Play! Pokémon

Play! Pokémon

Play! Pokémon logo
Type	Gaming
Founded	2003
Headquarters	Bellevue, Washington
Website	www.pokemon.com/us/play-pokemon/

Play! Pokémon, formerly known as Pokémon Organized Play (often abbreviated as POP), is a division of The Pokémon Company known for hosting the Pokémon World Championships, a competitive eSports tournament which features the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) and the Pokémon video game series (VG).

Play! Pokémon was formed in 2003 under the supervision of The Pokémon Company International (previously known as Pokémon USA) after Wizards of the Coast lost its license to the Trading Card Game. Since then, a new league, tournament, and prize system was created, together with a new 'Professor program'.

Play! Pokémon Leagues

Unlike the Wizards of the Coast leagues, POP utilizes a hybrid system, in which one can earn points for playing the Trading Card Game and/or the Video Game. Leagues are held in safe public locations, such as game stores, community centers, or libraries, and are run by official League Leaders approved after a background check conducted by Pokémon. Individuals applying for a league who opt out of the background check are not allowed to own a league, but are still allowed to play in any league they choose.

The league cycle is divided into eight seasons, each of which lasts about five weeks and is typically represented by themes found in Pokémon (e.g. gym badges, starter Pokémon). Players earn prizes like physical Gym badges or seasonal promotional cards by completing rows in their Player score card, usually by participating in Trading Card Game or Video Game league events. There may be several weeks of a break in-between seasons, but most leagues continue to play to allow players to catch up on prizes they may have missed. League sessions typically last for two to four hours, and players usually meet once every week. At the end of a season, League Owners and League Leaders report all the participants who entered the league during the season to Pokémon.com through the Pokémon League Dashboard on the respective League Owner's profile.

Local Tournaments

Local tournaments are usually held every week by a local Tournament Organizer. Prizes vary depending on the number of competitors. Tournaments can be free to enter, however this is done at the discretion of the Tournament Organizer (often the store owner) and entry fees can be applied.

POP-sanctioned tournaments are either single elimination, Swiss, or Swiss followed by single elimination rounds. Some POP events use "Age Modified Swiss", (a variation of Swiss invented by POP) in which a player's age takes priority over the player's record when the organizer pairs players. In leagues with enough participation, the Tournament Organizer may apply age categories. Categories range from Junior (ages 12 and under), Senior (ages 13–15) and Master (ages 16 and over).

After sanctioned tournaments are completed, the Tournament Organizer uploads the results of each match to POP. The results of each match are used to calculate a player's rating. POP Ratings are based on the Elo rating system.

Prerelease Tournaments

Prerelease Tournaments are Trading Card Game events in which players play with cards from a set that will not be released for several weeks. The typical entry fee is $20–35 and each player will be given six booster packs, a special promo, and a set of sleeves that are themed after the new set. Each player builds a 40-card deck using the cards opened out of the six packs (not including basic Energy cards, which are provided at the event). At the end of each prerelease, players receive two extra booster packs. Players may also have the option of playing in a Theme Deck challenge instead of the Prerelease event, where they play for a theme deck and 4 booster packs.

Premier Tournaments

Premier Tournaments are meant for competition. There are six different types of Premier Tournaments (note that the following applies to the Canada and the United States only; other regions may have different prizes):

• League Challenges: League Challenges are usually small, local tournaments that give players another opportunity to work on their premier ratings, and earn practice with their deck and strategy. Prizes include 1st place earning 15 championship points. League Challenges happen all year long.
• League Cups: League Cups took the place of City Championships in the 2016-2017 season, the main difference being that a store may hold one League Cup per quarter, whereas city championships occurred once per year. League Cups are medium sized tournaments where players from an area gather to play to compete for the title of "League Cup Champion". Prizes for first place are: 50 Championship Points, a "Champion" playmat, and a number of packs of the latest set determined by the tournament organizer.
• Regional Championships: Players from a specific Region come together to battle it out so he or she can become the Regional Champion. Prizes for first place are : 36 booster packs of the latest set, various prizes, a Regional championship award, A Travel Award with Hotel Stay for the National Championships as well as 120 championship points and a first and second round bye in the National championship Swiss format.
• International Championships: International Championships are held four times a year (one in Europe, Oceania, South America and North America) with no residency restriction like the National Championships had. These are the largest event in any region every year, where players from all over the world compete for the title of "International Champion". Prizes for first place include 500 Championship Points, 72 booster packs of the latest set, and $10,000.
• World Championships: An invite-only event where players around the world come together and play. An invite is sent to anyone who has earned 400 or more championship points (until 2013, from 2014 season you need 400 in Junior, 450 in Senior and 500 in Master). The world championships constitute an event in and of themselves, and many players travel to the World Championships just to observe.

Pokémon World Championships

The Pokémon World Championships is an invite-only event where the best players of the season compete for scholarship money, prizes and the title of World Champion. The 2014 Pokémon World Championships was held in Washington, D.C. with the presence of more than 155 trainers from around the world. The 2016 Pokémon World Championships was held in San Francisco, California.

Tournament Organizers/Premier Tournament Organizers

A Tournament Organizer (TO) is someone who runs tournaments for their local community. Usually, he or she runs them within a weekly or monthly basis at a local store. However, a Premier Tournament Organizer (PTO) has the ability to run major tournaments and Prereleases as well in any major place at a particular time. Like Pokémon Professors, TOs and PTOs have to be 18 or older.

Eligible territories

Whilst participation is open to any Pokémon player in the world able to attend, as of July 2017 only the following 55 territories are sanctioned to organize official Play! Pokémon events:

Whilst all above territories are eligible to organize both trading card game (TCG) and video game (VGC) events, only a select few territories have been allowed to actually handle VGC events in practice due to relatively stricter requirements for the VGC Pokémon Professor program in comparison.

External links

• Official website
  • Tournament information

References