 22 where Pokémon fans from across the country participated in various activities, including a Video Game Tournament in two categories, 12 years old and under and 13 years old and older. Among them included:

Celebi and Top Twenty Pokémon Download
Video Game Play Area, featuring Pokémon Emerald, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, and Pokémon Trozei. Also featured a Nintendo DS download of a demo of Pokémon Trozei.
Pictures with Pokémon costumed characters Pikachu and Munchlax
Pokémon Trading Card Game One on One
Pokémon TV Lounge
Color Me Pokémon
Pokémon Center mini-store (Usually came three to five days in advance of the event.)

The program was organized, in conjunction with Pokémon USA, by AMP Agency in Cranbury, New Jersey. The internal account team included Danielle (Adams) Zukowski and Rick Phillips. The in-mall team was Colin Candy, Jodi Hansen, Todd Neimier, Chad Young and Trevor.

The tournament was divided by the cities that the tour stopped in. Two winners from each city, a person from the 12 and under range and 13 and up range would go on to compete at a national level in New York City at Bryant Park. The grand prize winner of the tournament received a trip for four to Tokyo, Japan among other prizes. Other events held at the tour included free Polaroids taken with Pikachu and Munchlax, tables set up for friendly TCG battles, a demonstration on the basics of Pokémon in general, and playable consoles featuring XD: Gale of Darkness. Players were also able to download a Pokémon Trozei demo to their Nintendo DS. Journey Across America visited a total of 24 cities.

This is event was similar to the Pokémon League Summer Training Tour held in the summer of 1999, among other such Pokémon tours.

Locations

Date		Location	Venue
February	25	Miami-Ft. Lauderdale	Aventura Mall
March	4	Tampa Bay	Westfield Citrus Park Town
	11	Atlanta	Southlake Mall
	15	Houston	The Galleria (Wed)
	18	Dallas-Fort Worth	The Parks at Arlington
	25	Albuquerque	Coronado Center
April	1	Los Angeles-Anaheim	Westfield West Covina
	8	San Francisco-Oakland	Westfield Valley Fair
	15	Portland, OR	Clackamas Town Center
	22	Seattle-Tacoma	Westfield Southcenter
	29	Salt Lake City	Fashion Place
May	6	Denver	Southwest Plaza
	13	Kansas City	Independence Center
	21	Minneapolis-St. Paul	Mall of America (Sun)
	27	Chicago	Westfield North Bridge
June	3	Detroit	Great Lakes Crossing
	10	Pittsburgh	Century III Mall
	17	Cincinnati	Cincinnati Mills
	24	Memphis	Wolfchase Galleria
July	1	Raleigh	Crabtree Valley Mall
	8	Washington, DC	Westfield Montgomery
	12	Philadelphia	King of Prussia (Wed)
	15	Boston	South Shore Plaza
	22	Metro New York	Roosevelt Field Mall

The winners of the 2006 Pokémon Video Game Tournament, Samin Syed (left) and Minh Le.

Two additional tournaments were held (without the JAA events) at Space Center Houston and the Nintendo World Store at Rockefeller Center in New York City. The winners of those events, along with eight "second chance" qualifiers in the two categories, competed in the finals were that held as part of the US Tenth Anniversary Celebration event on Tuesday, August 8 at Bryant Park in New York City, with the winners (Samin Syed, 13, from Roslyn, New York, who entered as a 12-year-old in the 12-and-under category, and Minh Le, 22, from Herndon, Virginia) receiving a trip to Tokyo in 2007.

The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon

A made-for-television movie was released commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Pokémon franchise entitled The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon. It aired on Kids WB! on April 29, 2006. The revamped new voice cast version was included with the Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew DVD when it was released on September 19 and later aired on Cartoon Network October 28.

Party of the Decade

The United States celebration of Pokémon's Tenth Anniversary, titled "The Party of the Decade", was held on Tuesday, August 8 at New York City's Bryant Park. This was a larger version of the Journey Across America, which included the finals of the Pokémon Video Game Tournament, costumed character appearances including the American debut of Lucario, previews of the new Ranger and Mystery Dungeon games, and other events. Professional wrestling icon Hulk Hogan hosted the activities. It also marked the farewell appearance of the original Pikachu Balloon from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which flew above Bryant Park. A new Pikachu balloon, which features the mascot of the franchise chasing a Poké Ball and cheeks that light up, premiered at the 80th annual event November 23.

External links

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