If you’re like me, the Pokémon North American International Championships snuck up on you this year. Somehow I’d forgotten to mark the event on my calendar. Perhaps I forgot because I don’t know the first damn thing about Pokémon.On the other hand, my son is an expert. At least in comparison to me. I’ve listened to him speak with excitement about Pokémon characters and games for years. I’ve engaged him a few times, but none of it ever makes sense to me, so I’ve become content with ignorance.Although he’s an expert, my son didn’t find out about the Championships until Friday, the first of three days on which they were scheduled in Indianapolis. After a bit of pleading, he convinced me to take him to Indianapolis Sunday morning for the final day.I had no idea what to expect, and after spending an entire day immersed in the world of Pokémon, I still have no idea what I saw. But I want you to understand as much as I do, so I’ll explain the whole thing as best I can.Pokémon started as a video game in which players choose unique characters (some of which have special powers) to battle each other in one-on-one games. A card game based on the same idea soon followed. A cartoon began after that. Last year was the 20th anniversary of the release of the first Pokémon video game.I suspect there’s no such thing as a casual Pokémon fan. The game has so many characters, with so many attributes and special powers that a player must dive deeply to familiarize themselves with it all. Partial knowledge of Pokémon is worthless.We attended Championship Sunday, which is exactly what it sounds like: the day Championships are decided. There are two different games: the card game and the video game. And there are different levels within each of those games: Junior, Senior, and Master.We left early Sunday morning and drove to Indy. (Side note: I parked on a city street right next to the convention center, which is downtown. I went to the pay box to pay, and saw a notice that said parking is free on Sunday. I love small cities!) We walked into the convention center and picked up our spectator passes. The lady who gave them to us said we just made it. I don’t know what she meant.Inside the convention hall large banners depicting various characters hung from the ceiling, and a giant inflatable Pikachu—probably the best-known Pokémon—hovered over the entire scene. Throughout the room players sat across from each other to play side games, and in front of television screens in video game matchups.After walking around for a few minutes, I noticed a large group of people sitting near the back of the room, and three large screens. We made our way back just in time to watch the last game of the Master-level card game Championship. When I realized that all of these people—there were probably at least 500 people—were watching two adults play a card game in which they battled with fictitious characters, I turned to my son and said, “Everyone’s just watching them play?”“Yep,” he said, as if it made complete sense.“Do you want to find a place to sit so we can watch?”“Sure!”So we found an empty table off to the side, and watched one of the big screens, which showed an above-the-table view of the action, as well as an under-the-table view so we could see which cards were face down.Two announcers provided play-by-play and analysis of the game. We watched the final game of the Master-level card championship, and all three levels of the video game championship, and various announcers called each game. I have no idea how they found so many people who not only were talented broadcasters, but also possessed enough knowledge about Pokémon to dissect and explain the game as it happened. I never caught on to what the heck they were talking about, but they sure seemed to know their stuff, and they sounded great to me.The crowd amazed me even more than the announcers. At one point one of the card players picked up a stack of cards, took five or six from the top, and the crowd erupted. I had no idea what happened. The announcer pointed out that the player had picked up a valuable card that would let him complete some move. Then the crowd’s excitement made sense.As the game approached its conclusion, the crowd began to buzz until one of the players, a Norwegian, displayed a certain card, which sent the announcers and the crowd into a frenzy and earned the Norwegian the Master-level championship.And I had no idea what happened. I felt like the person at the baseball game who sees a player hit a homerun, and sees the crowd cheering, but has no idea what’s so great about a homerun.I couldn’t believe the number of high school, and college-aged people there. I expected the crowd to lean young, closer to my son’s twelve years, but the average age was probably almost ten years older than that. And these were serious players. Although they were all good sports, they took the game seriously, and possessed great focus.We stuck around until the last championship match, which seemed like a thrilling outcome in which the winner had been on the verge of almost-certain defeat seconds before the end of the match, when something changed and he won. The crowd went wild, the announcers cheered, and I sat there looking at my son, wondering what the heck just happened.At the end of the day I’m no wiser about Pokémon than I was at the beginning of the day. There are 801 different Pokémon. My son can name every single one of them, which just amazes me, especially since they have difficult, made up names like Bulbasaur, Mewtwo, and Eevee. I recognize their names, but nothing beyond that.But I don’t mind. I’m not going to spend the time to learn the game. My son enjoys it enough for both of us. He was more excited to go to the Pokémon championships than you’ve been about anything this year. So even though none of it made sense, I can’t wait to go back next year!Wasn't that well-written and fun to read? You should subscribe to my blog and we'll send you an e-mail every time I write a new one. Type your email address in the box and click the "create subscription" button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.
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