Villordsutch attends the Pokémon Regional Championship in Sheffield…
On the weekend of the 16th June 2018 I was lucky enough to attend the Pokémon Regional Championship 2018 in Sheffield, UK. This was – in truth – my first ever major Pokémon Regional Championship, so I was a little unsure what to expect. Was this weekend going to be a handful of the finest Pokémon Masters from the North East of England in a local gaming emporium, or was it going to be something at bit bigger? Come the morning of the event I discovered it was more than “something a bit bigger”.
Truth be told I started to have my doubts on this just being a minor gaming hall, with the Leeds Posse facing down the Sheffield Massive, the evening before. As, in the hotel I was staying at, the night drew on I was sat in reception learning what it takes to get the skull of a Rathalos through the streets of London safely (another story for another time) when I suddenly noticed a large amount of the tables had been occupied by Pokémon TCG (Trading Card Game) players and listening to them it dawned on me they didn’t seem to be local. Inquiring if any players are travelling from out of town, I discovered there coming from far and wide including Canada, Italy, Germany, USA, France and possibly Lancashire.
The weekend started early as we made our way to Sheffield’s large sports venue – Ponds Forge – which was a stones throw away from everything, including the train station, hotel, city centre and breakout green space. Truly the Pokemon HQ couldn’t have picked a better venue. Already the Pokémon Masters were sat in the seats with TCG occupying a larger portion of the huge hall, followed by the Pokémon video game played on the DS and finally Pokkén played upon the Nintendo Switch. Players had access to two named vendors, who where on hand to both sell merchandise and those rare cards only ever dreamed about, and if players had something special they could in-turn sell their extra-special cards to the vendors. Along with this there was the Prize Table and the Event Organisers area who had the event running like clockwork.
Regularly announcements were made instructing players of all genders and ages, from across the globe, of times of play and special matches currently taking place. If you were involved in this event your name was recorded and you were in play. If you were on the floor in a match, you where under the ever helpful gaze of the many helpers in Pokémon branded labcoats, who were ready to rush over when an arm was in the air. The room was packed to the gills yet it was a well oiled Pokémon machine, thanks to the organisational skills of those in-charge over the weekend.
I had not brought my own deck, though it would have paled in comparison to what was on show at Ponds Forge, so I was placed into one of the quickest variations of a Pokémon TCG yet. Four players are each given a booster pack of Pokémon cards and using those cards, along with supplied energy from one of the official Pokémon helpers, you must create a ten card deck and attempt to beat your opponent. You’re lucky if a match lasts close to two minutes. It was fun, if not confusing on the first round as I placed energy on my Pokémon not in play, which was pretty useless as my Pokémon upfront was battered on the next round. Still I gained 10 points and was able to claim a prize at the Prize Table.
I also managed to get a quick go on Pokkén, which also was my first play on the Nintendo Switch. As with all beat’em-up’s I’m next to useless and won no rounds what-so-ever, though I did have a laugh being beaten it a pulp by some of the strangest looking Pokémon around. In my early days of Pokémon on the GameBoy, I never ever imagined that the battles between the Pokémon would look like this behind the scenes.
Over a thousand people attend the Pokémon Regional Championship event in Sheffield, making it the biggest turnout in Europe ever and it was fantastic to witness. Going from a busy, hectic hall between games to a chess like silence as the timer starts. Watching children (both boys & girls) who could barely hold their cards in their hand strategize their play many steps ahead, to adults that would ‘bro-fist’ before a match is played, which in the end would see who gets the points to go on to be invited out to the World Championship in Nashville, USA. This has been brilliant, there is passion in this community and it was honoured at the Pokémon Regional Championship in Sheffield.
Villordsutch and Flickering Myth would like to thanks Sheeraz and Hope and Glory PR for the invite to the Pokémon Regional Championship and also to the volunteers at the Pokémon Regional Championship who made sure that the weekend was brilliant.
